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“What?” Killian demanded. “Tell me.”
She took a deep breath. “To keep people from using it lightly, they must…” She paused, glancing from Killian to Jaime.
“He cut out his own eye,” Jaime finished for her. “That’s why he was wearing the eye patch.”
Killian shook his head, trying to clear the nauseating shame that clouded his mind. If he wanted to find Elyse so badly that he would cut out his own eye… This did not bode well for Elyse. He stood from his chair so fast that it clattered to the floor behind him. “We have to find her—now.”
“And we will,” Sera said calmly. “But we can’t rush off without a plan. We don’t even know where they are.”
Despondence settled over them as Sera’s words sank in. She was right. Elyse could be anywhere in the kingdom—in the continent, even. It was hopeless.
“Does Elyse still have the angel’s blood?” Manny asked.
Killian furrowed his brows. “Does it matter? We’re not going to face Ymaritis without—” He cut himself off as he realized what Manny was getting at. His eyes shot to Jaime. “You have the map, right?”
Jaime looked like he might throw a punch at Killian as opposed to answering him.
“Just give him the fucking map,” Manny demanded.
With a huff, Jaime pulled the map from his pocket. Killian, Manny, and Sera crowded around him as he unfolded it.
Killian held his breath as he scoured the map. The same five dots from before were there, spread across the kingdom. His eyes widened as he spotted a new, sixth dot, right in the center of Sevhella.
“There,” he said, tapping the dot. “That’s got to be her.” He turned to Manny and smiled at his friend. “Manny, you genius, I could kiss you.”
“Sorry, brother. I’m taken,” Manny said, flashing a grin at Sera.
Jaime rolled his eyes and leaned in closer to the map. “I’m not familiar with the area.”
Killian looked more closely. The Bastards were keeping Elyse in the northwestern sector of the city. He’d been there several times during investigations with the guard. It was mostly abandoned and rundown—the perfect place to hide out.
“We’ve been there before,” Manny said, gesturing to Killian. “It’s probably an old apartment building or something.”
“I guarantee it’s heavily warded,” Sera sighed. “Elyse is the best with wards.”
“Yeah,” Jaime agreed. “It’s too bad she can’t break herself out.”
Killian sat back down and dropped his face in his hands. If that wasn’t the damned, ironic truth. Their best shot at breaking someone out of a building guarded by wards and warlocks was the one who needed rescuing.
He rubbed at his face, trying to coax the worry from his mind.
“What if…” Sera said quietly.
Killian looked up at her. Something in her voice gave him hope.
Sera caught his eye. “What if Elyse could break herself out?”
Jaime scoffed, but Killian held Sera’s gaze. “What do you mean?”
Sera began to pace, her excitement ringing through the kitchen. “It’s a difficult spell, but we’ve done it before… Once… When we were a little under the influence.” She gave Manny a quirky glance but kept talking. “You see, we’d had quite a bit of wine, and we got the idea that we should switch bodies. So we flipped through some spell books, had some more wine, and found a way to do it. We only switched for about ten minutes, and we only did silly things like dance—and Elyse was fascinated by my double jointed thumb—” She held up her pale hand and displayed how her thumb popped in and out of place. “—but we did it. And we could do it again.”
Killian crossed the room and touched Sera’s elbow, stopping her pacing. “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
Her lilac eyes were wide, her hands wringing together, as if she could manifest the plan between her palms. “We could try and switch bodies. That way she can take down the wards herself from outside, and she can break in and unleash hell on the Bastards. It’ll be harder without her being in the same room, but—I think we can do it. We just need a couple things—”
She stopped short, dropping her hands to her side. Heartache tore through her features as she turned toward Killian. “I need to have something that belongs to her. And she needs to have something of mine.”
Killian dropped his gaze to the floor, his shoulders dropping as well. His chest burned, like it was incinerating in Elyse’s absence. He could feel the distance between them, tearing at the bond they’d worked so hard to repair.
