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“I warned you not to go!” she fired out before I could explain that Elix was missing.
“This isn’t the time for lectures!” I barked back. “I need a locator spell and all the information you can find on a servant named Alpert.”
“Dammit, Jace?—”
“Just do it!” I howled at her, disconnecting the call and flying back outside to search the campsite for clues.
For the next half hour, I used my highly honed wolf senses to sniff every inch of the site, my nose taking me to the road before I lost Elix’s scent entirely.
“Someone was waiting for her in a vehicle,” I concluded, my heart thudding dully. “She was being watched. All this time.”
“Or this Alpert brought her somewhere,” Llyodiver suggested. “Why Miss Elix and not you?”
That was a valid point. If it were Lysandra, she had arranged to have us both drugged. Why didn’t she just kill me like the Order intended? There was no successor for me in Goldhaven. The line died with me.
My phone rang, and I snatched it up, Cirilla speaking before I could say a word.
“Your Alpert got a hefty payment in his bank account recently—much more than a servant would see in several years.”
“Fuck,” I hissed. “Have you found Elix?”
“Not yet, but I called the warlock, Solomon, back here. He’s on his way. I do have a location on Alpert, however, if you want that.”
“Of course I do!” I yelled. “Why didn’t you open with that?! He probably has her!”
“I’ll text you the coordinates.”
I waved at Llyodiver, rushing toward the SUV, and my guard followed as Cirilla’s text came through.
“Where to, Alpha?” my escort asked as we climbed into the armored vehicle.
“You have all their names and information?” I asked, nodding at the servant, who stared worriedly after us.
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Good.” My brow furrowed as I looked at the address that Cirilla had sent me, disappointment welling inside me.
This can’t be right. This address is in Geldon.
I’d call Cirilla from the road to confirm, but in the meantime, I airdropped the location to my driver.
“Back to Geldon?” Llyodiver sounded as conflicted as I felt. If Cirilla couldn’t locate Elix, she couldn’t possibly be as close as the capital city to the palace.
“Yes,” I muttered, realizing that it was the only place we had to start. “Back to Geldon… for now.”
I would get answers from Alpert one way or another. He would tell me what he’d done with Lysandra even if I had to torture him to make it happen.
Alpert was a sinewy,timid sort with thinning, dark hair that he tried to spread evenly over an egg-shaped head, unsuccessfully. It made him easy to pick out on the street when he attempted to sneak out of his low-rise apartment building on the east side of Geldon and into his comically tiny car.
“There!” I cried, recognizing him as soon as we pulled up to the curb, my foot already on the road before Llyodiver could fully stop the SUV. I was about to shift and take him whenLlyodiver rushed toward him, tackling the unsuspecting servant onto the sidewalk.
His suitcase jutted out of his hand and sprung open, startling passersby as shirts and boxer shorts rained over the street. Stunned, he threw up his hand, presumably to cast magic, but I was ahead of him, freezing him in place with a spell of my own. The skinny being lay paralyzed on the cement, pinned beneath Llyodiver's knees as I glowered at him.
“Where is she?” I hissed, my fangs elongating as his fear wafted into my nostrils. A low whimper of terror emanated from his throat, but Alpert wasn’t able to move. “Where is Elix?”
The servant struggled to speak or move, and I saw that I was going to have to free him if I wanted answers.
“If you do anything stupid, I won’t hesitate to paralyze you forever,” I promised, my tone conversational. The evenness of my words blanched him to opaque. “Do you understand? Blink once if you do.” He blinked deliberately, the terror on his face palpable. Releasing him from my magical hold, I asked him again. “Where is Elix?”
