“No…” I drop to my knees beside her, my hands hovering over the wound. So much damage. Too much blood. “Daciana. Daciana, stay with me.”
Her chest rises. Once. The breath is shallow and weak.
She’s alive. Barely.
“Healer!” I roar toward the door. “I need a healer NOW!”
But there’s no one to hear me. Astra—gone. Selene—gone. The healer who was with them—gone.
Footsteps thunder in the corridor, then Lucian and Leon burst through the door, with Kieran close behind.
“Fuck.” Leon drops beside Daciana immediately, his hands glowing with what little healing magic he possesses. “She’s dying.”
“Where’s Astra?” Lucian’s panic pervades the room,suffocating and desperate. His eyes scan every corner, every shadow. “Where is she? Where’s Selene?”
“Gone.” The word tastes like ash. “They’re both gone.”
Kieran strides over to the window and examines the latch. “Opened from the inside.”
“The healer?” Leon’s voice is tight as he works on Daciana, trying to stem the bleeding.
“Also gone.” I pull off my shirt and press it against Daciana’s throat with shaky hands. The fabric soaks through instantly. “She was supposed to stay with them. Help Selene.”
“Either the healer ran”—Kieran’s voice is grim—“or she’s part of this.”
Lucian’s roar shakes the walls. Power erupts from him in waves, cracking the stone beneath our feet. “I can’t sense Astra. Find them, Seth! Find them now!”
I reach for the mate bond desperately, searching for any trace of Selene through our connection.
Nothing.
Not weak, not distant, but nothing. Like she’s been severed from me completely.
“I can’t feel her.” The admission knocks the wind out of me. “The bond—it’s gone.”
Kieran turns from the window, his expression darker than I’ve ever seen. “The necromancer has her, then. Completely.”
“So, we track them.” Leon’s hands are red with Daciana’s blood, but he’s still working, still fighting to keep her alive. “We hunt them down and—”
“They could be anywhere.” Kieran’s words cut through the thread of hope. “If the necromancer is controlling Selene fully, they can make her do anything. Go anywhere. And if they have the Queen…”
He doesn’t finish. He doesn’t have to.
A necromancer with access to Astra. To the unborn, royal heir. To the life force they feed on.
My wolf tears at my insides, demanding I move, demanding I find our mate and bring her back.
“The red mist.” I force the words through gritted teeth. “Can you track it?”
Kieran pauses before replying. “Possibly. But it will take time. Time we may not have.”
Lucian’s whole body is vibrating with violence that is about to erupt. “We don’t have a choice.” His gaze locks onto mine, and I see my own alarm reflected there. “We have to find them. Whatever it takes.”
I stand, my body moving on instinct. The mate bond is gone, but that doesn’t mean I can’t find her. Doesn’t mean I give up.
Daciana makes a sound—wet, desperate—when the pressure from my hand leaves her neck. Her fingers twitch against the floor.
“Hold on,” Leon mutters, his magic flaring brighter. “Just hold on.”
