Chapter 21
Rook
Morning had become afternoon, and most of that had been spent by the time I left Gaheris with enough to consider that I knew I’d be awake to watch dawn break.
He was talking about treason, and whilst I held no particular allegiance to Uther, that didn’t mean I had an interest in putting a target on my back.
We do not back down from a fight, my dragon griped as we flew.
We don’t go looking for one, either, I pointed out, not for the first time on our way home.
We’d gone back and forth on this more than I enjoyed, but the truth was both arguments had merit, and I doubted we’d come to an agreement today—but we would have to decide soon.
Gaheris was right about one thing: sooner or later, we’d have to choose sides.
First though, I needed to eat. Assuming my little wolfless Tribute didn’t attempt to poison me again, that was.
We should not have locked her in her room. She will be displeased.
Yeah, well, better displeased than attacked by Gaheris’s enemies. Our enemies.
And if we went through with this fight, then she was going to have to get used to staying inside, and out of sight.
She was much too vulnerable to risk her being taken unawares by someone hunting for me.
Uther’s men wouldn’t care who got caught in the crossfire so long as they eventually found their mark.
He’d sooner burn my land to the ground and rule over the ashes than let anyone think I’d slighted him, or sided with someone who had.
There was no mistaking it: taking Gaheris’s side endangered my territory, and everyone in it.
My dragon gave no response, and we flew the final half mile in silence. I’d have savored the silence if not for the tumult of my own thoughts. They didn’t quiet until my feet touched soil in my own home, and I shifted back into my human form.
Something is wrong, my dragon said at once.
Yeah, I get it. So much for my silence. You don’t like the new world order. You already said.
No. Something is wrong here.
I paused for all of a heartbeat, letting my dragon’s sense of wrong flood my entire body, and then I slammed open the front door, hurtling along the corridors and racing up the stairs for Kaylee’s room. Wrong. Something was very wrong.
There was no sound other than the thud of my feet against the floor, and as I reached her door, the only heart I heard beating was mine. Fuck. I groped for the key in my pocket but I couldn’t find the damn thing.
Find her. Now!
With a grunt, I slammed my foot into the door, shattering the lock. It hadn’t been made to hold my kind.
It took three heartbeats to scan the room. One. She wasn’t standing beyond the door. Two. The bed was made, and empty. Three. The window was open.
The window was open. Fuck.
I strode across the room, inhaling the lingering scent of a certain wolfless shifter…and no-one else. Wherever our errant Tribute was, our enemies were not involved.
My relief was as short-lived as it was intense.
My enemies might not have been here, but she was still gone. Unless…
I leaned out of the window, my gaze snagging on the spot of slightly trampled grass where she’d landed after jumping from what I had to estimate was around halfway down.
Less, my dragon said. She’s light.
I nodded my head absently. Maybe a third of the way up from the bottom, then.
Low enough down that she was unlikely to be injured.
But there was no reason to assume she had gone anywhere.
Most likely she’d climbed out of the window just because she could, like the rebellious brat that she was.
She’d probably be out on the grounds somewhere, or down in the kitchen torturing some innocent piece of meat with which to attempt my murder.
There was no scent of her by the front door, my dragon pointed out, and I nodded again. True, and the front door would have been the only way she could have gotten inside. Still, that didn’t mean she hadn’t decided to spend the afternoon in the gardens.
She’s probably asleep under a tree somewhere, I told my dragon, and I couldn’t help a tingle of anticipation at the thought of sneaking up on her, catching her asleep, and watching her eyes widen as she realized she’d been caught.
But I couldn’t quite shake my unease. Something wasn’t right… I just didn’t know what.
I followed the nagging sense as I walked round the room, but nothing was out of place. Everything was tidy, spotless even, the same way it had been every day since her arrival.
Wait.
My eyes darted around the room, then I bit back a curse and raced for the window, not even breaking my stride as I jumped straight through it, thudding to a crouch on the ground outside, then pushing immediately to my feet, searching for her scent. Her trail.
Nothing was out of place in her room…but I’d left a bag there last night. A bag that was gone. Which meant only one thing: Kaylee had gone over the wall.
I followed the remnants of her scent—several hours old, at least—with a growing sense of dread. Kaylee was out there in the wilds, unprotected, defenseless, and I was hours behind.
Shift, my dragon demanded. We’ll be faster if we fly.
We can’t track her from the air.
I followed her scent at a lope, my dread confirmed when it led to the tree I’d set by the wall, the one intended as a lure so I could catch any Tributes who wanted to escape before they got themselves killed in the trying. I wished to hell I’d never planted the damned thing.
Move faster, my dragon demanded, and I didn’t argue. My Tribute was out there alone and vulnerable, and I needed to find her…before someone else did.