Page 74 of Queen of Wrath

Could he be…? No. I won't even dare to think about it. It’s impossible.

Rowan was missing, and I needed to focus on finding her.

“Regardless, we will need to go there. I have reason to believe Diesel’s holding my friend prisoner.” My eyes narrowed at Kiyan, who started shaking his head from side to side in vigorous denial.

“You're kidding, right? Didn't I just tell you the man's on a rampage, and you want to walk up to his doorstep? I can't think of a worse idea.” It was the first time I'd ever heard Kiyan raise his voice. He was usually reserved, always seeming to be carefully calculating the next best move.

What happened with Diesel had to have really shaken him.

“It doesn't matter. I'm not leaving her behind. You can come with me or stay here, but you're not going to stop me.” I stubbornly lifted my chin, letting him know I wasn’t about to budge on this.

A hush came over the room as Ravana and Kiyan exchanged worried glances.

Then Kiyan sighed heavily, “Fine. If it's that important, then we don't have a choice. Do you have any way of tracking her?”

I pulled out the Beacon Stone that was now rapidly flashing purple. “She gave me this in the event of an emergency. I noticed it was blinking today, but I don't know when it started.”

This was just another reminder of how behind I was on the magical inventions of today. This thing was completely foreign to me.

Akil had taught me as much as he could, but it’d been more important for us to focus on potions rather than the technological advancements made in the two decades I’d been out of touch.

“This device is pretty out of date, but if I'm not mistaken, it should work like this…” Kiyan twisted the top and the bottom parts in separate directions, then pulled them apart about an inch to reveal a mechanism in the middle that resembled an eye.

I jumped back as an image shot out from the object. It looked like a translucent map hovering in the air.

“Weird. According to this, this friend of yours is right on top of us.” Kiyan analyzed the image multiple times just to be sure.

“Something must be wrong with it,” I surmised.

“Maybe Kiyan is doing it wrong. Here. Hand it over.” Ravana reached for it, but Kiyan pulled away.

“Excuse me, I know what I'm doing, alright,” he said, grimacing at her.

“I doubt it!” Ravana scrunched her nose and made a face at him as well.

“Why are you always so mean?—?”

Their shouting match was interrupted by a bright blue light suddenly beaming from the ceiling.

The swirling magic was so powerful that the air crackled around us.

My ears popped from the pressure, and I had to avert my gaze from the light as it felt like it was literally beginning to burn my eyeballs.

“Why does weird shit always happen around you?” Ravana screamed, pressing her palms over her ears.

Kiyan pulled her into his arms protectively, and to my surprise, she didn't resist.

A loud thud rumbled the floorboards, and the swirl of magic was sucked back up into the ether.

“Damn, I never can seem to stick the landing just right.” Rowan’s voice graced my ears, and I turned so quickly that my neck strained.

“Rowan! You're alright!” I rushed over to her, nearly knocking her over. “What happened? What's with the beacon?”

“I was captured by that bastard, Diesel. He somehow knows who I am… I can't help but wonder if there's a leak at the BPR…”

Rowan continued rambling despite my facial cues that we weren't alone. She finally looked over her shoulder, and her eyes almost fell out of her head.

“Um, Emma, you could have warned me before I started babbling my head off,” she hissed through her teeth before reaching out to grab Kiyan's hand. “I'm sorry for what I said about your father. It's very much true, but I'm sorry nonetheless.”

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