Page 122 of Mage Massacres

“Mmm,” my mate hummed. “I would tell you that climbing up six flights of stairs in these heels is awful on a woman’s feet.”

I shrugged, pulling my attention from her to the others. “But then we wouldn’t be able to bring up the recent issues in the security systems that are supposed to be in place.”

“Ahh, those.” Sloane nodded. “I combed through a list of features with the contracted mage who put the barrier up. I specifically recall having him make it impossible to use the Void to enter.”

“And that’s been the case since this building was opened for use,” Lesley acknowledged.

I picked up a pen from the table, twirling it between my fingers. “That may have been true, Councilwoman Squiers, but sometime in the last month, those protections failed. That’s just the beginning of what we need to cover, though.”

“How long have you known about the missing mages?” my mate inquired, her mouth turned down in a serve frown.

“I tried to call Nate about that issue three weeks ago,” Councilman Brown exclaimed, his nostrils flaring.

“You mean after you got the notification that he would be on holiday until the end of July?” I leaned back in my chair.

His cheek lifted and fell as he tried to cover his tell. “I received no information about that.”

“The entire staff was copied into an email. I have it right here.” Sloane waved her phone then crossed her arms on the tabletop.

“I know you’ve been in your position for decades, Gary, possibly a century at this point. The protocol for these types of issues hasn’t changed much. When you couldn’t reach my father, you had four other people who could have stepped in. We didn’t receive any calls, emails, texts… So we know you didn’t try to contact us. But did you call Charlie or Sam?”

Gary’s expression darkened. “No.”

“Also, while we’re talking about infractions…” I trailed off, looking at each council member. “Who cleaned up the bloody mess in the lobby last week?”

Everyone seemed curious about my question, but Gary challenged me. “How do you know there were bodies in the lobby?”

Sloane smirked, lifting her hands to prop up her chin. “Were there bodies, Gary? Do tell. The place is in pristine condition.”

25

Sloane

Monday, June 15th

Morning

My chin rested in the palms of my hands, my elbows digging into the tabletop as I observed the uproar around me.

The chaos was calming.

Their thoughts were enlightening.

I wanted to feel bad about the eavesdropping, but I hadn’t delved past any mental walls. I couldn’t decide if they’d forgotten that I was telepathic or weren’t told to begin with. Either way, I soaked in their shouted truths and sorted through the valuable knowledge with a playful grin on my face.

Bypassing the council titles made the work easier. I didn’t care that Amelia had hand-picked these mages to represent her. Two decades had flown by, and some of them no longer held the guild’s best interests in mind.

I pulled Palmer into their thoughts, shrugging when his eyes widened at the noise. My privacy morals weren’t the only reason why I preferred to keep my head silent.

The voices were annoying.

I’d been able to decipher some critical points to the issues happening around the guild headquarters, though we now knew for sure that we couldn’t fix everything in a day.

We had assumed it would take a few weeks, but this was absolute confirmation.

What I did know was that someone was getting fired today, and someone had reached the end of their timeline.

Marsha Steward’s mind was more organized than the others. She cataloged all the essential bits of the conversation we’d been having and then sifted through them one by one. Her questions would be easy to answer. She would stay on board, keeping her title and her life.