SCOUTING DAY 7 (1 day since last contact with Guild)
“You’re not goingto like this,” Axel’s voice sounded as he stepped up beside me.
“I haven’t been liking most of what you’ve had to say for the better half of this century,” I retorted as I rested my head against the wall, leaning further into the shadows as we studied the guards posted throughout the throne room at the Solis Court.
Tugging a smaller throwing blade from my waistband, I rolled the metal between my fingers as my second began to speak again.
“The male from the Marking Day ceremony is on the move.”
“You’re positive?” I questioned. “I thought our contact with the Remnant didn’t have us meeting for another two hours?”
“Our contact didn’t, but the tracker I snuck on him earlier tonight is going off,” Axel replied as his eyes narrowed in on a side door. “But that’s not all.”
“Of course not,” I bit out as I pinched the bridge of my nose,praying to Aeternus for patience I most certainly didn’t have tonight. With a look toward him, I asked, “What else?”
“My cameras picked up movement in the far wing of the court. Two angels with a third unconscious between them, and . . . well . . .” He rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck.
“Just spit it out,” I stated, agitation rising in me as I performed another sweep of the area, my eyes catching on every drone flying surveillance throughout the space, the cameras flashing as the citizens of Solis milled about.
“You’re . . . well . . .” He gestured uncomfortably toward my wrist. My eyes narrowed slightly in brief confusion. “Stars-be-damned, my cameras also pickedherup, tailing behind the group of angels in the back hallways.”
“For the love of Aeternus,” I ground out as my heart beat faster, my pulse throbbing as my gaze narrowed in on the far corridors. “Where is she now?”
“Still following them—up to the third floor now. But the two guards don’t appear to be stopping yet.”
“And the Remnant male from Marking Day?” I questioned as I cut a glance toward my second, already feeling a headache forming from this night.
“He went down two floors and appears to be in a basement of sorts.”
My teeth clenched tightly, jaw ticking as my training battled the pulse of a demand stemming from the mark on my wrist. I could feel the starbound mark prickling against my skin, an ever-present reminder of my tie to the stars-damned female who appeared in my dreams.
“What do you want me to do?” Axel asked as he briefly scanned his phone, the various camera recordings flickered across his screen in rapid succession. His movements stopped on a particular screen, and I could only watch as Raelyna’s green dress disappeared from view.
I rubbed my jaw as everything in me demanded that I goafter her, to ensure her safety. The stars-damned starbound mark was going to be the death of me if Raelyna didn’t realize we were marked sooner rather than later. I wouldn’t force a conversation with her regarding a mark she couldn’t even see. But this stars-damned bond . . .
But she wasn’t fully mine, yet. And even if she were, I had a duty to obey. A mission that needed to be completed. One that I couldn’t afford to get distracted from—a line I was already dangerously toeing, seeing as I’d foolishly chosen to dance with her tonight.
My thoughts briefly flickered to the low-cut emerald-green dress she’d worn tonight, to the feel of her in my arms. The way her brow furrowed in frustration, the slight scrunch of her freckled nose as she argued with me, the?—
I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
“I’ll go down to the basement,” I stated after the silence stretched on for too long. Axel’s eyes widened just a fraction, the answer that fell from my tongue surprising us both. “But you go after . . .” I gestured to the screen, where it currently displayed Raelyna tailing the two guards up to the fourth floor of Solis Court. “Make sure she’s not harmed. We’ll meet after I get the information needed.”
Axel nodded, a grave look on his face as he studied me. “You sure about this, Blackwood? I can only imagine the mark is demanding you go after her.”
I cut him a sharp look, only nodding once more, knowing this was the only option I had, before I pushed off the wall, heading toward the stairwell that would guide me to the answers we desperately needed.
I was fucked.There was no other explanation.
I overestimated my ability to focus on this mission. I should have pulled back the moment that stars-damned mark appeared on my wrist.
Three small triangles that bound us together.
And now, every fiber in my being thrummed with the need to ensure my starbound was safe . . . unharmed,especiallyafter the bruises I’d caught a glimpse of across her wrist.
Red flooded my vision even now as I thought about her delicate skin, speckled with fingerprints from where that bastard king had gripped her too tightly. From where he’d held her against her will as he forced her to dance with him. For what reason, I didn’t know, but I intended to find out. And once I did . . .nothingwould stop my fury from unleashing.
I hadn’t been lying on the dance floor when I told her that I couldfeelher pain. It was a typical result of a starbound bond, of the connection Aeternus had given us, whether she was aware of it or not. And I had felt herpain.
