Page 6 of Fae King's Forbidden Love

She’ll be back,I’d told myself over and over. But two days away had proven that Elix had no intention of returning. Not even a phone call to Saint to let us know she was all right.

She was really gone.

I refused to accept it. Leaving things unresolved was not an option. I had to find her and hear the words directly from Elix herself. If she wanted me to leave her alone, I would respect that,but I would need to look into her beautiful, verdant eyes and insist that she tell me, face-to-face.

Even so, she couldn’t be running free across the kingdom with her power, unprotected. Provisions were needed to keep her safe.

I shuddered to imagine where she might be and who she might encounter with her incredible abilities to control all four elements. It was the reason she had come to the palace in the first place, after all. She was supposed to be protected, not running around where anyone could get to her.

For all I knew, at this very moment, someone had already found her, and I shook inside to envision what that could mean for Elix.

I had to find her.

Saint was furious with me,even if he didn’t say it aloud. He didn’t need to—it was evident in his body language.

Nasty looks and the physical turn of his back toward me showed that my onetime best friend now wished that I had reversed roles with his lost sister. He blamed me for Elix taking off, and I wasn’t sure I could fault him for his anger. If she hadn’t overheard us talking, if I hadn’t been so damn hasty in my judgment when I found out about her bloodline, none of this would have happened.

“I really don’t need you tagging along. It doesn’t help matters,” Elix’s brother growled when I appeared at the two-bedroom apartment in downtown Geldon. Whatever peace we’d made earlier seemed to have gone out the window with Elix’s disappearance now. The blessing he had bestowed upon our relationship was a moot issue.

I found myself looking around the messy unit, unkempt since Elix had moved out.

As soon as this nightmare is over, I’m finding Saint a bigger, better place. He deserves more than this.

“Anyway,” Saint went on, distracting me from the boring walls of the apartment. “I’ve already exhausted all the possibilities. There’s no way she’s in Geldon. Someone would have seen her by now.”

“She’s not in Geldon. Cirilla did a locator spell. She’s out of range.”

“Dammit. How far could she have gotten?” Saint groaned. “It hasn’t been that long!”

“We’ll put out an alert,” I growled, and he whipped his head toward me, shaking his chin defiantly.

“NO! She wouldn’t want that!” he snapped. “Obviously, she took off to get away from all of it.”

I returned his stare evenly.

“What if she didn’t leave?” I told him, my mind whirling with the possibilities. “What if she was taken? We need to find her!”

“Don’t be stupid,” Saint snapped. “She was in her room listening the whole time. She heard us talking, and she left.” He balked and looked at the Royal Guard who stood at the door, his expression as stoic as possible in his discomfort. When the officer made no reaction to Saint’s tone with me, he cleared his throat and continued. “Putting out an alert is a dumb idea and could put her in danger. Do you really want everyone to know that you lost your fiancée?”

I ignored the mocking tune of his question. “Even if she needs some time to herself, she should have been back by now,” I insisted. “Elix’s in trouble. She would have at least called. She might be angry, Saint, but she’s not cruel. Something has happened to her.”

The feeling rested deep in my bones, and I pursed my lips as I stalked around the tiny unit, wracking my head for answers. “I have Cirilla working with a warlock to enact a long-range locator spell.”

Saint grimaced at the idea of working with a warlock. But before he could make a comment, my cell phone rang from the back pocket of my pants. I snatched it out and exhaled, reading Cirilla’s name on the display. “Please tell me you have something,” I growled in the way of greeting.

“I have a warlock,” the enchantress told me. “And he’s working on the spell now. He’s already got a vague location on her.” A fusion of relief and upset coursed through me when Cirilla went on. “She’s far, Jace… like almost out of the kingdom.”

My jaw tightened.

“What?! That’s… it can’t be,” I choked. “Where?”

“Almost Ironhelm.”

Wind knocked out of my lungs, and I stared open-mouthed at Saint.

“What? What is she saying?” Saint demanded.

I waved him away. “That’s impossible,” I said flatly. “Someone would have alerted me at the borders if she were trying to cross. Are you sure this warlock knows what he’s doing?”

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