Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Connal stared down the empty service lane long after the sedan carrying Luke had disappeared.
Luke’s backpack hung from one of his hands. Every instinct demanded that Connal follow the car, stop Luke before he reached the airport, and tear apart any threat foolish enough to stand between them.
You will return.
Yes.
The promise held him in place.
Tyson stepped beside him. “The king is waiting for our report. We need to move.”
“He will return,” Asterius said.
“I know.”
“You look as though you intend to chase the car.”
“I do.”
Asterius raised his brows.
Connal forced himself to turn away from the road. “But I will not.”
A second vehicle waited at the far end of the service lane. It carried them away from Koios’s facility and through miles of human streets before Tyson directed the driver onto an isolated road.
Only then did Connal raise his hand and open a portal.
Asterius crossed first, followed by Tyson. Connal remained long enough to look back in the direction Luke had gone. The bond offered only the faintest awareness that his mate remained somewhere in the human realm.
Then Connal forced himself to step into the Unseelie.
The portal closed, and the fragile awareness vanished.
Magic surrounded Connal with the familiar certainty of the Unseelie realm, woven through the castle and responsive to his presence. For the first time since finding Luke, none of it offered comfort. He reached instinctively for his mate and found only the barrier between realms.
Connal started toward the audience chamber. Asterius and Tyson hurried to keep pace as the castle shifted to clear his path.
“Easy, brother,” Asterius warned. “You’re about to tear through a wall that’s trying to help you.”
Connal forced his pace to steady. They reached the audience chamber moments later, the doors opening at their approach. He crossed the threshold without waiting to be announced.
Silenus looked up, his expression sharpening as he took in their faces. Power rested easily around him, contained but unmistakable.
Connal stopped at the base of the dais and inclined his head. “My king.”
Asterius and Tyson followed suit, Tyson’s bow more measured but no less respectful.
Silenus studied them. “You went to the Oracle.”
“We did.”
“And what did you learn?”
“The drive contained results meant to demonstrate the capabilities of a tracking system,” Connal said. “It does not merely detect magic. It maps individual anomalies to their precise locations.”
Asterius stepped forward. “It recorded the fire we encountered in the human realm.”
Silenus’s expression hardened.
“The actual system is active elsewhere,” Connal continued. “We believe the drive was intended to prove that it works before the system is sold.”
Silence settled over the chamber.
“This exposes us,” Silenus said quietly.
Asterius stiffened. Tyson went still beside him.
“Yes,” Connal said.
Silenus rose, and the magic filling the chamber settled around him.
“One system can become many.”
“Then we destroy it before that happens,” Asterius said.
“And determine who built it, who intends to purchase it, and why.” Silenus looked between them. “Until we have those answers, this information does not leave this room.”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” Tyson said.
“There is more.” Connal forced the words past the tightness in his throat. “Luke believes his employer built the system and is arranging its sale. He is on his way to stop the exchange.”
Silenus’s attention returned to him. “And you did not follow.”
“No, my king.”
“Because your magic could alert the system.”
“Yes.”
Silenus regarded him for a long moment. “That could not have been an easy choice.”
Connal thought of the portal closing between them. Of reaching for Luke and finding nothing but absence.
“No,” he said.
“You made the correct one.”
Connal inclined his head. The reassurance should have helped.
It didn’t.
“Then Luke remains our best chance of approaching it without being detected,” Silenus said.
“He is exposed,” Connal said.
“So are we.”
“I should be with him.”
“If you enter the human realm now, the system may detect you before you reach him. You would expose Luke’s position, confirm that we know of its existence, and give its creators time to react.”
The logic was sound. Connal hated it anyway.
“We will not leave him unwatched,” Silenus continued. “Tyson?”
“Human observers are already being positioned around Hale’s building,” Tyson said. “They will observe and report without approaching Luke.”
Silenus inclined his head. “Good. We will prepare to respond if the situation changes. Until then, you will trust Luke.”
Connal forced himself to incline his head. “Yes, my king.”
Silenus held his gaze for another moment. “Go. Prepare.”
Connal turned, Asterius and Tyson falling into step beside him as they left the chamber.
“Well,” Asterius muttered once the doors closed behind them. “That went exactly as expected.”
Connal ignored him. Luke was still in the human realm, and Gomez would need to know why he had gone alone.
The corridor shifted ahead, leading them toward Gomez, who was pacing fast enough to wear a path into the floor. He spun when they approached and immediately searched the space behind them.
“Where’s Luke?”
“He has gone to stop the exchange,” Connal said.
Gomez stared at him. “What exchange? We went from a weird thumb drive to an exchange while I wasn’t looking?”
“The drive was not the system itself,” Asterius explained. “It contained proof that a tracking system exists.”
“Hello! Vague fae answer is vague! What kind of system?”
“One capable of tracking magic,” Tyson said. “Luke’s employer is arranging its sale.”
Gomez’s eyes widened. “Wait. Tracking magic how? Objects? Spells? People?”
“Individual magical anomalies and their precise locations,” Connal said.
Gomez looked between the three of them, then focused on Connal. “Okay. Let me make sure I understand. Luke can approach the system because he’s human.”
“Yes,” Connal said.
“But if you go anywhere near it, you’ll light up the tracker.”
“That is what we believe.”
“And now you’re standing here looking like a sad panda because Luke went after the system without you.”
Connal stiffened.
Gomez’s expression softened with understanding.
“Oh, you giant bonehead. He didn’t leave because he wanted to play hero, and he didn’t leave you behind.
He went alone because that thing tracks magic.
” He poked a finger into Connal’s chest. “You’re basically a walking magical beacon.
Luke took you out of the equation because he was trying to protect you and preserve the only advantage he had. ”
Connal released a slow breath. His fear remained, but the hurt beneath it loosened.
Gomez watched his expression change and nodded. “Good. Now that we’ve established you’re both idiots, what’s the plan?”
Asterius made a quiet sound of agreement.
“We prepare,” Connal said. “Tyson is positioning human eyes around the building. I will assemble a team ready to reach Luke if the situation changes.”
“And until then?”
Connal met Gomez’s gaze. “We trust him.”
Gomez grimaced. “I hate that plan.”
“So do I.”
“But it’s the right one.”
“Yes.”
Tyson turned toward the branching corridor. “Then we need the armory.”
Asterius motioned for him to lead the way. “At last. Something more useful than standing here discussing our feelings.”
Gomez fell into step beside him. “Pretty sure discussing your feelings would be useful too.”
“No.”
“For the record, that’s exactly what someone who needs to discuss his feelings would say.”
Their voices followed Tyson down the corridor. Connal went with them, holding tightly to the distinction Gomez had forced him to see. Luke had trusted Connal to understand.
Connal would honor that trust, even when every instinct demanded that he claw his way out of the Unseelie and stand at his mate’s side. Preparing for the moment Luke might need him was the only thing holding Connal together.
Keir and Zer arrived shortly after they reached the armory, summoned at Connal’s order. Avaneel peered through the strands of Zer’s hair, her tiny face unusually solemn. The gargoyles joined them as well, prepared to take their place in whatever force Connal assembled.
Connal looked over the gathered warriors. Every one of them was ready to follow him into the human realm without question.
For now, there was nowhere to go.
“Prepare your weapons,” he ordered. “Tyson is gathering what we need to reach Luke if the situation changes.”
Tyson left the armory to coordinate his human contacts while the others prepared. Connal finished sharpening every blade he carried, then began again. Eventually, Gomez started twitching with each scrape of metal across the whetstone.
When Tyson returned, he carried blueprints and the information his contacts had gathered about the Hale office building: entrances, exits, security points, underground service access, and routes to the roof.
Human observers were already in position, under strict orders to watch and report without intervening.
Tyson spread the blueprints across a worktable.
Connal set aside the whetstone, although his fingers immediately itched to resume the soothing draw of metal over stone.
He understood the observers’ purpose. He simply hated that they could do nothing more than watch the building and wait for the situation to change.
The blueprints might as well have been written in a foreign language. “We need to stop staring at paper and go to my mate.”
The words came out sharper than he intended. Everyone around the table looked up, but Connal could not summon any regret. Every moment they spent planning was another moment Luke traveled farther away from him.
Before Zer could respond, Gomez moved to Connal’s side. “Look.”
He tapped the portion of the blueprint showing the front entrance.
“What am I looking at?” Connal demanded.
“The way Luke will go inside.”
“You cannot know that.”
“Sure I can. Hale knows him. If Luke sneaks into the building, he tells Hale something is wrong before he learns anything useful.” Gomez traced a finger from the entrance toward the bank of lifts marked near the center of the page.
“He’ll walk through the front door like he belongs there, because he does. Then he’ll watch how everyone reacts.”
Tyson placed a marker beside the entrance. “His most likely destination is Hale’s office.”
“And he’ll know how to get out again,” Gomez said. “Luke counts exits without realizing he’s doing it. He notices cameras, weapons, people who don’t fit. He probably knows more about that building than anyone who actually works there.”
“He works there,” Connal pointed out.
“You know what I mean.”
Asterius leaned over the table, studying the maze of lines. “If Luke enters here and Hale’s office is on the upper floor, we need more than one route to reach him.”
“We have three,” Tyson said. He indicated each in turn. “The main entrance, the underground parking structure, and the service access. The observers will watch all three.”
“And when they see Luke?” Connal asked.
“They continue watching.”
The answer scraped across Connal’s nerves more harshly than the whetstone.
“We know where he is going,” Connal said. “We have a route to reach him. Waiting serves no purpose.”
“It preserves the advantage Luke created,” Tyson replied. “At present, Hale expects one human operative. If you arrive with your brothers, you announce that Luke has shared what he knows and confirm that the system works.”
“You would have me wait until someone attacks him.”
“I would have you avoid causing the attack yourself.”
The armory went quiet.
Connal’s hands curled against the edge of the table. Tyson did not retreat or lower his gaze. He had never been a warrior, but courage took more forms than Connal had once understood.
“What changes the order?” Keir asked.
Tyson turned back to the blueprint. “An unexpected armed presence. A lockdown. An evacuation. Anything suggesting Luke can no longer leave freely.” He glanced toward Connal. “Until one of those things happens, we remain here.”
Connal looked toward the waiting gargoyles. They had listened without interruption, their readiness unmistakable.
“If the report comes, my brothers and I will go. You will remain here and protect the king.”
Igneous frowned. “We can fight.”
“I know. But if this is meant to draw us into the human realm, Silenus will not be left unprotected.”
The gargoyle held Connal’s gaze, then bowed his head. “The king will be guarded.”
Zer folded his arms. “I dislike this plan.”
“So does everyone else,” Gomez said.
“That does not make it less objectionable.”
Asterius sighed. “For once, I find myself agreeing with Zer.”
“You agree with me frequently.”
“I rarely admit it.”
Their bickering moved around Connal without reaching him. He closed his eyes and stretched his awareness toward the connection that had drawn him to Luke from the moment they met.
He found only distance.
The realm stood between them, leaving behind an empty place where Luke should have been. Their unfinished bond could not bridge the distance between realms. The silence gave every fear room to grow.
If they stood within the same realm, Connal might have sensed the direction of his mate or known that he still lived. From here, he had nothing but trust.
A knock sounded against the armory door.
Connal’s eyes opened.
A castle messenger entered and crossed directly to Tyson. “Word from Koios.”
The message he carried was brief enough that Tyson read it at a glance.
“Well?” Connal demanded.
“The observers saw Luke’s vehicle arrive outside the building,” Tyson said. “No alarm, no unusual activity, and no sign that he was followed.”
Exactly as Gomez had predicted.
Connal looked down at the blueprint, fixing the building’s shape in his mind. Luke had reached Hale’s building and would soon be inside, facing a danger none of them could measure. Every instinct demanded that Connal tear open a portal and go to him.
Nothing had changed.
Luke had trusted him to understand.
Connal lifted his gaze to his waiting brothers. “Then we remain ready.”