Page 34 of Facade

“That’s a lot of ’ifs’, Aniah. She’s right there…” Pain flashed across his face briefly as his sharp eyes cut back to the manor. It was quickly replaced with his usual stern look as he focused back on me.

“Can you do that? The spell? Even with…”

He was always delicate about the current state of my magic. I swallowed thickly before answering.

“It’s the one curse I created. I can undo it.”

The part I left off was that I'd need help. But the moon was on our side. I placed a hand over my forearm where the melting rose lay beneath my sleeve.

“I don’t see why we can’t just grab her once the shackles are broken.” He pulled off the blood-soaked bandage around his arm, tearing a fresh strip of cloth.

“Because we’d only be kidnapping her from her captors. We’d lose her trust before we ever gained it. If she were to cause a scene—try to run from us—it would ruin everything,” I breathed. “Not to mention they’d hunt us down. The King won’t let his prize get away. And we don’t have the resources to outrun him at this point.”

After several failed attempts to bandage himself, I stalked over and snatched the fabric, wrapping it around the gouges from the skur. My mouth pressed into a thin line—my magic could have fixed this, too.

He nodded tightly. Reluctantly.

“Did you get a look at the males escorting her? Any idea what we’re dealing with?” I tied off the cloth and looked up at him.

He kicked at the dirt.

“Ryker?”

He sighed. “I saw a Werewolf, which we knew we’d be up against—Fae and…”

“And?”

“Gargoyle.” He dragged his glowing eyes to me, a tick in his jaw. “The scent was faint, diluted somehow, but it was there.”

That got my attention.

“Who was it?” My heart pounded in my chest.

“Aniah—”

“Who was it?” My voice rose.

“Malachai.”

A vice constricted around my heart. Everything around me faded away as his name rang through my mind and images flashed. I hadn’t seen him since the fall of the Gargoyle kingdom.

I thought he was dead.

“And fucking Aiden,” he growled.

“What? It can’t be—and Malachai? He’s working for… for the Fae king? How could he do this?” Tears welled in my eyes.

A sob tore free before I could stop it. Strong arms enveloped me in a hug I desperately needed, and I buried my face in his chest, taking comfort in the cedar-and-mountain scent that was Ryker. That was home.

“It explains how the Fae king knows about her. And I don’t think Malachai is himself. You know he'd protect her. He would’ve gotten her far away from this place. Far from Aiden. There has to be a spell on him, too.”

“How is it we’ve been here three years, searching, and never knew they were here?” I sniffled and pulled away, wiping my cheeks.

“I don’t know. But it’ll be okay. We’re finally getting somewhere.” The smile he offered me didn’t reach his eyes. “One step at a time, right?”

I nodded absently, as my mind drifted to the past.

“I’d like to be alone. I’m going to look for the things I need to do this spell.” I dabbed my face with my sleeve. “There’s someone we need to visit, though—I can’t do this spell on my own.”