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She slid it across the table toward Alric. Nikki leaned the other way, following its course along the smooth, glossy surface. Her handwriting was clear and full of pretty loops.
Alric picked up the paper, his brow furrowing as he looked over the writing. He placed it down again. “This is just a list of four names.”
Lina held her chin up high and straightened her shoulders. “That’s my family. My parents and my younger brother and sister. I’ll tell you everything I know. I’ll show you exactly where the Jaeggi Clan is. I’ll tell you everything about the protection wards, security system, and the guards. But you have to agree to rescue the four people on that list and to protect them from the Jaeggi.”
“I thought you had two older sisters as well,” Nikki said.
Sadness flashed across her young face for a moment before she put her mask in place again. “They won’t come. They’d never leave the clan. They…they believe in what Thomas Jaeggi says about the other mages and the dragons. They’d kill me, you, everyone in here rather than betray the clan.” She shook her head and sighed. “No, not those sisters. My parents think all of this is wrong. Stealing mages and draining their magical core. Stealing another person’s essence. My youngest sister is eight and my brother is six. They can still be saved.”
“What about this here?” Alric turned the paper back toward her and pointed to one name. “There’s an H in parenthesis next to this name.”
“My little brother is human, we believe. Or maybe his core is really broken. We don’t know. But I thought you should know I want you to save a human.”
Cameron made a little noise as he reached for Alric. “We have no problem helping a human.”
“But it’s good to know before we go in,” Roca murmured. He tapped the side of his nose as he smiled at Lina. “Humans smell different from mages. Something for our dragons to keep in mind when they go looking for him.”
“My siblings should be sticking close to my parents, but yes, he’s one of the few humans in the clan,” Lina said.
Alric pushed to his feet and paced a short distance away from the table. Nikki tensed, and Gunter grabbed their hand in both of his. Even Cameron looked worried as he watched his mate.
After nearly a minute, Alric shook his head at some thought and turned back to stare at Lina. “I will be frank with you, Miss Lina,” he started slowly. “Our intent is to use this information to attack and destroy your clan.”
Lina nodded. “I know. I know I don’t have any choice in the matter, but I don’t want them to be my clan. I don’t want anything to do with them. They deserve what they get for hurting so many people.”
“But the battle that comes with that means chaos, destruction, and death. You are requesting we find four people amidst thousands while we are fighting. I won’t make promises I can’t keep.”
The poor teenager’s shoulders slumped, and she nodded.
“But I can promise we will try our very best to find them. And if we do find them, we will protect them as if they were members of our own clans.”
“You will?” Lina gasped.
Alric nodded, and she roughly wiped tears from her sparkling eyes with the heels of her palms.
“Is there any way we could get them a message without the rest of the Jaeggi finding out?” Roca asked.
Lina slowly shook her head. “Cellphones are closely monitored, and calls are tracked. I don’t think we’d be able to call or text.”
Rodrigo’s mouth twisted into a scowl. “An old-fashioned letter would take too long and be too obvious.”
“What about email? No! Junk mail?” Cameron asked.
“Regular email would be monitored, but I doubt they pay attention to junk mail. There’s just too much of it.” Lina seemed to perk up the more she spoke. “My mom has an email account, and she gets a bunch of random emails each day from different retailers offering sales. She reads all of them. She says it makes her feel normal. Her little taste of the outside world.”
“Liebling?” Alric murmured.
“I’d need to work with Cassie and maybe even North to see what we could construct quickly that wouldn’t arouse suspicion, but I think we might be able to get a message to her parents without the rest of the Jaeggi finding it.” Cameron nodded and smiled at his mate. “Yes, I’m pretty sure we can if you give us a day or two. Lina, is there anyone else who wants to defect?”
“Yes, five families altogether. You’ll really help them too?”
Cameron’s eyes were on Alric’s, a silent communication going between them before Alric answered, “Yes. Anyone who wishes to leave, we will help.”
Alric turned his attention back to Lina. “We agree to your terms. We’ll do what we can to rescue and protect your parents and siblings. What can you tell us?”
