Page 80 of Magic Forsaken

I blinked uncomprehendingly at Angelica, and she stared back, looking almost defensive. It was a weirdly generous offer, but she was close to the last person on earth I would have asked to babysit.

“I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You didn’t ask,” she returned briskly. “I offered.”

It couldn’t possibly be safe. What if Ari told her more of our story than she was prepared to hear? And what if Angelica was actually our mole?

Callum seemed to hear me thinking. “Ari will be fine,” he assured me. “Angelica is very capable.”

Very organized, yes. Very good at her job. But I wasn’t sure her job had prepared her for a sprite child with a soul full of mischief and a heart full of caprice.

When I hesitated again, Angelica’s chin tilted up, and she looked me dead in the eye. “Iwillkeep her safe,” she insistedfiercely, her eyes flashing with magic for the first time since I’d met her. “Gryphons do not harm children.”

I wouldn’t be able to help Kes if I was worried about Ari, and it was probably safer for her here than in a moving car. And if I were wrong?

Ari was more than capable of simply disappearing again.

“Okay,” I said helplessly. “Thank you. Ari, please stay in this building.”

She was just beginning to look mulish when I heard the sound of arguing from outside.

Kevin. Trying to stop someone. Asking for their security badge. The voices escalated, then the exterior doors flew open.

I wasn’t at all prepared for Kes to come charging through the doorway, with Prince Rath right on her heels. She took one look at Ari and let out a gasp of relief, dropping to the floor as her knees gave way.

“Thank you,” she whispered to no one in particular. Her head lifted, and I watched as her eyes filled with tears. “Raine.” She was clearly still terrified, and even in my distracted state, I noted the fae prince hovering nearby with a grim expression, not touching her, but not moving far away, either.

“What happened?”

“It’s Logan.”

My lips went numb as I immediately began racing through the possibilities. “Is he okay?”

Kes’s face was ashen. “Raine, he’s disappeared, too.”

I shut my eyes.There was a strange ringing in my ears, and a hollow emptiness opening up in my chest while a hurricane ofcatastrophe buffeted me on all sides. It felt like everything was falling apart.

How had I ever thought that I could do this? Keep them all safe? Provide them with what they needed? Give them safety and a new life all on my own?

I had failed so badly. But there was no one else. No one else cared enough, so it was up to me. I had to fix it. Do better. Find Logan.

My eyes snapped open. At least he couldn’t have been gone for long.

Ari had said he was sleeping. So he’d either realized Ari had disappeared and gone to find her or…

I was past worrying about power or titles or consequences. I strode over to the prince of the fae, grabbed his collar, and yanked him towards me.

Or rather, I pulled, and he let me, wearing a slightly wary but tolerant expression.

“Did you have anything to do with Logan’s disappearance?” My voice sounded normal, but it felt all wrong. A current of magic hummed at the back of my mind, hovering in anticipation as it waited for an answer.

“No.” The scarred prince was eyeing me thoughtfully as he spoke. “I have never met Logan. My only intent was to speak with Kestryl.”

Kestryl? Was that her real name?

“And did you distract her in order to give someone else access to Logan?”

“I did not.”

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