Page 364 of Primal Bonds

“Of course,” he surprised her by saying, and then spoiled it by adding, “as long as you keep an open mind when I tear his lying, cheating throat out.”

He turned to Rui. “I’m leaving ASAP. Who’s available?”

“Three men plus the two of us?”

“Sim.”

“Then Ed and Jaxon can come.” Ed was an older, canny tenente, and Jaxon a young, hard-driving warrior. “And Tiago—he’s at the marina right now.”

“That works. Tiago would want to come anyway. I’ll tell Davi he’s the tenente in charge.”

Cleia chewed her lip, wishing she could help. But she wasn’t strong enough to teleport even Dion and his motorcycle to Virginia, let alone four other men. They’d have to get themselves to southern Maryland.

Dion nodded at Isa. “Thank you. You did the right thing, bringing this straight to me.”

His former nurse inclined her graying head, fingers twined tightly in front of her waist. “I don’t know when she left. I didn’t even know she was gone until after breakfast. For that, I beg your pardon.”

“Senhora.” Dion gently took her hands. “You have nothing to apologize for. You’re not Rosana’s keeper. Now, go back to whatever you were doing, but let’s keep this between us, okay? Until we know exactly what we’re up against, I’d rather the whole base didn’t know.”

“Of course,” the woman said, and with a dignified nod to all of them, left the room.

“If that’s it, then?” Dion asked, clearly impatient to be off, but Rui held up a staying hand.

“I’m afraid we’ve got another problem.”

“It can’t wait?”

“No,” Rui said bluntly. He closed the door behind Isa. “Merry believes her grandfather’s been watching her.”

“The hell you say. Is that possible?”

Both men looked at Cleia.

She spread her hands. “Anything is possible. Our wards can block him from entering the base physically, but if he has the farsight, that wouldn’t stop him from keeping a watch on her.”

“Valeria knows?” Dion asked.

“Sim,” said Rui. “She’ll keep her inside the wards.”

Dion squeezed his nape. “So the prince knows she’s alive.”

Rui nodded, his strong, sculpted face set in grim lines.

Dion swore. “I don’t like this. There is no way to keep him out?”

“He can’t do it constantly,” Cleia said. “Only intermittently. Using any kind of Sight requires your whole attention. But I’ll talk to Olivia, see if there’s anything she can do to block him.” Her cousin was a spell-worker and ward-maker. “Maybe a look-away spell would work.”

“Good.” Dion wrapped a hand around her nape and gave her a hard kiss. “Go home. Stay close to Brisa. Just in case.”

Cleia’s breath snagged. “He wouldn’t dare.”

“I don’t think so, no. But I don’t want to take any chances.” He turned to Rui. “Have the men at the garage in fifteen minutes.”

“Will do.”

Cleia waited until Rui left before telling Dion, “Let me know the minute you find out anything. And if there’s anything I can do, you’ll call on me.”

His black brows lowered, but he nodded reluctantly. “Fine. If it will make you happy.”

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