Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
“Ifelt you tug on our bond.” Bart leaned back in his favorite big, soft armchair by the window of the drawing room.
He took a sip of his hot toddy. His face was haggard, and his hands still shook a little.
“I didn’t even know you were missing, Sue.
But you tugged at me, and I felt a plea for help.
I was having brunch with my gay men’s choir at Il Solino, and I absolutely freaked out and rushed back here to find Cecil unconscious and the others losing their minds. ”
My gaze shot over to Cecil, but he didn’t add anything to the story. In fact, he seemed wholly consumed with trying to change Bronwyn’s outfit without Cress noticing what he was doing.
“None of us knew where you were.” Donovan sat as close to me as he possibly could, his arm wrapped around me. I curled into his chest, breathing him in.
The change in circumstance blew my mind. Only one short hour ago, I’d been in chains, lying in the dirt, guarded by a pack of sick misogynists, about to be tortured into insanity.
Now, I was freshly showered, curled up on a giant squishy sofa next to Donovan, and dressed in what Cecil called his Winter Stoner-Chic Collection—baggy fleece-lined pajama bottoms and a super-soft cotton vest under a cashmere blanket-poncho.
Violet, trembling with happiness at having me back safe and well, had produced a stone footbath out of the floorboards, and was constantly refreshing it with hot water.
A mug of hot cocoa steamed in my hands; I inhaled the sweet scent gratefully.
I’d never felt softer, cozier, or more cherished in my whole life.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t really any time to savor it. We only had a moment for a quick rest and a debrief. Time was slipping away from us.
I unloaded everything I could—all about the Andresanos originally being fae, about Connor’s Middle World army hiding in the shifter realm, about how Connor was planning on corrupting my bond with Donovan, so he could break it and force one of his own, manipulating the prophecy in his favor.
Even Fionn went a little pale at that part.
Donovan explained how he’d burst into the steakhouse and found Jared and Rufus unconscious on the table, with Cecil snoring beneath it, and he’d immediately realized the Andresanos were part of the trap. He had been suspicious enough of them to start with, so he figured they’d slipped out with me.
Cress and Bronwyn took Cecil back to Violet and did their best to wake him up. Donovan, Fionn, and the boys lost precious time tracking the Andresanos, finally finding them at their manor house, which was warded.
Donovan’s suspicions were confirmed—they didn’t have any magic themselves, of that he was sure, but someone around them did.
But while they were gathering their forces and getting ready to break the wards and attack, Nate did a quick scry for me and found I wasn’t there. The Andresanos didn’t have me, not at any of their properties.
Soon, they realized I wasn’t anywhere. He couldn’t locate me anywhere in the earthly realm.
Donovan knew they’d been hoodwinked again.
He left Fionn to break the wards at the Andresano’s manor house and sneak inside to see if they could at least find Martina.
Fionn reported that Martina wasn’t there, either, and, just in case, he checked all of their properties, but there was no sign of her.
Donovan went back to the restaurant to find me. He found traces of magic and managed to reveal the portal to the Woods in the bathroom, but, having no shifter blood, he couldn’t go through it.
By the time he’d gotten ahold of Bart, my brave best friend had felt me tug on our bond and was in my living room, curled up in a ball, crying and trembling with fear. Bart, only slightly more experienced with sensing bonds than I was, thought I was about to die.
Bronwyn cracked her knuckles and got down to business, providing a heavy-duty therapy session to give Bart some courage as they prepared to head to the Woods to find me.
Then, after being slapped around and dunked in icy water by Cress for a while, Cecil finally woke up and decided to give Bart some therapy, too.
I didn’t ask what kind of therapy it was, but based on Bart’s jitters and haggard expression, I could guess.
Bart, now both terrified and probably high as a kite, dragged Donovan and Cecil through the portal to the Woods, exploded into his giant grizzly bear shape, and went on a rampage.
According to Cecil, all they had to do was follow the foul odor of unwashed bodies to find the creepy shifters guarding the camp and rescue me.
The rest was history.
Now, we needed to plan. I was absolutely sick of fighting this war with Connor on the defensive—it was time to go on the attack.
I drained my cocoa, took my feet out of my footbath, nestled them into the fluffy towel Violet vomited out of the floorboards, and took a deep breath. “Right. Back to business. First up, Martina.”
“There’s no sign of her anywhere, Lady Susan.
” Fionn sat in a big medieval-style armchair near the wall.
Violet had produced a roaring fire in a stone hearth for him to brood menacingly beside.
Even I had to admit he looked sexier in his off-duty leather pants, with the lacing of his loose white shirt undone, revealing a glimpse of manly chest hair.
I could have sworn his shirt wasn't low-cut before. I suspected Cecil had leaned into his daddy kink even harder and was messing with Fionn’s outfit, too. “Martina was not in the manor house with the ones you call Delilah and Gordon,” Fionn continued. “They must have hidden her somewhere else.”
“But she is somewhere here in San Francisco,” Eryk added. “Nate scryed for her using her laptop, but the closest we could get was somewhere here in the city.”
“I suppose that’s good news. At least she’s not in another realm.” I frowned. “Where is Nate?” I could have sworn he was here a moment ago.
“With Audrina.” Eryk looked sheepish. “They have just left to set up for her gig.”
My mouth dropped open. “At her gig? She took the singing job?”
Eryk nodded. His cheeks went red.
Panic clawed my chest. “Where? Where is the gig, Eryk?”
He swallowed. “She has sworn me to secrecy, so I cannot say.” His expression turned pleading.
“Please do not make me break my promise, Highness. My lady is determined to navigate her debut herself. She assures us that she has everything under control, and she wanted me to tell you not to worry. She wants to make you proud of what she will accomplish this evening.”
“Oh, this is bad.” An endless reel of disasters rolled through my mind’s eye. Connor could have hired her to hold her hostage, to split our forces, or to just kill her, because there were no depths to which he wouldn’t sink. I’d learned that lesson, and I wasn’t going to forget it.
And if it wasn’t him, Audrina’s own mother could have catfished her online to get her back. Audrina might roll up to some nightclub and find her brothers waiting to grab her?—
“Deep breaths, Susan.” Bronwyn leaned forward, catching my eye.
Even in my panicked state, I noticed that the denim dungarees she’d been wearing a second ago had vanished.
Bronwyn now wore casual ripped jeans and a gray Henley.
Cress, sitting next to her, glared at Cecil, who was mumbling under his breath.
Lesbian-luxe. Fanny fashion. Masc à la mode.
More golden sparks flew. “I spoke to Audrina for some time,” Bronwyn went on, now wearing a plaid shirt and black skinny jeans. “Believe me, you have to let her do this. It will be very good for her.”
“She thinks it will be good for her,” I said. “What if she’s wrong?”
Bronwyn held my gaze. “What if she’s right?”
“Cecil,” Cress growled. “If you change my lover’s outfit one more time, I will rip out your liver and use it as a football.”
I forced myself to take a breath to try and calm down. One thing at a time. “The timing of this is too suspicious.” I glanced back at Eryk. “Do you know who hired her?”
“A human.” Eryk squirmed. “That is all I know. You will still have our swords, Your Highness. We will be with you when you need to fight.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about, Eryk! If her mother finds her?—”
“Chosen,” Donovan spoke softly in my ear.
“Lady Bronwyn is right. Audrina must be given leave to fight her own battles. My gut tells me that Connor has no part in this, and I am assured that she has a plan if her mother confronts her and threatens her. I gave Eryk and Nate leave to switch off and guard her when they are not needed with us. Their presence in Audrina’s life in the last few days has been like sunshine to a sunflower.
” His eyes twinkled. “She has bloomed. She is right; you will be proud of her.”
I swallowed. I’d been too busy—and kidnapped—to check in on her mental state, so I’d have to take his word for it.
“She is in love,” Donovan added, his gaze suddenly warm. “Even in the darkest depths of despair and danger, if love is able to bloom, then all hope is not lost.”
I pursed my lips. Donovan was a hopeless romantic. It was nice, but….