The bearded man offers me a proper greeting, placing his fist over his heart and bowing his head. “It’s an honor to be in your presence, General.”
“As you may know already, Ezkai Seraphina and Ezkai Xander are both high-ranking officers leading two differentsquads of highly trained Spy Unit soldiers,” Noire says. “Ezkai Seraphina leads the border security squad, and Ezkai Xander leads one of the internal spy network branches I oversee.”
“Good to know, thank you, Noire,” I say.
Ezkai Seraphina looks amused by my presence. I have a harder time reading Ezkai Xander, always have.
I know he didn’t like Daegel much. What does he think of me, someone who has slain a man she loved and risked her life for at one point?
I clear my throat. “I didn’t come here for the tour only, Noire.”
He smirks. “I didn’t think so, General.”
I purse my lips, eyeing the map once again. After a pause, I say, “I would like to know if your spies made any progress on figuring out anything about Vera’s…situation.”
“Perfect timing, General,” Noire says and gestures at Ezkai Xander. “Ezkai Xander was about to brief me on the latest discoveries. And Ezkai Seraphina has some insights to share, too.”
Hope blooms in my chest before I can squash it.
Ezkai Xander glances at the paper file he has in his hands and then at Seraphina. “Wanna go first?”
She shrugs and throws a playful glance Ezkai Xander’s way. “Sure, why not. I’m going to be much quicker than you, anyway.” Ezkai Xander rolls his eyes. Ezkai Seraphina meets my gaze. “We have reviewed all the border checkpoints that are used for legally and illegally transporting goods in and out of Ekios. I can confirm that Vera D’Argent has not been trafficked out of Ekios, at least up until now. My Ezkai are monitoring the activities at all those checkpoints at all times, so we’ll know if Caligos tries.”
My chest heaves.That’s not much.
“Thank you, Ezkai Seraphina,” I say. I look at Noire. “That’s good news, isn’t it?”
“Absolutely, General,” he says. “We can focus all the search efforts within Ekios, which should yield better results.”
I jerk my chin at Ezkai Xander. “What else you got?”
He taps the map right where Jaakii is. “Whoever kidnapped her was very well prepared?—”
“It’s the Talbots,” I interrupt him, glancing between the three of them. “We know it’s the Talbots, not just whoever.”
Ezkai Xander doesn’t waver. “At this moment, there is no concrete evidence that can point to the Talbots as the kidnappers, General.”
I press my lips into a tight line, my hands curling into fists at my sides. I shoot Noire a glance.
“Ezkai Xander and Ezkai Seraphina can be trusted, General,” Noire assures me. “The Talbots have been doing this for centuries. They are good at hiding their tracks. That’s why it has been such a struggle to pin any of the crimes to their family.”
I grind my teeth, but don’t argue. I nod at Ezkai Xander to continue.
“Our spies report that once Vera D’Argent was kidnapped from her studio, she was taken underground and then transported out of the city soon after,” Ezkai Xander says. He points a finger to the mountains. “Why I say the kidnappers were prepared is because they sent out three different carriages at the same time. Two to divert our attention, and one with Vera D’Argent. We caught the carriage that went towards the mountains, and it was empty.”
Ezkai Xander taps a finger on the small road leading west, to the shore. “We’re currently following one carriage traveling towards a port town.” He then points at the farm fields in the south. “And we have Ezkai following the trail leading south.”
My stomach is a pit of dread. “So, still no sight of Vera? Alive or…”
Ezkai Xander shakes his head.
With a sigh, I brace my hands on the edge of the table and lean forward. “How soon will your spies reach those two carriages traveling different directions?”
The port town on the west shore of Ekios is at least three days of travel away from Jaakii. The south is vast, with many different farms and small villages scattered through it. Some are remote enough it might take up to a week to reach them.
I can’t take this for much longer.
For a moment, I can’t breathe. It’s as if a clawed hand is wrapped tightly around my throat, squeezing it in its cold grip.
