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Abaddon looks up from where he’s sitting in front of Layden, who’s chained to the wall in the space where I spent two centuries. Our brief, happy reunion yesterday was cut short when Abaddon clapped chains on our brother’s wrists and dragged him down to the dungeon. Though he had helped send our father back to the Great Hall, Abaddon wasn’t quick to forget or forgive Layden’s threats to his family.
Hannah and I spent all day trying to convince him differently, but he wouldn’t budge where threats to his wife and daughter were concerned.
Romulus had been absent most of the day, and Remus was no help, delighting in the chaos brought by Layden’s return.
But none of that matters now.
Abaddon turns to look at me, frowning.
“My consort,” I say, even though I don’t know that’s what we are to each other. But it’s language that might resonate with him and get him moving faster. “I need to go to her. I never should have left her.”
He must see the panic on my face; it says something about the change in our relationship that he immediately nods and stands. He can fly me there in an hour, and I pray to gods that I don’t believe in it will be fast enough.
“I can take you there instantly,” Layden says from behind us as I’m about to shut the door.
“What?” I shove the door back open and return to my prodigal brother. “How?”
“I told you. I have found many magics in my time away. If you let me up to my bag, I could take you there in the blink of an eye.”
I turn to Abaddon and yank the key to Layden’s chains from around his neck. Abaddon growls, but I ignore him as I stalk back to the wall.
“Do not!” Abaddon roars in command.
“You will have to learn locking us to walls is no solution anyway,” I say back as I release the locks around Layden’s wrists. I grasp his hand to pull him up, and once my youngest brother is on his feet, I glare at him straight in the eye. “Her life may be in danger. Do not pull a trick, or I will do worse than chain you to a wall.”
Layden’s eyes narrow. “And one wonders why I put off this homecoming.”
“Trust works both ways,” I say in earnest, my words quick. “If you help me protect my consort, you will have mine. Forever. I make an oath to you.”
His brows furrow as if he is not sure he can trust my word.
“When have you known me to speak false?” I demand. “There is no time. Decide if you will help me or not. If you will not, I’m wasting time.”
He breathes out. “I will. Come.”
I turn and sprint up the stairs. Layden comes behind me, Abaddon huffing his displeasure at the scene as he follows in the rear. Likely not wanting to take his eyes off Layden.
At the top of the stairs, I break off into the dining room. Layden’s bag is where he dropped it beside the blackened circle our father was sent back through yesterday. Remus is bent over it, poking through the contents.
“Hey,” Abaddon calls. “Get away from that.”
Remus’s head spins, and we’re faced with Romulus. “What’s happening?”
“I think Ksenia’s in trouble. Layden says he can take me to her.”
Romulus arches an eyebrow, moving away from the bag on the floor. Layden immediately bends over, rummaging around and pulling out several small burlap bags tied with dark ribbon. He hands one to me. “Stand back,” he orders.
“What do I—” I start, but he answers before I finish asking.
“Say the place you are going, picture it in your mind, and then smash that to the floor at your feet. It only works if you have been there before. Have you been?”
“I think so.” The name she said sounded a little different, but I think it was the town I knew as Helsinge. I can only hope I can follow her scent I know so well once I am in the city. From what I remember, it was a small town.
I waste no more time. Picturing St. Nicholas’s Cathedral, a big white church that had only barely been built when I’d last been in that city, I speak “Helsinge” and smash the small burlap bag against the floor with as much force as I can manage.
I’m not sure what I expect. Half of me thinks it is just a bag of potpourri and my brother is taking revenge against me by getting my hopes up. But as soon as the bag makes contact, white light bursts from the floor, enveloping me. And then it’s sort of like I’m plane-jumping. . . except I’m still in my body as my feet drop out from under me and my stomach spins wildly. I’m falling, white light a blitz around me.
