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“What happened?” she asked.
Ryshi’s jaw clenched. By the time he’d returned from a short trip to Paris, he’d discovered his parlor empty of customers as well as his staff. They’d all fled the moment the slogs had arrived.
“The slogs assumed I was dinner and I had to kill them before they could bite me.” Slog teeth were coated in a poison that could kill demons. “The battle left gaping holes in my floor where their bodies leaked their toxic blood and contaminated the fountain that supplied the Oasis with water. I knew that it would take years and a large chunk of my fortune to repair all the damage.”
“Where was Zena during the battle?” Sofie asked.
“She was standing on the bar, laughing at the destruction.”
A sudden layer of ice coated the hedges that formed the tunnel, as if his explanation had angered Sofie. Why? Had she endured a similar situation in her past? Or did it trouble her that he’d been hurt by his sister’s callous behavior?
Either way, it revealed she did have feelings beneath that frigid exterior.
“I’m sure that didn’t make you happy,” she finally said.
“I’ve never been so furious in my entire life,” he admitted. “I ordered her to pack her bags and leave the Oasis.”
“What did she do?”
Ryshi’s steady pace never faltered, but tiny tendrils of mist formed around his feet. It was his jinn nature to turn into smoke form when he was under extreme stress. He had to concentrate to maintain his corporeal form.
“At first Zena was certain that I was teasing. After all, she’d destroyed my lair a dozen times before without consequences. But eventually I convinced her that I was serious.” Ryshi shook his head. The arguments between the two of them had always been epic, but after the slogs had destroyed the Oasis, Ryshi had refused to speak or even glance in Zena’s direction. He’d acted as if she didn’t exist. No matter what outrageous stunt she pulled, or how loud she screamed. It was the worst punishment possible for a young female who had to be the center of attention at all times and the one certain way to drive her away. “She packed her bags and left.”
“Where is she now?”
Ryshi came to a halt as they reached an intersection. “I don’t know,” he muttered.
“She disappeared?”
“That’s exactly what happened.” More mist swirled around Ryshi as the painful memories threatened to overwhelm him. “After Zena stormed out of the lair—and she quite literally stormed out—I spent the next few years savoring the quiet. There was no more drama, no sense of impending doom when I left my private quarters. Just the soothing sound of workers as they restored the Oasis.”
“You didn’t hear from her?”
Ryshi shook his head. “I assumed she would eventually return and beg for forgiveness. I even fantasized that she would have learned her lesson and accept my rules.”
Sofie snorted. “Seriously?”
“She’d never been on her own,” he responded, his tone defensive. “It was possible that she might mature when she was forced to take care of herself.”
“Did she return?”
She hadn’t, of course. Every night that’d passed he’d become more and more concerned. And along with the concern had come a shitload of guilt.
At last he’d decided to go in search of her. He was still angry, but she was his sister. It was his duty to provide her with a home, right? And he had to admit, he actually missed Zena. Not her ridiculous pranks and demands for attention, but his lair had been too quiet since she’d left.
He traveled to the locations they’d visited during her time with him, but he couldn’t find any trace of her. He’d widened his search to other dimensions, and even sought out his mother in the hopes that Zena had gotten in contact with her.
It was as if she’d vanished in a puff of smoke. No trail to follow. No rumors of her passing. No hint that she still existed.
A terrifying fear that something terrible had happened settled in his heart. Zena should be easy to locate. She left behind a trail of chaos wherever she went. So the fact that there was nothing meant that she’d been captured. Or was dead.
Finally, he’d decided to take extreme measures to discover exactly what’d happened to her.
That, however, was a story he wasn’t going to share with anyone.
Especially not Sofie.
“This way,” he said, turning to the right and heading down the tunnel with firm steps.
