Raven #3
“Where are Aldine and Chace?” I stalled for time, but I also only wanted to explain myself once.
As in, after Chace and my elder arrived.
Aoes’s shoulders sagged, and the corner of his lips drooped. He motioned for me to take a seat. My heart clenched, and my gaze flicked to Winter. He, too, grimaced. Whatever Aoes intended to say, Winter knew. He knew! He’d known some bad news all this time and had avoided telling me.
Fire swirled in my core. And even though they had yet to open their mouths with a response, I already wanted to throttle someone.
The two males peered at one another in a silent exchange.
When they finally turned their attention back to me, Winter spoke. “Chace has been missing for a few days now.”
My mouth dropped open, and I slammed my hands on the table. Chace was missing. Had been missing. And I had been lying in bed, doing nothing to find him. I didn’t care if I had been healing. I should have been up, moving, searching. Finding him.
I needed to find him.
My chest squeezed unbearably tight as I glared at Winter. “All this time, you knew, and you didn’t tell me?”
Aoes’s face pinched. “When would he have told you?” he asked at the same time Winter said, “I’m sorry.”
Aoes swung his gaze back and forth between us. Our exchange of words spoke volumes. I might as well have carved the message into the wood of the table: Winter knew where I was the entire time.
Aoes’s back jerked straight. “Mr. Aldine will be so pleased you’re back. He’s been looking into Chace’s disappearance, and he could, no doubt, use your help.”
“Of course. I want to help,” I blurted, then I softened my gaze and tugged a tiny smile to my lips for Aoes’s sake.
Then I shot Winter a stern glare of disapproval.
He reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled free a piece of paper. Trying not to let my anger get the best of me, I watched him wearily. He unfolded the slip with a smooth, steady motion that suggested he was in no hurry to share.
He laid the paper flat on the table.
My heavy frown pressed deeply into the edge of my mouth. A child’s drawing, and a messy one at that, covered the page.
Winter sighed. “Kira told me she saw Chace. Although, she has not been forthcoming as to where the sighting took place.”
I pushed my weight into the table. “Let me talk to her. I bet I could get her to share the location.”
Winter shook his head and pointed to the paper. “Myla is sometimes able to see through the eyes of another. She’s the artist of this little masterpiece.” He tapped the drawing. “She told me this is where Chace was spotted.”
I snatched the picture and drew it close—studied the final creation that the many lines and squiggles made. The design depicted a tunnel. Or the catacombs. I’d seen Kira in the catacombs. She’d been there with the one going by the name Watcher―the rotten female trying to get rid of me.
Myla’s drawing, my sighting of Kira, the similarity between the locations portrayed in both. Chace had to be in the catacombs.
Are those bars? Is he in a cage?
My ears filled with an internal roar.
I lifted my gaze, my eyes narrowing on the storage room door set in the far wall. I imagined the space beyond and the secret doorway to the tunnels below.
“Aoes?” I swiveled to better face him. “Do the tunnels below this place connect with the deeper catacombs beneath the citadel?”
His mouth popped open, but no sound came out.
I jolted to a stand. “I’m going to find out. Are you guys coming or staying?”
“Right now?” He balked. Glanced over the pub patrons. “I can’t go now. Earl is on an errand, and there’s no one to cover for me.”
I shrugged and turned my attention to Winter. Back at Camilla’s place, he’d had the nerve to ogle me in my barely there undergarments, yet he hadn’t spoken a devil’s damn word about Chace. I wanted to crack my scythe over his head.
I shuddered. Tried not to hate myself for having found comfort in Winter’s closeness.
His jaw clenched with obvious irritation. But he had no right to be irritated when he was the one holding back important information.
He rose, stepped close. So close a chill raced over me. An imagined, magically icy wind.
“This is a bad idea,” he said, his voice seething. “Far too risky. It has only been hours since you awoke from the healing sleep.”
Aoes jerked. “What healing sleep? What are you talking about?”
Neither of us answered.
I kept my stare tight on Winter, my retort firm. “I. Don’t. Care.”
And I didn’t. Not really. I would find the strength necessary to finish the task. Nothing he could say or do would change my reaping mind.
“I’m going anyway. Are you coming or not?”
A low growl vibrated in his throat. “What choice do you give me, when you insist on barreling into the unknown and possible danger?”
“You could stay here, help your buddy at the pub.” I smirked.
My attention fluttered to the storage room door—the room housing the secret passage that hopefully connected to the catacombs.
“I’m quite capable on my own.”
Winter followed my gaze and scoffed. “I will not allow you to race into danger alone. I’m going with you.”