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“I’ll be standing by.”
“Great.” I hung up and handed the phone back to Tao, who was looking decidedly more awake.
“Ilianna’s really missing?”
“Lucian’s snatched her and hidden her location through magic. I’m about to go over to the Brindle to see if her mom can find her.”
“What can I—”
“No,” I cut in. “Time is of the essence. We’ll come back here the minute we uncover anything.”
“To echo Carwyn’s words, I’ll be standing by.” He half turned, then clicked his fingers and added, “Oh, a parcel was delivered for you an hour ago. I dropped it on the coffee table so you’d see it coming in, which you obviously haven’t.”
No, because I hadn’t come in the regular way, but rather via the Azriel express. I walked across to pick up the small white box. It wasn’t particularly heavy, and the writing was my father’s. This had to be the wards he promised. Heart beating a whole lot faster, I glanced up at Tao and said, “Thanks.”
He frowned. “It’s not one of those parcels, is it? Because you’re suddenly looking a whole lot paler.”
“It is, but it’s something I’ve asked for this time.” I forced a smile. “Hopefully, it’s something that’ll keep the hordes at bay while we grab the next key.”>I carefully flicked the nearest stone out of sequence. It rattled noisily across the old floorboards, the sound almost thunderous in the hush holding the building captive. A heartbeat later, energy burned across my skin and Azriel was in front of me, pulling me into a hug as fierce and as desperate as any I’d ever experienced.
I melted into him, enjoying the security and warmth of his embrace. “I’m okay,” I said eventually. My words were muffled against his chest, but I wasn’t about to move. Not yet. Not until the trembling that was as much utter relief as it was weakness stopped. “I wasn’t there for most of it.”
“The Aedh’s death will be slow and very painful.” Azriel’s voice was flat but filled with such fury, it momentarily stole my breath. “And I will savor every single moment of it.”
“But not until we find Ilianna.”
“He cannot get away—”
“You will not kill him.” I pulled away from him, my gaze searching his. Saw the anger, the pain, and knew it was all for me. It warmed me just as much as it worried me. “Far worse can and has been done to me, Azriel. Ilianna is a hostage against my good behavior, and until we can find her, then Lucian has to live.”
He said something in his own language, the words soft but vehement. It didn’t take much imagination to know he was swearing. “You cannot seriously think we should allow him in on the search for the keys. That is taking things too far.”
Things had already gone too far, and it was too late to stop it all now. “I am, and he will.” I gave him a lopsided smile. “At the very least, it means we can keep an eye on him.”
“I would much rather keep a sword on him, if it’s all the same to you.” He tugged me close again and wrapped his arms around me. It felt like heaven. “Let’s get you home.”
If I was in his arms, then I was home, but I didn’t give that particular thought voice. His energy swept around me, and in no time we’d zipped through the fields and were re-forming in the middle of my bedroom. I stepped back and glanced at the clock on my side table. It was just after ten.
“I’ll have a shower and clean up; then we can go see if the key is at the exhibition.”
“And if we find it?”
I shrugged. “I guess what happens next depends on what sort of security they have in place.”
He studied me for a moment, then said, “What of the Aedh?”
“He’s going to meet us there at eleven thirty.”
“So we should try to get there sooner—”
“No,” I cut in. “Remember Ilianna.”
He swore again. I smiled, dropped a quick kiss on his lips, and said, “I know. Trust me, I know.”
“I bet you do not.”
He caught my broken hand and gently ran his fingers over the mangled remnants of mine. Energy flowed from his touch, renewing my reserves even as my fingers began to heal. Or rather, heal as much as they were ever going to. But I could bend them, use them, and the scars—which were red and fierce-looking right now—would eventually fade. I’d been lucky, and I knew it. If not for the fact I was half Aedh, I would have lost them.
He raised my fingers to his lips, brushing a sweet kiss across them, then said, “Go. I will prepare you something to eat.”
