Chapter 47 #2
“You think the mating bond with Taran will be successful, then?” Zalaric asked, his nonchalance a little too forced.
“I do.” My brows rose. “What is it that concerns you, Taran’s part . . . or yours?”
His lips pursed. “I know there was someone before. Taran won’t speak of it much. The most he’ll say is that his brother ran them off.”
I chose my words with care. It was not my place to share what Taran didn’t want him to know, but I could understand Zalaric’s fear. If Taran was still pining for a long-lost love, his attempt to seal the mating bond would fail, leaving Zalaric a stranded mate.
No fate could be worse than that.
“What Aemonn did was cruel, but it turned out to be a blessing. It kept Taran’s heart open to finding you.” I gave him a reassuring smile. “He loves you, Zalaric. When he sheds his blood at the ceremony next week, I have no doubt the mating magic will confirm it.”
I waited for the haughty quips and arrogant armor Zalaric was so quick to hide his heart behind.
Instead, his chest rose with a deep inhale, followed by a nod and a quiet “thank you.” We continued the rest of the flight in brooding silence, though I was fairly certain both our minds churned with thoughts of the Bellators we loved.
When Sorae landed on the palace lawn, Taran was waiting, along with Alixe, Eleanor, and Auralie—but no Diem.
“Is she back?” I called out as we dismounted.
“Not yet,” Taran said. “You must have really pissed her off this time.” He smirked, but there was a shadow of worry in it.
I reached to my hip for the golden compass that was no longer there. My gaze turned north, then east. “We should speak with the guards at the borders and the port. Perhaps they’ve seen her.”
Auralie crossed her arms. “I said the same, but your High General refused.”
Alixe bristled. “Right now, we’re the only people who know she’s gone. Considering we’re in the middle of a war, I think it’s best we keep it that way.”
“Something is wrong,” Auralie said sharply. “We need to find her.”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Taran said. “Remember Ignios, when she ran off all by herself? She’s probably on some insane mission somewhere super dangerous without anyone else that she didn’t tell us about because it will almost definitely get her killed.” He snorted. “Classic Queenie.”
He flung an arm around his mate-to-be, but Zalaric’s gaze had shifted higher—to a palace window, where Aemonn Corbois was peeking through the curtains and watching through narrowed eyes.
“I agree with Alixe,” Eleanor said. “We should keep it to ourselves. The Twenty Houses won’t be happy if they hear that she left. They’re already angry with her for freeing the gryverns.”
“They’re not the only ones,” Alixe murmured, casting a nervous eye toward the camps.
Sorae let out a sudden snarl. She stamped her talon as she surveyed our group with an indignant glare. Her eyes shifted to me, and her wings snapped open, quivering in wait. I tipped my head toward the sea, and she launched into the sky and soared east.
“Can you feel Diem’s aura?” Alixe asked me.
“She drained herself at the battle yesterday,” I said. “Her magic is too weak to sense.”
Zalaric shot me a tight-lipped look. As the only two Descended in this group strong enough to feel other powerful godhoods, he alone knew my answer wasn’t entirely true.
Normally, Diem’s aura could be felt for miles.
After a full day, enough of her magic should have returned for us to sense her.
Either she’d drained herself again, or she was very, very far away.
“Yesterday was a terrible day,” Eleanor said. “If Diem needs time to herself, we should let her have it.”
“Queenie never lets us down,” Taran chimed in. “Whatever she’s doing, I trust her.”
“It’s not her I distrust,” Auralie muttered.
Alixe studied me carefully. “What do you think?”
Unleash the entire Royal Guard in search. Drag the gryverns back and find a way to reinstate the bonds so they can find her. Demand that every person and creature in Emarion scour the realms until I know she’s safe.
“We wait,” I said, fists curling at my sides, “and we tell no one she’s gone.”
The others nodded—except for Auralie, whose disappointed stare made me feel as tall as a mouse. I turned for camp, and she stormed along beside me.
“We should not be waiting,” she insisted. “If something happened to Diem, time could be critical.”
“There’s nothing that could happen that Diem could not handle on her own.”
“You said her magic is drained—”
“Even without her magic, she is the most formidable woman I’ve ever known,” I snapped. “And sometimes, formidable women disappear without telling the people who love them. You should know that most of all.”
Her glare sizzled. “I know my daughter. She will run from herself, but never from her obligations. She would not abandon her people when things are this dire.”
I couldn’t bring myself to argue when I knew every word she spoke was true.
“Did something happen last night?” she asked. “Something more than the gryverns?” Her head tilted at my silence. “Something between the two of you?”
I looked away—to the east, where Sorae was flying back to the palace at breakneck speed. The last rays of the setting sun glinted off something dangling from her jaws.
“Luther, if you and Diem are—wait, where are you going?”
Her cries were lost to the breeze as I broke into a sprint. Sorae landed in a gallop on the edge of camp and didn’t stop until she reached me. Something tumbled out of her mouth to the grass, then her head arched back with an anguished howl.
I sank to my knees. My heart thundered in my ears as my hands closed around a long, metallic object and the severed leather belt it hung from.
The empty scabbard for Diem’s sword.
And it was covered in blood.