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Her smile faded, and suddenly, she was in my face. “You better make it happen!” she hissed, spittle flying at me.
I drew back, shaking my head. “It’s notmydecision to make! I didn’t ask Agnan to attack my mother?—”
“HE DID HER A FAVOR! You’re blessed! Do you know how lucky you are? How powerful?!” she yelled, her face beet red.
I swallowed and stared at her. “What if I am able to become queen?” I squeaked, willing her to calm down. “What good is that to the Order of Souls?”
Lysandra’s grin returned, and she drew back, unfolding her arms from under her chest. “Then I can become your most trusted advisor,” she replied, and I understood then.
“Hell no.” I blurted it out before I could stop myself, and her face went stark again.
“What?”
It was too late to backtrack, but the sentiment remained the same, anyway. “No. I wouldn’t let you within ten miles of the palace. In fact, when I get out of here, I’ll have explicit orders to have you hunted down and locked up indefinitely—far away from the palace.”
It was the wrong thing to say, and I didn’t see the blow coming before the universe around me went totally black—not that I would have been able to stop it.
But I did remember the last thing I thought as Lysandra rushed toward me, a maniacal expression on her face, but as she neared, her image shifted, and I caught the blur of a male’s face hiding behind my sister’s innocent façade, their features blending together as I blacked out completely.
That isn’t Lysandra. She’s someone else.
Chapter 17
Jace
We were back to the old-school way of doing things, without magic or spells.
Boots to the ground, we joined forces with Silverhold. Royal Guards from both kingdoms were stationed at the borders. And the other two kingdoms, Ironhelm and Steelshire, were put on notice for what was happening as well. Cade and Nyx offered to send their own guards into our kingdoms to help, but they didn’t know our regions like we did. I thanked both kings for the offer and told them to stand by, but I knew we wouldn’t be using them.
“There’s some awfully dark magic in these parts,” Cirilla commented as we walked the roads where the locator spell had given out. Solomon agreed with her, and I could even smell it. We were still in Goldhaven but very close to the edge of Silverhold.
“I want all the Anti-Order accounted for,” I had instructed my guards, but Zen and Mirielle had been ahead of me on that front.
“They are,” Mirielle assured me by phone. “Every one of them… except Lysandra. I have no doubt about any of them, honestly.”
I had no choice but to trust in their assessment, but there had to be a reason that Lysandra was going to Silverhold. She had to believe that she could still turn her former partners.
I wanted to talk to the other members of the Anti-Order myself, but I was sure that Zen would forbid it, his wife as well. I had no doubt that they were working with me, anyway, but my frustration mounted with every moment that we couldn’t find results on Elix’s whereabouts.
The guards who were capable of shifting and flying did overhead searches of the area, scanning the remote countryside for any sign of where they might have gone, but as the midday sun rose higher in the sky, I felt Elix slipping further away from me.
“You should go back to the palace until there’s word,” Cirilla urged me. “It’s not safe for you to be out here and exposed like you are.”
“I’m not going anywhere without Elix,” I fired back, ready to shift back into my wolf form and begin my hunt again, but Cirilla stopped me.
“You’re only wearing yourself out,” she warned me with the foreshadowing that chilled my veins.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I growled. “What do you know?”
“Nothing yet,” she sighed. “But I have a feeling that you’re going to need all the energy you can spare when you do find her. If Elix isn’t able to get out of whatever mess she’s in with Lysandra now, given her power…”
She trailed off, and my mind whirled. Lysandra had gotten the better of Elix twice now, and like my mate, she was also of Agnan’s blood. Who knew what abilities Lysandra possessed?
Mirielle might know. She lived with her for years!
“I’m going to Silverhold Tower to speak with Zen and Mirielle,” I informed Cirilla. “Call me right away if there’s any word.”
I’d beenwrong to doubt the King and Queen of Silverhold. Their devotion to finding Lysandra was apparent. Their dining room was flooded with computers, guards, and security experts calling in from all over to locate the missing fae. They were even putting all the kingdom’s enchantresses to work. They were just as determined to find Lysandra as I was Elix.
