Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Luke waited for Connal to see reason.
Instead, Connal stared at him, his gaze sharp and deliberate.
He needed Connal’s agreement. Luke held his ground, even as every instinct told him to push, to force the issue before anyone else could magically appear inside the room and complicate the whole situation further.
Fortunately, Connal wasn’t looking for anyone else to make his decision. He hadn’t looked away from Luke, like the rest of the world had narrowed down to a single point that wasn’t behaving the way it was supposed to.
Luke stayed silent. Whatever this was, it wasn’t something he could rush without risking the entire thing snapping back in his face.
So he waited.
Connal went rigid. Not the controlled version Luke had already learned to recognize, but something tighter than that, like he was holding his emotions in place by force of will alone.
The air around them tightened. Why did he suddenly want to take a step closer? His fingers twitched with the urge to touch Connal, to put his hand over Connal’s heart. Wow, he’d really been spending too much time in the sparkly chamber, because this was all starting to feel alarmingly real.
Connal’s jaw tightened once before easing, the change small but deliberate. When he spoke, his voice was steady—too steady. “You intend to resolve your affairs before accepting our destiny.”
“Yes.” Luke huffed out a quiet breath. “Something like that.”
Luke didn’t push it further because Connal had given him an opening.
He just had to not screw it up.
“Then we are in agreement. I must,” Connal paused and swallowed hard, “let the Consort know we must cancel the feast.”
Luke looked past Connal, taking in the room properly for the first time since everything had gone sideways. Everyone had left on Connal’s order, but no one had gone far. Their excitement pressed against the closed door. Simply walking out wasn’t an option.
Of course it wasn’t.
Luke exhaled quietly. Fine. New approach.
The door opened before Connal reached it, revealing Cosmo and the others crowded in the corridor. Before Connal could speak, Luke intervened.
“I’m not refusing,” he said, looking past Connal toward Consort Cosmo.
That got everyone’s attention again, but Luke didn’t pause this time.
“Whatever this is,” Luke gestured between himself and Connal, careful not to look at him, “I understand that it matters here.”
That part was obvious. He didn’t need a manual to figure that out.
“But I can’t stay,” Luke continued, just as evenly. “Not yet. I’ve got something unfinished on my side, and until that’s dealt with, I’m not in a position to…commit to anything.”
No one argued. They simply stared, focused and intent. Luke met the Consort’s gaze, hoping he didn’t have another obstacle in his way.
Then Cosmo smiled, slow and amused. “How refreshingly inconvenient,” he said. “Very well.”
Luke didn’t relax.
Not yet.
“You may go,” Cosmo continued lightly. “Finish your…unfinished business. The feast can wait.”
There it was. Agreement. Or at least permission.
Luke let out a slow breath.
“Try not to die,” Cosmo added, almost as an afterthought. There was a twinkle in his eyes, though, and…was he trying not to laugh? “It would make things terribly awkward.”
Luke almost smiled. “I’ll do my best.”
He didn’t wait after that or give anyone the chance to reconsider. He retrieved his backpack from beside the chair, slung it over one shoulder, and turned toward the exit. “Um, how exactly do I get out of here?”
Connal moved with him immediately, close enough that Luke could feel his warmth beside him.
“Brothers,” Connal bellowed.
Luke shivered at the fierceness in Connal’s tone. Within seconds, the three giants from the alley surrounded them. A sparkly magic circle opened in the air beside them.
“Definitely a concussion,” Luke grumbled.
Connal stepped through first. One moment he stood beside Luke; the next, the circle swallowed him.
Zer gestured toward the opening. “Go.”
Luke tightened his hold on the backpack strap and stepped through.
The world folded. He braced instinctively, knees bending as the ground seemed to drop out from under him for half a second before snapping back into place. The castle dissolved into cold air and concrete.
Connal waited on the other side, already scanning the alley for threats. He moved back to Luke immediately—too close, too solid, like Luke had become his center of gravity.
Luke rolled his shoulders once, grounding himself and forcing his attention outward instead of inward. He scanned quickly—alleyway, narrow, familiar enough to blend into the city grid without standing out. No immediate movement. No obvious threats.
“You are not safe here.”
Luke huffed out a quiet breath, already moving. “Yeah, you’ve mentioned.”
Connal fell into step beside him. The other brothers disappeared into the shadows. Luke clocked that and didn’t comment, even though every instinct warned against proximity and visibility.
“We need to move,” Luke said, cutting across the next intersection without slowing. “I was pulled out mid-op—er—anyway. That’s not something that goes unnoticed.”
Connal’s gaze swept the street, sharp and assessing, but there was a tension to it now that hadn’t been there before. Not uncertainty exactly.
“This place is exposed,” Connal said.
“It’s a city,” Luke shot back. “Everything’s exposed.”
Connal did not look reassured.
Luke ignored that too. He reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone and checking the screen as he kept walking—no missed calls.
That was worse.
A beat later, the device vibrated in his hand. Oh, right, there hadn’t been a signal in Connal’s castle. He was back online now.
Angling slightly toward the wall, he unlocked it and scanned the displayed message.
Proceed to drop location.
His jaw tightened just a fraction as he read and replied.
Understood.
“Problem?” Connal asked.
“I’ve been ordered to continue the delivery.”
Connal’s gaze sharpened. “What are you delivering?”
Luke’s hand brushed the hidden pocket at his waistband. “A small human device containing information. My job is to deliver it to a contact.”
He slipped the phone back into his pocket and looked up, already adjusting his plan.
“Come on,” he said, changing direction without hesitation. “We’ve got a job to do.”
Connal didn’t question it.
He followed.
Luke plotted the new direction on his phone, then quickly locked it into his head. The route unfolded in his mind automatically as he considered pace, timing, and line of sight. Fortunately, he’d studied the city map in advance of this operation.
Intersections, blind corners, traffic patterns, escape routes—Luke knew how to read all of it.
This he understood.
This he could control.
Behind him—or beside him, because Connal apparently didn’t do distance—Connal’s footsteps fell into perfect rhythm with his own.
Too precise.
Too close.
Luke ignored it.
His phone buzzed again as he turned down the next street. Luke angled his body just enough to shield the screen without breaking stride.
The message was short. Efficient. Which meant things had gone sideways faster than expected.
Status compromised.
Proceed to secondary drop. Coordinates attached.
Luke exhaled slowly through his nose, scanning the rest.
No questions.
No instructions beyond that.
No acknowledgment of what had happened to him.
That was…not ideal.
“Your people,” Connal said, voice low but close enough to cut through the city noise. “They are aware of your absence?”
Luke huffed a quiet breath. “Oh yeah. They’re aware.”
He didn’t look up from the screen as he checked the coordinates, mapping them automatically against what he already knew of the city.
The warehouse district. Of course it was.
“Are they a threat?” Connal asked.
Luke locked the phone’s screen and slid it back into his pocket. “Depends on the day.”
Connal remained unconvinced.
Luke didn’t bother trying to fix that. At the moment, he wasn’t reassured either.
“The original drop was compromised,” he said, cutting across another street without hesitation. “I’ve been redirected to a secondary location.”
Connal watched the street with the same rigid vigilance he’d shown since they’d arrived.
“This is exposed,” Connal said after a beat. “Too many variables. Too many points of exposure.”
Luke almost smiled. It was kind of nice having someone around who understood everything that went through his head at any given time. “Yeah. That’s kind of the point.”
Connal turned sharply to him.
Dammit. He’d revealed too much. Then again, could he really keep pretending he wasn’t in danger?
Luke kept moving. “Predictable routes get people killed,” he added, more lightly than he felt. “Crowds give us cover, and changing direction makes us harder to follow.”
Connal didn’t respond to that right away.
Luke caught it, though—the way Connal’s focus sharpened as he reassessed something that didn’t fit into his framework.
Good. He didn’t need Connal to understand.
He just needed him to keep up.
“We’re close,” Luke said after another turn, his focus narrowing as the surroundings changed—less traffic, more space, longer sightlines. “Couple more blocks.”
Connal stepped in closer.
Luke didn’t look at him, but he adjusted anyway, shifting his path just enough to account for the extra body at his side.
“Stay with me,” Connal said.
Luke snorted. “Wasn’t planning on wandering off.”
“That is not what I meant.”
“No,” Luke said dryly. “I figured.”
The tension between them didn’t spike this time. It just…held.
Luke let that sit for exactly half a second before pushing it aside.
Focus.
Mission.
Warehouse.
He could figure everything else out later.
Luke kept moving as the street opened up ahead of them. The transition from crowded blocks to quieter industrial space happened almost seamlessly. The pros? Fewer people, better sightlines. The cons? Less noise and less cover.