Ornella. Where was Ornella? I didn’t give whoever was next to me a chance to speak as I got to my feet and
disappeared in my shadows and reappeared in Ornella’s bedroom.
Empty.
Cold.
Nothing was here.
It didn’t take even a single second for April to appear behind me in her own puff of smoke, her arms crossed, and her
brows creased.
“We can’t find her, Nic.”
My chest felt as if it would cave in on her words as they settled in. I knew something wasn’t right. The pull I’d always felt
in my chest towards her, was faded, as if shielded by something. I didn’t sense her in my mind either. I’d always been able to,
ever since we were children and as much as I tried to shut her out, that pull had always been there.
But now, it seemed faded, darkened.
“I will search for her. I know I can find her.”
“You will do no such thing.”
A growl emitted from my lips as April tried to command me. I was ready to throw her into the dungeons for even the idea
of not being with my guards to search for my wife.
“Do not test me. I need to find her.”
“There are bigger things we have to deal with right now. You were out for two days and in that time, soldiers managed to
break through the barrier.”
Two days? I’d been asleep for two whole days. It didn’t feel that long and already shit had happened.
“How? How has that happened? Nora is at the border protecting it.”
April lowered her eyes and kicked her feet, obviously hiding something from me, or not wishing to enrage me even more.
More had happened in these two days than she was letting on.
“April, where is my wife?”
She bit her lip just as Vanessa and Morgana stepped into the room. All three of them, I noticed then, were dressed in
armoured gear, minus the metal that would protect their chest and shoulders. Each of them with a sword and dagger on either of
their hips.
“She’s with Nora,” April admitted, but there was something else.
“We have reason to believe after Ornella left here, Nora followed her and took her to the border. To her brother and uncle.”
The world felt as if it would swallow me whole. Nora, the Fae who’d taught me how to fight, how to protect myself and
