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“Thank you, Cade. I owe you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Travel safe,” the king replied.
“I’m on my way now,” I reassured him. We disconnected, and I continued down the stairs as Saint growled at me.
“I wish you hadn’t done that!”
Without slowing, I tossed him a glance over my shoulder. “Done what?”
“Enlisted more guards. Elix’s going to hate that,” Saint sighed.
“Then she shouldn’t have taken off! What did she think I was going to do? Sit on my hands and wait it out?”
“She took off because you were talking so much shit about her!”
I finally slowed my long gait and whipped around to glare at him. “And what about the role you played in this, hm? You knew that she had dark magic in her bloodline all along and never told her!”
Saint’s hunkering shoulders pulled back, his eyes glowing coals in the darkness. But I could tell that my accusation affected him greatly. “I was trying to protect her. None of this ever mattered before, Jace, not until you came into the picture.”
I scoffed aloud. “Of course it did. But you thought, by sweeping it under the rug, that it would never come up to bite you in the ass. You took a shitty gamble, friend, but the truth always prevails.”
“No,” Saint hissed, advancing on me. “You’rejust thinking of yourself. Just like always. You don’t give a shit how this affects Elix. You’re only worried about how this is going to reflect onyou.”
Stung, I gaped at him. His words hurt me, but I refused to entertain this fight again. We had already had it and lost Elix along the way with the same words. The only thing that mattered was getting her back, and that I intended to do.
My private planetouched down in Copehaven within a couple of hours, Cirilla and Saint at my side. I hadn’t wanted Saint to come along, but he wouldn’t leave Geldon, convinced that his sister would return. I was worried he would cause a scene and create more of a delay if I let him remain in the city.
The entire flight had been tense and uncomfortable, all of us lost in our own thoughts and avoiding each other’s eyes.
“Are you certain this is what the warlock told you?” I mumbled, looking out the window when the wheels touched down.
“For the third time, Jace, yes. Solomon said she was here.” Cirilla didn’t keep the irritation out of her voice this time. “Why didn’t you just bring him along if you don’t believe me?”
“Becauseyouare the palace’s enchantress, not some random warlock you plucked out of an alleyway,” I barked back, my throat hoarse now from all the sniping we’d been doing back and forth at each other. It was getting tiresome. I inhaled and changed my tone. “The guards have turned up nothing. They haven’t found any sign of Elix anywhere in Copehaven.”
“We know she took a bus here,” Cirilla reminded me. “Solomon said there was a motel on this side of the border that she never crossed over into Ironhelm.”
I nodded slowly, turning my eyes back out the window to watch the runway rush up to meet the lowering plane.
That made sense. Elix would need her identification for that, and it had not been used at any of the gates. But why hadn’t anyone seen her? She couldn’t have just vanished into thin air.
It seemed to take an hour for the aircraft to finally roll to a full stop, even though it was only a few minutes, and I almost ran the flight attendant over, trying to deplane first. As my feet touched the platform, my phone rang immediately.
“Cade?” I demanded, worry seizing me as I glanced at Saint. “Do you have any word on Elix’s whereabouts?”
“We haven’t found her,” the King of Ironhelm sighed. “But she was on a bus last night, and several faeries saw her walking away from the terminal, toward town. Beyond that, no one has a lead on her. I’m sorry, Jace. We’ll keep looking.”
“It’s all right. Thank you, Cade. I’m in Copehaven now. I’ve had a locator spell enacted on her. I think we’re close.”
“I hope you find her,” he said, and I swallowed my worry. “You can always come here if you need a place to crash for the night.”
“I appreciate all your help.”
“Keep us in the loop.”
“I will,” I promised grimly.
If we find her.
