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Groaning, I covered my face with my hands and felt the full heat of my embarrassment. “I am so sorry.”
Aidan chuckled. “It’s okay.”
I walked over to the table where I filled a glass with tart lemon berry juice. Aelfric and Rhoswen strolled in, and I turned to smile at them.
Rhoswen stepped closer, lightly pressing a kiss to my cheek. “I’m glad to see you aren’t angry with me,” she said softly.
“I could never be angry at you,” I replied, taking her hands in mine. “You helped us tremendously last night. I have faith that we’ll get to the bottom of this curse soon.”
Rhoswen gave me a nod of encouragement before we all helped ourselves to heaping plates of breads, fruit, and cheeses. We sat down around the table, and I savored the meal, appreciating the much-needed sustenance after burning so much energy the night before. Every now and again, I caught myself staring at the door, wondering if Bayleon and Bastian would stroll in.
Rhoswen glanced over her shoulder at the door, furrowing her brows when she turned back to me. “Is something wrong?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I haven’t seen Bayleon or Bastian yet this morning.”
Aelfric grabbed a carafe of orange juice and filled his glass. “Two of my guards informed me that they went out very early this morning.” A look of concern passed across his face. “Are they not back yet?”
A feeling of dread coursed through my veins. My gaze snapped to Aidan and he jumped to his feet, his eyes darkening into warrior mode.
“I didn’t know they had left,” I said, standing quickly.
Rhoswen gasped and stood. “You don’t think something happened to them, do you?”
I hoped to hell it hadn’t. Aidan marched around the table and nodded toward the door. “Let’s go. I can track them.”
We took off out of the dining room and tore out of the palace doors. Aidan stopped in the grass and breathed in deeply, his eyes shifting to that of his dragon.
“I have their scents, but it’s not just theirs I smell. There are others, and just like last night, I can’t make out what they are; they’re masked somehow.”
He nodded toward the forest and my stomach dropped. We ran swiftly across the meadow and stopped at the tree line. Aidan’s eyes glowed as he pinpointed where we should go next. I don’t know how far we ran, but it had to have been miles. Finally, up ahead, I spotted an opening.
“What’s out there?” I said, trying to see what was beyond the trees.
Aidan narrowed his gaze, obviously able to see farther off in the distance than I could. “It’s Glimmerglass Lake.”
I ran as fast as possible toward it, dodging tree limbs and bushes. When I reached the edge of the trees, I stopped dead at the sight before me. I gazed at the bleak landscape of cracked mud and sparse patches of dead grass in front of me, a far cry from the majestic lake I had envisioned based on the tales I’d heard. Could it really be that the land had drained this lake to punish the sirens for their mischievous ways?
“Where to now?” I asked Aidan, who was sweeping his gaze across the desolate expanse.
“This is it. It ends here.”
His words sent a chill down my spine, and my mind raced to make sense of it all as my gaze darted around in search of any clues of where Bayleon or Bastian might be. There were no footprints to track, nothing to prove that my men were even there. My heart began to pound with fear, but then rage replaced it. Whoever had taken them was going to regret it. I was determined to find them and bring them back, come hell or high water.
“Where the hell do we start?” I hissed.
Aidan’s gaze smoldered as he turned to me. “We fly. You up for that?”
He stepped back to give himself room to shift, but then his head snapped to the right as if sensing something. He grabbed my arm and pulled me behind a massive tree. My heart thundered in my ears.
“What is it?” I said, keeping my voice low.
He peered around the side of the tree, his green eyes blazing. “I think someone just used a portal to get here. One second there was nothing and then there was this incredible surge of power. I know that feeling; it’s the same when people come and go from the Land of the Fae.” He breathed in and then slowly let it out. “It’s a female, Lia. And her magic isn’t masked. I’ve never felt someone like her before.”
It had to be a siren. And just as I thought it, I could feel the woman’s power. It was the same power I felt in the mortal realm the other day.
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the two necklaces. He stared at the necklace in my hand curiously before cocking his head to the side and meeting my gaze. I moved closer and clasped mine around my neck. His eyes widened as I slowly disappeared from sight, and he smiled.
“No need to explain,” he said.
