Cetos’s braids were pulled back with a leather strap, accentuating his sharp cheeks and eyes the color of the sea. Alon looked more relaxed than I had ever seen him; his short, dark hair looked like it had been blowing in the breeze from the sea, and the buttons of his shirt were undone, showing off his muscular chest.
Nico raised his drink toward the kings. “Ceto, Alon, what a pleasant surprise, what are you doing here?”
Ceto’s dark face scrunched. “I think I should be asking you that.”
“A little far from home aren’t you?” Alon added as he looked us up and down, “and in Aquatic Court clothing no less.”
I looked down at the clothes Nico had bought for us each, it was vastly different from what any of us typically wore but matched what the kings wore. We were all dressed in various versions of light cotton shirts with buttons down the top third of the shirt and loose-fitting pants that fell to the knees. Nico had even gotten us matching brown leather sandals with three straps across the top.
“We’re on a little detour,” Declan said.
Alon raised his brows. “A detour.” He looked between the three of us. “I feel like there’s more to the story you’re not telling us.”
We all shared a look, but none of us said anything.
“Why don’t you join us,” Nico offered.
“If you don’t mind?” Ceto asked.
“Please, join us,” I told the kings.
Ceto and Alon pulled chairs from another table before catching the attention of the bar keep and ordering another round of citrus beer for the table.
“So,” Ceto set his glass on the table as he turned his attention to me, “Traveling without your wife already?”
I stilled, my back stiffening. I could feel Nico and Declan’s gazes boring into the side of my head.
The buzz from the alcohol warmed my body, diluting my senses. “Not intentionally.”
Ceto’s brows pinched. “She was taken by the Panateia, an organization aiming to rid Lethenia of vampires. Since Lennox is half-witch, they needed her magic to try and complete the spell. You see, the night after our wedding, the Panateia kidnapped Kara and Lennox sacrificed herself to save her sister. So we’ve been searching for her ever since. Our last location led us to the outskirts of this here town. But as always, they had already moved.” I finished the last of my drink, waving down the bar keep as I reached for Nico’s half-drunk glass. “So tonight, Nico and Declan decided it would be good for me to relax a bit and not think about how I might never get to see my mate again.”
I downed the rest of Nico’s drink, slamming it down on the table with more force than necessary.
Nico and Declan didn’t meet my gaze. Ceto and Alon shared a look, they were probably trying to figure out how they ended up with a crazy person for a High King.
“How can we help?”
I snapped my head toward Alon. “What?”
“I said how can we help? Our High Queen has been essentially kidnapped, we will do whatever we can to help.”
“Why?” My voice was rough in my throat.
“She’s our High Queen, and I like Lennox, and you, even though you appear not in the best state of mind currently, we want to help. And this explains why you were all so strange the day after the wedding and ushered us out of town so quickly.”
“I am sorry about that.” Caterina and Endora had taken care of tying up loose ends when we left to get Kara back. We just never anticipated coming back without a different Adair.
“Luciana has been conducting locator spells to findLennox, and until she gives us locations, there’s not much we can do while we wait,” Nico continued for me.
Alon nodded. “Why haven’t you made her kidnapping public knowledge?”
I shrugged. “At first I thought it would be easy to get her back, but as time has gone on, I’ve been wondering that myself.”
“I think we need to tell everyone she’s been taken. It will get more eyes looking for her and it will alert Lethenia to the threats that have been lurking in the shadows.”
“And it will make it harder for them to move as quickly,” Nico added as he leaned back in his chair.
I mulled over their words.
