Chapter 60
Jane
He was here. All of them were here.
Hope burst through me the instant I saw them, even as I was dragged from the square, even as most of them didn’t spare me more than a passing glance. They knew who had me.
That’s your little sister. Cahir had breathed it against my ear the moment he seized me from the alley, right after I pinned the Scions lining up their aim on Reagan.
A warning, and it had worked.
My body had gone rigid.
Trying to warn them outright would put Joy at risk, along with every adult and child in the square. It had turned into a swarm of Scions, disguised battle mages, and humans. Too many eyes. A few humans had sensed the hostility and left, but most lingered, oblivious to the danger they were in.
Despite the thunder battering my chest, I had done nothing. I had been too scared to be dragged away too soon and lose the chance to see them. Without my voice or even my own face to warn them, I had no time to convince anyone. So I stayed silent and sucked in the energy from my family.
I had no idea how they found me, but they did. And they would again.
Between the alleys, someone yanked my arm and slammed me against the wall.
“Your little stunt cost me valuable resources today, half-breed,” Madden said, his body towering over mine. “Whatever protection I offered you is gone. You will do good to remind me why I am bothering to keep you alive if you’re bad for business.”
He tore the choker off my neck, and the relic obeyed him instantly. Cold rippled over my skin, followed by a rush of heat.
His compulsion sank into my skin like claws. “Why is he here?”
My voice scraped out, hoarse. “I don’t know.”
“You’re useless if you offer nothing.” His lips peeled back. “Why is he here?”
“I…” I ground out. “Don’t. Know.”
For a heartbeat, I imagined spitting in his face, humiliating him. Forcing him to lick the grime at our feet, to taste something as foul as it had been to lick his blood.
His hand snapped around my throat so brutally that I hit the wall. The air left my lungs in a woosh. “You’ll call me Master from now on, filth,” he snarled, “to remind you that in the order of things, you rank below the roaches infesting this town.”
My anger flooded my mouth. “Then ask the roaches to See for you.”
His grip tightened, cutting my air. There was no way to breathe, even as I clawed at his fingers.
“Maybe he got a tip,” Cahir said half-heartedly. “She had no way to pass a message. Not when we only feed her before using her.”
A stream of people came our way, and Madden let me go. I gasped, staggering against the wall. Cahir caught me roughly and pressed me to a wooden door, shielding me from the humans. I barely registered the glamour settling over me as he snapped the choker around my throat again.
“We split here,” Madden said. “Take her quietly. I will draw their attention. Be quick.”
“Any cargo?” Cahir asked.
My breath stilled.
“Handled,” Madden replied, already striding away, the Scions following his trail.
“Walk,” Cahir ordered once we were alone.
Instead of using the main street, he steered me through an alley. I couldn’t stop myself from searching for familiar faces in the lanes. He was guiding us back to the train station, where we would return to their mansion. To the padded room.
The alleys were packed. Cahir cursed and hauled me behind him, forcing a path through the melee. His grip on my wrist tightened as he dragged me forward, shouldering through the press of bodies.
The sky darkened above the low brick balconies and shuttered windows, dusk gathering with a dull crack of lightning. Thunder rolled, urging the crowd to push harder, crushing us into a single heaving mass.
Too many people. Too many heads.
I stumbled into a man’s back, nearly tripping, while a chorus of complaints flared around us. Thunder answered again, promising rain.
A shoulder wedged between us, blocking my view.
Cahir’s sneer flickered in and out of sight. “Get. Out—”
A violent shove struck him from the side.
I staggered forward, air rushing past me as I braced my hands for the ground. My feet left the alley floor, and everything went dark. Something clamped around me, pinning my arms to my sides.
Cahir’s hand was gone. The crush of bodies and the angry voices drifted away, distant now. My back struck something unyielding. A hand clamped over my mouth, cedarwood rushing through me in a dizzying wave.
I looked up into ice-blue eyes, stunned. His brow was drawn tight, his other hand braced against the wall as he angled his body around mine, shielding me from view in a narrow, empty alcove.
A strangled sound tore loose, and I realised it had come from me.
Reagan’s gaze searched my unfamiliar face warily. “Jane?”
I tried to pull my arm free. Cautiously, he loosened his hold just enough for me to lift it. I touched the choker, shaking my head.
His eyes dropped to the onyx band, and his mouth parted, understanding flashing across his face.
“She was right,” he murmured, reaching for my nape, then swearing when the shock snapped against his fingers.
He nudged me to turn around and went for the clasp. Cedar-scented mana slipped on the back of my neck. Something clicked, and the prickling sensation slithered down my body in a rush.
“It’s you,” Reagan breathed.
He spun me back, and then I was nestled against his chest, his power roaming along my limbs, over my pulse, as if he were counting me piece by piece.
Each piece that was mine again.
“You found me,” I murmured.
His hands rose to cradle my face, his eyes tracing every detail as though to make sure it was me. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”
The density of his access was so thick, like an invisible shield had risen around us, sealing this small space from the rest of the world.
“I knew you would,” I whispered. “How did you know it was me?”
He shook his head. “I wish I could say it was me, but I owe your sister for that.”
She knew. “Where is she?”
“With Finn. Gwin is keeping the Scion occupied so I could confirm it was you. We’re leaving now.”
He pressed his mouth to my temple, his scent alone settling my frantic pulse, soothing every rattled nerve.
I wouldn’t go back to that room, to that mansion where horrors were happening within well-painted walls. Where other captives still suffered, with no one to come for them.
“Are you all right?” Reagan asked. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
Bruises. Ragged clothes. A stranger’s lap.
They needed rescue too.
“Yes,” I breathed.
Reagan angled my face toward him, his mouth thinning. “Did they mend you?”
“I mean, no. I am not hurt.” I reined my thoughts back into place. “But the humans are. In Madden’s mansion. I think they’re the ones who vanished.”
Reagan’s brows creased. “We will get them,” he said firmly. “We find Finn and Gwin first, then we leave.”
As I nodded, he wrapped an arm around me.
Did I even know where the mansion stood? Somewhere north, if the landscape meant anything. Though that didn’t narrow it down. We could search for it, but I would wager the entire place was glamoured.
I caught his arm and stopped us before we fully left the alcove. “Do you actually know where his mansion is?”
Reagan frowned. “The Order keeps a townhouse near Ashenagth Hall. In the main city. Most of the hidden locations the Elven Lords shared are in Ashenagth, but we couldn’t find you in any of them.”
I shook my head. “There wasn’t any city outside the windows. He has a permanent mansion.” I thought it through. “You found me here. Not in the mansion. Because you don’t know where it is. It’s not one of the locations the elves know about.”
His silence was confirmation.
“We’ll find it,” Reagan said. “The elves will search for it.”
What if they didn’t find the mansion? Then no help would come for them. They would be forced into the tunnel to dig the minerals for Madden’s bloodbane.
But I could find out where the place was. I could bring them there myself.
“I need to go back,” I said, my hand moving to my throat.
Reagan looked at me as though I had struck him, his eyes bulging with disbelief. “That’s not an option. Do you know what it felt like to find you gone?”
I glanced toward the alley mouth, as if Cahir’s shadow would be listening.
“They had Jack and Daria,” I explained. “He released them, but he’s still compelling other captives to serve him and other pigs. They’re all compelled, Caed. If I disappear here, Madden will understand exactly what happened. When we locate the mansion, he might have moved them already.”
“Jane,” he said incredulously, “do you want to walk back into a place where they will hurt you? Alone? That’s reckless, and I will not sacrifice you for anyone.”
“It won’t be a sacrifice because I have an idea.
They keep me locked in an isolated room, mostly alone.
” Reagan shook his head. I went on, “If we want to dismantle the Order, that proof will destroy them. He can be stopped for good if we expose what he’s doing.
And that is not even everything.” I frowned as I tried to remember the conversation I heard.
“I think he’s planning to take more captives for other places.
There are other locations where he’s hiding them.
Places that no one would be able to find them. They’ll be underground.”
My throat tightened. It was searing anger that fuelled my words. “I was there. There could be other citizens from our estate. Other hybrids like Clodagh Foley. What if it was Gwin there? Or Joy?”
I held his gaze. “Madden won’t kill me. He knows I can divine for him.”
It was all truth, though it didn’t mean I would be safe.
“We’ll think of something else,” Reagan muttered, tugging me against him.
“Like what?” I asked.
“Something easier. Something that includes you coming home. We’ll find another way to get the others.”
I knew Reagan well enough to read him. He was afraid.
My hands moved up his chest, over the tension locked in his shoulders. Somehow, being around him stoked my courage. “You didn’t want to wait for them to attack again. I don’t want to wait either. This would be not waiting, Caed. And I’ll be brought there anyway. We could turn it to our advantage.”
The silence that followed stretched too long, and I could see the conflict on his face. But if Cahir found us here, the chance would be gone, and I couldn’t allow that.
The thought of leaving those captives to the Order—those girls—made my insides riot. I couldn’t live with it, just as I couldn’t have said yes to Ladyship before. But like then, I would try to make it right.
“Trust me,” I said, “I need to return before Cahir notices you found me. You’ll have to lock the choker back on.”
His jaw clenched, his gaze dropping to the discarded choker on the ground. “You need to give me something,” he said at last. “A way to find you. Your blood didn’t lead me to you. It won’t guide me there.”
“That’s exactly what I’ll do,” I said without hesitation.
He searched my face, weighing the decision. “If you are not absolutely sure, I won’t risk your life. If you go back and I cannot reach you, I will trade anything for you. Whatever he demands, I’ll give, so you have to be damn sure.”
The weight of that promise shook me. I knew he meant it.
Cupping his face, I nudged him down and kissed him. Reagan yielded instantly, giving me a demanding kiss that battled the lordly version of him who tried to be gentle and warm, and the animal inside him that wanted to claim and guard.
Both soothed the edge of my nerves.
“If you are trying to convince me,” he murmured against my lips, “this is not the way.”
“I heard what he said to you,” I whispered solemnly. “We will make him pay.”
His lids closed, and resolve locked into his expression. “I only care that you come back to me,” Reagan said steadfastly. “Safe. Nothing else matters.”
Not even vengeance.
Despite the fear still there, he nodded. “Tell me what you need.”