Page 129 of Twist of Fate

Of course he had.

Pride and fear collided inside Connal. His clever, reckless human had faced magic alone because taking Connal with him would have exposed them both.

Connal would have time to be furious later. For now, he had to find him.

“Can we use the elevator?” he asked.

Tyson examined the dead panel beside the doors. “Not without power or Hale’s authorization.”

Asterius smiled without warmth. “Then we don’t use it.”

Connal sheathed his sword long enough to press one palm against the elevator doors. Luke remained below them, separated from him by concrete, steel, and the wounded structure of the building. He reached for the shape of the building beneath his feet. Human structures resisted differently than fae stone. They held no old vows in their foundations and no magic woven deliberately through their thresholds.

But this building had been wounded. Its barriers had cracked, leaving gaps through which Connal could feel heat, motion, and the faint shape of the spaces below.

Beneath all of it, Luke’s presence pulled at him like a hook.

“I can take us lower,” Connal said.

“How close?” Keir asked.

“As close as the building allows.”

Zer rolled his shoulders, adjusting the knives in his hands. “Then let’s move.”

Asterius caught Tyson by the shoulder. “Stay behind us.”

“I was planning to.”

Connal opened the portal beneath his feet and dropped through.

Cold air struck him as he landed on concrete. Asterius followed, then Keir and Zer, each arriving with weapons ready and bodies lowered for attack. Avaneel clung tightly to Zer’s hair through the drop, disappearing into the dark strands when he landed. Tyson came through last, and the portal snapped shut overhead.

They stood in a narrow corridor beneath long strips of harsh white light. Pipes, vents, and bundled wires crowded the ceiling. Black camera domes slowly turned in their direction. Behind them, a pair of closed elevator doors matched the private lift shown on Tyson’s plans.

Tyson oriented himself and pointed ahead. “This is the beginning of the service corridor.”

The alarm from the upper floors reached them through the vents in distant, muffled pulses.

The sound of boots, voices, and metal striking metal grew louder.

Connal moved toward it.

Asterius took position at his right, while Keir watched the corridor crossings behind them. Zer moved close to the wall, his knives angled down to keep them from catching the light. Tyson remained protected in the center.

The first security door stood open ahead of them. The metal had warped around the locking mechanism, leaving it hanging crooked in its frame.

Tyson glanced at the plans. “First access point. There should be two more before the server room.”

The intruders had already forced their way through this one.

Connal crossed the threshold. “Tell me what I’m seeing.”

“Restricted infrastructure,” Tyson said. “Maintenance corridors, secured rooms, backup power. The server room will have heavy cooling—cold air, loud fans, rows of machines.”

Connal did not care about the machines.

The pull of the bond had changed. Luke’s presence no longer moved steadily through the building. It remained fixed in one place, alive but still.