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“That trembling.”
“I felt nothing.”
I clenched my teeth. I always trusted my gut, though, and it was currently screaming something was wrong. “Lock it up.” I nodded to Orman. “Cover our tracks. We need to go to the ballroom.”
“But, Sai,”—Elisa pressed her gloved hands against the safe—“we haven’t found Prince Shaan’s zevar yet.”
A paused stretched. “I know. I can’t tell you why, but we’re needed downstairs.”
“Are the others in trouble, you think?”
“Not sure.”
Her skin paled, and she quickly pushed the safe door back into place, the locks click, click, clicking. We followed Orman who stopped at the end of each hall to make sure our path was clear. When we reached the bottom floor, muffled screams and the thundering echoes of hundreds of voices reached us.
“Something’s gone down,” Orman said.
We jogged along a hall adorned with the heads of mythical beasts that had been hunted into extinction. Their antlers held candles that gleamed over the smooth surface of the bone.
“Stop.” Orman raised his arm.
Elisa and I froze.
“Oh.” Orman sighed. “Had me nervous there for a minute.”
Neia, still disguised as a guard, turned the corner, shadowed by Luz and the still-glamoured Ishir. Elisa released a whimper of relief. Neia looked at her first, then shifted to me. “You should be nervous. I’m afraid retrieving the globe caused a bit of a scuffle.”
“What happened?”
“They displayed it in the middle of the ballroom.”
Elisa gasped. “And you tried to steal it, anyway?”
Neia smirked, and for a moment the expression made her look like herself despite the glamour. She pulled the globe from her bag. “I didn’t just try.” She pushed it back. “You’ve got the zevar?”
I grimaced. “No. Lennox’s room was no good.”
“What?”
“I thought for sure he’d keep it close.” My words grew cold. “It seems I miscalculated.”
“I’m sorry, Sai. I wouldn’t have nabbed this yet if I’d thought you hadn’t finished. This palace is about to be locked the fuck down.”
“It’s no matter now.” It was a huge, tremendous fucking matter, and we all knew it. There was nothing we could do about it, though. “You four get out. Lennox’s room has a hidden exit. We left it opened if the first route doesn’t work.”
“What are you going to do?” Neia asked.
I hesitated to answer. The team was all here and fine. However, Lira wasn’t with us. She had an in with the Seelie court, but something stalled me. When I’d felt the tremble through the palace walls earlier, my mind had immediately darted to her. Something drew me, and my body ached with the need to find her. “I’m going to make sure Lira is all right. I’ll be behind shortly but don’t wait for me.”
Orman squinted. “I’ll leave you a kelpie tied by the river. I scoped out the stables and they’ll be easy enough to pilfer from.”
“Very good. Thank you, each of you.” I met all their eyes. “You’ve done honorably and served our court well. I’ll see you in a few hours if not sooner.”
I turned to leave, but Neia grabbed my arm and gave it a squeeze. I clasped her forearm then started marching towards the ballroom. The room was in chaos. Hundreds of beautifully adorned fairies huddled along the sides of the room as guards swept through the space, and a dozen surrounded the empty stand in the center of the room. The King stood on his dais and all but growled at Lennox as he spoke to him. The latter bowed his head.
I didn’t know what the Prince had done to displease his father, but I hoped he tore into his worthless ass.
I joined other guards walking across the room.
