Page 22 of Somnium

Elias looked up, his brows tight with confusion. “Why? We aren’t set to meet until next week.”

Sera just shrugged. “You know him. He refused to tell me anything until he could talk to us both.”

Elias grunted in acknowledgement. He knew exactly what Sera meant. Kai Aurelian was all about efficiency, and having to repeat himself was akin to heresy where he was concerned. With a quick toss of his chin in the direction of the door, he signaled to Sera that he was as ready as he could be with absolutely nothing to go on regarding the purpose of their friend’s unexpected visit. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

Sera stepped back to the door, peeking her head out into the hall.

“He awake?” a deep voice asked with the slightest shade of annoyance. Sera nodded. “‘Bout time …”

Kai stepped into the office, the dim light catching on the golden hoop where it rested against the sun-kissed skin of his ear in sharp contrast to the immaculately clean cut of his tailored suit.

“We have a problem,” he said as he crossed to stand in front of Elias. Always right to business.

“What is it?” Elias asked, an acidic tension twisting in his gut as he took in the quiet panic in the man’s green eyes. Whatever happened had to be bad to shake Kai’s usual granite-like composure.

“I had a call with Art Creagan this afternoon, he’s the head of CreaMar Logistics out of Fosteran. They’ve seen a drastic uptick in riots and unrest … and Lakshmi hasn’t been seen in the capital for nearly two weeks.”

Elias swore, pressing the tips of his first two fingers hard into the space between his eyebrows. The small country of Fosteran sat in the middle of the Southern Sea, and served as Sumbria’s closest trade partner to the south. If the gods there had started to vanish as well, it could only mean one thing.

“This isn’t contained anymore,” Elias said, “he’s moving past Sumbria.”

Kai nodded, shifting his attention to Sera. “We need to try again. Can you do it?”

Sera hesitated. She ran a hand up and down her arm, shifting on her feet before she gave him a half-hearted shrug. “I can, but after what happened last time, I don’t know that we should risk it. I don’t want to take out a city block or something.”

Kai tapped an impatient finger against Elias’s desk. “Is there anything else? Maybe something we haven’t tried? All of my resources are at our disposal. Just say the word.”

Sera’s eyes flicked to Elias for a moment before returning to Kai. He couldn’t say exactly what, but something about that look sent a chill down his spine.

“Unfortunately, the resources you can provide aren’t the ones we need,” she said, “I’ll keep digging though, see if there is anything I can modify.”

Kai nodded just as a sharp trill sounded from the phone in his hand. He glanced down at the screen, then turned to step back toward the door. “I have to head out. Let me know what you find.”

Without another word, Kai slipped back out into the hall, leaving Sera and Elias alone.

“Fuck,” Elias swore, threading his fingers through his hair. “It’s like every time we think we are making any sort of headway, he pulls ahead again.”

He slumped down into the desk chair and let his head fall back against the soft leather. With Kai’s report on repeat in his mind, he barely even noticed the silence that had settled in the office since the other man’s departure. Elias tipped his head forward to find Sera hovering by the door, watching him in a way that sent another shiver coursing through his limbs.

“What is it?” he asked.

Sera turned to peer out into the hallway, checking to make sure both directions were clear before she shut the door and turned to face him. “I didn’t want to mention this with Kai here, but …” She paused, her hesitation only feeding the unease rising in Elias’s chest. “There is something we haven’t tried yet.”

Elias’s eyebrows shot up as he sat forward in his seat. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because it’s more complicated than the approaches we’ve already taken. We’d need to time it just right, it needs more people, and very, very specific elements that are nonnegotiable.”

Elias stood, the force of his movement so abrupt that it sent his chair rolling into the wall with a bang. In a swift motion, he dug his phone from his pocket and began to dial Kai’s number. They could handle complicated, and he had no doubt that whatever exotic ingredient Sera needed, Kai could track it down. There were definite perks to conspiring with the head of the region’s largest shipping company. He didn’t even realize that Sera had crossed the room until her hand came to rest over his screen.

“Elias, you don’t understand,” she said. His attention snapped to her face at the quiet urgency in her voice. “The element that we need isn’t something that we can just pop out and buy. It’s something that we don’t have access to. At least not in the way we need.”

She held his stare, letting him process her words until at last, they clicked into place with a violent snap. His stomach dropped. Of course … they needed her.

“That’s more than complicated, Sera. It isn’t an option,” he said, his tone sharp and final.

“I know,” she said with a nod and an understanding smile. “I still have to tell the others, though. I just wanted you to hear it first.”

Elias nodded as he moved from behind the desk to walk her to the door. Sera stepped out into the hall, and with a gentle click, Elias eased the door closed behind her. He rested his forehead against the textured wood panel. Maybe if he pushed hard enough, the pressure would stop everything around him from crumbling to dust.