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“What d’you want me to do?” His mouth firmed, and I knew that whatever he thought about Eden personally, he’d go to the wall to help me get her back.
I shook my head, pretending frustration when what I really felt was a killing fury. When I spoke, my voice was rough with anger.
“Just keep doing what you’re doing.” I pointed at the ceiling and waited for Cain’s nod. “I’ll be in my apartment if you need me. I want to follow up a few leads from there.”
We’d done this before. Cain would meet me in the west tower, away from the video cams and any hidden watchers. A tunnel connected to the west tower led from a hall near our apartments. A tunnel which everyone but me, Cain and Brien seemed to have forgotten existed.
When I reached my apartment, I stepped inside long enough to enter the shadows out of sight of the nearest camera, then left, slipping around the corner to the tunnel. I dropped out of the shadows long enough to open the door, then slipped through, leaving it ajar for Cain.
I remained in the physical world, waiting in the unlit tunnel until he joined me a few minutes later. We both faded back into the shadows until we reached the tower’s top floor. We had to leave the shadows to speak, of course.
By unspoken agreement, we moved to the tower’s dark side, avoiding the moonbeam slanting through a narrow window.
“Talk,” Cain demanded, his voice barely above a whisper. “The kidnappers contacted you?”
I nodded grimly. “Through Eden. They made her record a video.”
I had him watch the video, then showed him the map and the accompanying instructions.
When Cain got angry, he went still. Now he went so motionless he was like a dead man standing. “Those motherfuckers. Are you going to tell Brien?”
I appreciated that he asked rather than demanding. As Brien’s other lieutenant, I wouldn’t blame him if he insisted on going straight to Brien.
“I don’t know.” I returned the phone to my pocket. “One part of me thinks he can help. The other part is afraid it’s too risky. If I do something and Eden gets hurt...” I shook my head, throat tight.
Cain glanced at the moonbeam, sliding his lips to the side. I waited, giving him time to think.
“I think you should go to him,” he said after a few seconds. “They want you to keep this from Brien, to come alone with Twilight, which means they plan to overpower you and either kidnap or stake Twilight. At that point Eden might be expendable.”
“That’s my guess, too. But I can’t risk Eden. And let’s face it, she’s…” My voice faltered. “She’s expendable either way. If I come with Twilight or if I don’t.”
“Not if I come, too.”
“You’d do that?”
A pissed-off snarl. “You have to ask? Of course, I’ll come.”
I briefly closed my eyes. “Thanks, man.”
“Hey. Together, right?” He raised his fist.
I bumped mine against it. “Together,” I said past the obstruction in my windpipe.
“We’ll get Eden back or go to our final graves trying. But if you want some advice—?”
“Please. I can’t think straight. I keep picturing her with some SOB who thinks of her as a pawn, not a person.” I dragged in a breath. “And she’s pregnant.”
“I know, bro. I know.” Cain pulled me into a one-armed hug. An awkward man-hug. But I felt the love and it choked me up even more.
“You know why she left?” I asked gruffly. “She heard us talking. Heard me say she was only a thrall. I keep thinking about that, how hurt she must’ve been. She loves me—you said it yourself. And I didn’t want to know. Didn’t want her to complicate things. Gods, I’m an ass.”
“Stop that. We’ll get her back, and you can make it up to her—understand?” He slapped my back and released me. “Okay, then. So we tell Brien—”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe Twilight doesn’t have to come,” he said. “One of us can assume a glamour.”
“But they’ll know it’s not her as soon as we say something.” A glamour didn’t change your voice, only your outer covering.
