Bound by Magic by Jasmine Walt Page A

behind his desk again, and I made myself as comfortable as possible in the wooden visitor’s chair. “What can I do for the Enforcer’s Guild today?”
    “I’m here regarding a series of kidnappings that have occurred over the last year.” I pulled a notebook from the inside of my jacket pocket, where I’d scribbled down the names from Sillara’s list, and read them off. “Do any of them sound familiar to you?”
    An uncomfortable look flashed across Faron’s face. “They do, yes.”
    I scowled at the admission. “Then why were so many of them unreported by the media? If you knew about them, surely your reporters did too, or you would have told one of them.”
    Faron sighed. “I wanted to print those stories, I really did. They would have been good for business. But there was pressure from one of our major advertisers not to do so. They said that if we did they would take their business elsewhere, and we caved because we would have to close our doors without their income.”
    “I see.” I wanted to berate Faron for giving in so easily, but given the precarious state of his business, I couldn’t blame him too much. His first priority was keeping his ship afloat, and if that meant catering to his advertisers then that’s what he had to do. “You know, that kind of suspicious activity is really something you should report to the Guild.”
    Faron gave me a dry look. “It would just get filed away in the archives. With no bounty attached to the case, I doubt anyone would have a look.”
    “Yeah, but at least the report would have left a trail and it could have saved me some time.” But I sighed, knowing the truth of his words – that was one of the major flaws with our system. “Can you at least give me the name of the advertiser now?”
    “Of course. They’re called the Butcher’s Block.” He scribbled the name onto a piece of paper along with a phone number and handed it to me. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
    The hopeful look on his face made me pause. “Should there be?”
    His broad shoulders sagged a little. “Well I was hoping you were coming to me with something I could use for a story.”
    A twinge of pity in my chest had me sighing again. “I don’t have anything concrete on these current murders yet, and I’m not really in the loop on anything else right now. But if I get hold of anything I can share with you, I’ll give you a call, okay?”
    “I’d appreciate that.” Faron hesitated. “There’s something else you should know.”
    “And what would that be?” I asked, my senses tingling at the tone in his voice.
    “One of my reporters, Nevin Rindar, disappeared about two months ago. He was the reporter I would have assigned to write the stories. I filed a report with the Enforcer’s Guild, but they have yet to figure out what happened to him.”
    “I’ll look into it.” If he’d only disappeared two months ago, he wouldn’t have been in Roanas’s files, which explained why his name hadn’t come up. “Do you have an address for his residence? It would save me a trip to the Guild.”
    “Of course.” Faron wrote it down on another piece of paper and handed it to me. “I really hope he’s alright. He is a good reporter.”
    “I hope so too.” But I didn’t have a good feeling about it. I vaguely remembered Nevin – I’d had to deal with him once or twice – and I suspected that whatever had happened to the others had befallen him as well. “I’ll let you know when I find out what happened.”
    “Thank you.” Faron paused, his eyes shifting away for a moment before he met my gaze. “I know that we posted some uncomplimentary things in the paper about you when your…heritage…became public. I want to apologize for that.”
    I shrugged. “You were just doing your job. I’m the Jaguar Clan’s outcast, and the Chieftain’s niece on top of it. Can’t imagine you’ve had a juicier story in a long time.” Old resentment bubbled up inside me at