Chapter 25 #3
"Good." I turned to the maps Solis had spread across my desk. "Now here's what we know. Tobias has been murdering telepaths for decades." I gestured to the files. "Dozens of them. All killed because they couldn't be controlled by vampiric compulsion."
I picked up Merrit's family file and showed them the portrait.
"Twenty years ago, he murdered her family. Parents and a ten-year-old child. Except the child survived. Solis found her, lied to Tobias, hid her in the Divide under a false name."
Lorenzo studied the portrait. "She was ten when this happened?"
"Yes. Doesn't remember any of it. The trauma wiped her memory." I set the portrait down carefully. "Last night, she went to Tobias’ chambers looking for proof. He was waiting. Took her. Used blood magic to sever our bond."
"Where?" Lorenzo was all business now, the soldier taking over.
"North. Probably heading for the border, out of our jurisdiction." Solis pointed to several marked locations on the map. "These are properties Tobias has access to. Remote. Defensible. Places he can disappear."
"Then we don't let him get there." Lorenzo studied the map. "I'll mobilize my forces. We can cover the northern routes, set up checkpoints."
"Good." I turned to Nikolai. "I need your information network. Anyone who's seen him, heard anything, knows anything."
"Already on it." Nikolai pulled out a spelled mirror. "I've got contacts everywhere. If he bought supplies, hired help, crossed a border—I'll know."
"And I can track the magical disturbance," Henrick added, his pale eyes distant. "Blood magic that powerful leaves traces. Tears in the fabric of things. I can follow them."
"Do it." I looked at each of them in turn. "We leave within the hour. Lorenzo, how many of your men can ride fast?"
"Twenty. Veterans. They can keep up."
"Bring them." I directed my gaze to Nikolai. "Before we go, I need you to send word to the Divide. There's a bar called Locke & Key—Merrit's bar. The bartender is Rhett, bouncer is Jex. They need to know what's happened."
"You want them involved?" Nikolai's fingers traced symbols on the mirror's surface. "What are they, friends?"
"They are her people. And they know the Divide better than any of us. If Tobias has connections there, safe houses, places to hide—they'll know."
"Smart." The mirror began to glow. "What do you want me to tell them?"
"That Merrit's been taken. That we're hunting north but the Divide is on the route. That if they hear anything—any strangers, anyone asking about her or her past, anyone buying supplies for a long stay somewhere remote—they report it immediately."
"And if they want to help?"
"Tell them to be ready. We might need local knowledge."
Nikolai nodded, speaking into the mirror. His voice echoed strangely as the spell carried his words across the distance.
A moment later, a gravelly voice came back through: "This is Rhett. Who the fuck is this and why are you using Merrit's emergency contact?"
"Prince Nikolai of Silvarin. Merrit's been kidnapped. Prince Kieran is mobilizing to get her back."
Silence. Then: "Where." Not a question. A demand.
"We don't know yet. Heading north. But the Divide might be involved—the man who took her has operated there before."
"We'll ask around. Quietly." Rhett's voice was cold, deadly. "Anyone comes through here looking suspicious, we'll know. Jex!"
A deeper voice sounded in the background. "Already gearing up. Someone took our girl, they're gonna regret it."
"Anything you find, report back through this channel," Nikolai instructed. "And be careful. The man who took her has killed dozens. He's dangerous."
"So are we." Rhett's voice was lethal. "Bring her home, Your Highness. We'll do what we can from here."
The connection ended.
I met Nikolai's eyes. "Good?"
"They're loyal. And pissed." He pocketed the mirror. "If Tobias is anywhere near the Divide, they'll find him."
We spent the next hour planning. Lorenzo's forces mobilizing. Nikolai's network spreading across the kingdom. Henrick preparing tracking spells.
Solis brought weapons. Real ones, not the decorative court shit. Armor that had seen battle. Supplies for days of hard riding.
I armed myself carefully. The sword that had killed before. The one I'd use to end Tobias.
"Ready?" Solis asked quietly.
"No." I checked the blade one more time. "But we're going anyway."
Dawn was breaking as we gathered in the courtyard.
Me, Solis, my three brothers. Lorenzo's best warriors waited in his northern province at a prepared portal circle.
Once we located Merrit and Tobias, the court mage could pull them through—twenty veterans who'd seen real combat, not decorative court guards. We just had to find them first.
But pulling that many soldiers across such distance would drain even a powerful mage. It would take time.
Time we didn’t have.
The horses stamped and snorted, sensing our urgency.
I swung onto the saddle, every muscle tense.
One last time, I reached for the bond—
And felt something.
Faint. So faint I almost missed it. A flutter, like a dying heartbeat trying to restart.
She was alive.
The blood magic was wearing off.
Relief crashed over me so hard I nearly fell from the saddle. She was alive. Terrified, in pain, gods knew what else—but alive.
I closed my eyes, sending everything I had through that fragile connection.
“I'm coming. Hold on. I'm coming for you.”
I didn't know if she could hear it. The bond was too weak, too damaged.
But I sent it anyway.
Over and over as we rode out of the castle and into the dawn.
“Hold on. I'm coming.”
“Don't give up.”
“I love you.”
“Hold on.”