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It was no use. We had combed through the chaotic gathering at the top of that blasted mountain. Searching the euphoric faces of all those in attendance while Kade and Finn searched the skies. Drawing as little attention to ourselves as possible.
It went without having to be said. No one could know the queen was missing—her hold on the throne was still tenuous at best.Gods,I hardly believed it myself. One minute she was there and the next she was gone—leaving a gaping hole, raw and bloody in my chest. It was a fear unlike any I could remember. Not since I was a boy.
But it was no use—the searching. It only wasted more valuable time. We knew who had taken her though no one said it outright. It had to have been Valin. Why, only a moment after she vanished, did he also vanish?
I knew. I had known there was something not right about him from the start. I was the only one who agreed with her. And yet I had done nothing about it. I never dreamed thatthiswould be the outcome of my failure to act.
My fists clenched into white-knuckled bricks at my sides, mirroring the tensed and anxious state of Finn as we walked, when really, we’d rather run—or fly, to the infirmary. We had to see if Aisling was able to glean any more information from Valin. Thank the gods Liana had the sense to do a bit of investigating herself, or we wouldn’t even have this possible lead.
Kade and Alaric were in her royal chambers, pouring over maps of the Wastes—and trying to come up with some sort of excuse for her absence—again.I didn’t envy them. The moment we’d returned to palace, we’d headed straight for Valin’s chambers. But even entering through her terrace, seeing her rumpled sheets…godsthesmellof her everywhere. It was almost too much to bear.
“If she asks about Liana, don’t say anything. Just change the subject.” Finn warned, and I nodded. Until Alaric and Kade decided, we couldn’t answer any questions about Liana’s whereabouts. Captains orders.
He had been overwrought after we’d searched Valin’s chambers. I’d never seen him so frantic. Alaric could be hot-tempered, yes, but never like that. Maybe it was that we’d found almost nothing to incriminate the lost war hero. Save for a small flask of Kiraal in his bedside table.
I knew the smell of it instantly. Like a perfume, thick and rich and cloying. Like a rose on fire. The one who ingested the extract would be put into an entranced, almost paralytic state. I knew the feeling well.
The plants needed to make the extract grew wild all around my uncle’s home. I had used Kiraal to escape my own demons for a time. Those nights when I felt all alone, like a weathered tome in my reclusive uncle’s pristine library. Only there to be observed and then shelved.
Kiraal was my escape… when I was younger and more naïve. But it had other, more malicious purposes, too.
“Finn,” I began, needing to say it out loud. The thing I knew all of us were thinking, but not saying. What if Liana was already dead? A dagger of ice shot through my core just tothinkof it as a possibility. “What if—”
“Don’t,” the Draconian said, not leaving any room for argument, “Don’t eventhinkit,” he spat, surging ahead of me down the long corridor.
He was right. I couldn’t let myself think like that. Liana would be alright—she had to be. The Night Court was my home now. And it was more of a home to me than anywhere else had ever been in my one-hundred twenty-five years on this land. The feeling was foreign and yet so consoling. It was belonging. And acceptance. Andfamily.
I wouldn’t let anyone take that from me—takeherfrom me.
From us, my mind corrected. Because she was as much Finn’s and Alaric’s and Kade’s as she was mine.
Finn and I marched into the infirmary and found Loris alone, tending to three Fae males with injuries indicative of brawling. Likely they were at the memorial. Things had just started getting out of hand when we left. Too much drink and little food or sleep always led to such things.
“Loris, we need to speak with Aisling, if you’ll allow us through,” Finn said, not so much asking for permission as he was telling the old crone what would happen.
She huffed, throwing her hands in the air, “Wouldn’t that be nice. I’d sure like to speak to her, too. The little brat hasn’t shown her face in near two days now. Spoiled girl—”
Finn and I halted mid-step, turned back to her, “You’re saying she isn’t here.”
“Do you think I’d be tending to thesefoolsif I had my apprentice here?” she said, as though she was above such a novice’s task.
I clucked my tongue, “Where is she?”
Finn and I shared a look, and I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was. The healing Grace was rare. And one that the Mad King would look to collect.
The female went back to tending the wounded male lain out on the table before her with a little too much force, “I’ve already sent a rider to fetch her. She’ll be with her family. It’s the only other place she goes.”
Finn’s wings twitched, “And where does her family live?”
The healer only just finished telling him before he raced from the room. I didn’t have to ask to know he had gone to see for himself if that was, in fact, where she had disappeared to.
“Thank you,” I said to Loris’ back, “I will tell the queen of your… eagerness to help find herfriend.”
I had the gratification of watching her shoulders tense at the subtle threat before I left her to her devices.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Liana
