Page 143 of Enchanted Shadows
“Exactly what has me bothered,” Miles agreed. He turned to look toward the very first speck in the distance which signaled land.
My magic reacted to only one other person’s. Jorah’s. I reached down our bond for what had to be the tenth time but found it entirely blocked off.
Jorah?I tried again.
Nothing. Maybe we were still too far away. I knew that Keir and Esta could speak no matter the distance, as could Jorah and Krew. But when Jorah went to Keir’s coronation in Dra Skor, we’d tested our kin bond. We lost the telepathy before they made it to Dra Skor.
“I can’t get Jorah yet,” I told Miles. I could see Wylan now, why wasn’t it back yet?
He stilled as he remembered my connection to Jorah. Realized that maybe something was going down at the castle we were unaware of. He yelled at a few people to use their Enchantment and get us moving faster, giving us an extra wind.
“Everyone hold on,” Miles yelled. “We need to get our asses ashore!”
As the docksfinally came into view, I noted that Emric stood on the shore, three carts ready and waiting for our Enchantments to send them speeding up the mountain.
Miles and I exchanged a glance. That was bad news.
I didn’t know what transpired while we were away, and though I wanted to immediately use my power to carry me to the shore, I knew I might need it for whatever opponent awaited.
Still, I wasn’t about to wait for them to finish docking. I jumped over the side of the ship just as I did the balconies in Wylan and headed straight for Emric. Miles and Allen were on my tail doing the same.
As soon as I was before Emric, I saw his pity. The look in his eyes alone enough to haunt me.
I was too much of a coward to ask the words, so Miles had to do it. “What happened?”
“Calix is somehow here. He broke Bram out of the mountain,” he began explaining quickly. “A few hours ago, they attacked Kessara and Jorah, who were playing cards and having tea in Owen’s room.”
They’d just ordered their own deaths then. My fists clenched, fingernails biting into my palms, and I wished more than anythingI had wings in this moment like Keir’s. So I could fly up the mountain.
“Kessara lured them away from Jorah and out the secret passageway. Jorah is rattled, but fine. She injured Bram, but both men took off after Kessara.”
Tension rolled tight throughout my neck and shoulders, every muscle readying for a fight.“And where—is my wife?”
CHAPTER 46
Emric put a hand on my shoulder. “She’s missing. We have an entire team out looking for them. Hunting down Bram and Calix. We’ll find them.”
Miles let out a loud curse from beside me. “How did Calix even get back into Wylan?”
Emric shook his head. “We have no idea. We didn’t allow any more ships from Agria to make a return trip since your first trip.”
Why hadn’t the queen of Agria warned us that Calix was free? Or had they known?
“Krew has Team Two out combing the mountain for Kessara,” Emric continued. “Team Three running the perimeter. Seems likely she’s hiding.” He stopped to swallow. “For the first time in four years, the wall of Kavan Keep is closed. Not to keep people out, but to make sure Calix and Bram have no escape.”
I let those last words settle in, something that Krew had promised would never happen. But even with all the details, a recurring thought was screaming in my head:I never should’ve left.Without another word, I headed for a cart.
“Not without me you don’t.” Miles was apparently not about tolet me get on without him. “I’m driving. You’re going to push it too hard and we don’t need to injure any kids in the street in our haste.”
I hated that he had a point. I cared only for speed in this moment.
“Owen,” he snapped as he put us into motion.
Feeling nothing but rage and terror, I was reduced to monosyllabic answers. “What?”
“We’ll find her.”
I knew it was an empty promise. It was the outcome he preferred to happen, what he was determined to do. He couldn’t truly promise me that. No one could.
