Page 51 of Lord of Dance and Desire

I nodded grimly. It was the one advantage we had at this moment, that we’d already begun an investigation into Dartanyon the day he’d first tried to take Hasannah. Much of the preliminary work was done.

This was the unglamorous, tedious truth of any hunt. No dramatic chase through the night, no cinematic skirmishes.

Dartanyon had shielded her from me. If she were fully Fae, or if she had a rudimentary grasp of the standard uses of power like glamour and shields, he wouldn't have been able to accomplish that.

But my consort was mostly human, and tactics which would never work on a Fae would work on Anah.

Dartanyon was right. I was a stupid dilettante. Instead of training her in self-defense, I’d obsessed over creating her nest.

Filling her wardrobe with clothing and jewelry, providing her lavish meals, stroking her body into an inferno every night. I’dwanted to give her everything it had been glaringly obvious she lacked the night I met her, beheld the hovel she’d existed in.

I’d needed to prove she’d want for nothing, and that what she considered the dirt of my Court life wouldn’t do more than occasionally splash her ankles.

I’d wanted her to embrace the delicate cage being crafted around her. A cage meant to keep heralive, Darkness willing.

I was a fool.

Constin turned to me, his gaze piercing. “This isn’t useful, Andreien.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I know you. You can self-flagellate when Anah is safe. Rein it in.”

“I should have?—”

“This isn’t your fault. You’ve done nothing but what you thought was right. And if you’ve failed, we’ve failed as well.” His gaze sharpened. “It’snot helping us find Anah.”

I nodded, steeled myself. “No.” I glanced around the room. “Leave two to complete a search for anything useful. We’ll continue to look for his bolthole.”

I relearned the meaning of cold, of focus as I pondered the discovery of my unacknowledged privilege; little in the city challenged me, either through direct or indirect opposition. Not when the combined martial, magical, and financial power of the Sahakian-Casakraines mobilized at my command.

Almost, I’d begun to feel unassailable.

“The designer broke,” Constin said, emerging from the office I’d vacated moments before—to avoid killing the male who’d initially refused me the information I required. As if my requirement was a request, and not a command. “Though it didn’t take much.”

I traced the trail in my mind again, seeking holes. Former staff identified a secretary who worked for Dartanyon over a decade ago and had overseen an unusually active period of acquisition.

The secretary gave us the name of the individual who’d handled interior decor for several properties.

The designer had been out of the city on a job until two days ago, so we’d set aside that lead until now. It hadn’t seemed urgent enough to hunt the male down, so we’d waited.

Following the trail had been simple, though tedious. Dartanyon called me an infant Courtling behind my back, buthewas sloppy. He’d ignored basic security precautions by not burying the properties he owned in layers.

After searching the first two properties, I allowed myself an internal sneer, recognizing the design period. Pastel palettes, lush furnishings, gold and silver accents everywhere, floral motifs. No taste or restraint, leaning into the whimsical and bucolic.

“We’ll split up and search each property,” I said. “If any search yields results, do not enter. Maintain position and await backup.”

Constin didn’t need me to tell him what to do, but he waited until I was done before issuing orders as I entered the coach, once again sheathing myself in a layer of ice.

I understood my mother better now. Her distance, her cold love—but I didn’t doubt she loved us. I wouldn’t laythataccusation at her feet, though there were plenty I had. Some, perhaps, not entirely deserved. How she must have writhed, watching Mia and I careen through the city, endangering ourselves.

This situation wasn’t Anah’s fault, but it was similar. She was in danger but I could do little but watch as events fell into place, and try to exert subtle brakes from the shadows. And not go insane in the meantime.

When this was over, I’d apologize to my mother for all of the obnoxious insults I’d hurled at her as a youth.

For accusing her of not caring, when perhaps she cared too much and had to remove herself to preserve her sanity.

A day it took us to methodically search each property, and on the second a team encountered a manor on the outskirts of the city melting into the forest line surrounding Casakraine. Well but stealthily warded against both attention and invasion.

---