Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
ETHAN
Moira had disappeared off the face of the earth. Ignoring why I could feel her for the moment because that was a whole different can of worms I would never be ready to face, I focused on the where.
She still lived. I knew that for sure. But she was no longer in this world.
I stared at my cell for a long moment before uttering a curse. Evie would worry if I texted her, but she might know something Moira wouldn’t have told me.
I fired off a quick message to the fae queen and waited.
Evie and I had an odd relationship. We started out antagonistic toward each other, most of that my fault. Now we had an uneasy truce, mostly because of Rowan.
Despite myself, I liked the young Lord, and I liked how he stood up for what was right in his quiet way. And I liked him and Evie together.
To her credit, she texted back almost right away.
I sent my father to her. He might have taken her through the bridge.
I stared at my phone. That godsdamned bridge was fast becoming the bane of our existence.
It had always existed; we just didn’t know its purpose until recently.
With the incident at Rowan’s Keep several months ago where a fucking fae had killed me, I wasn’t feeling too kindly toward the fae these days.
To know Moira was alone, somewhere in the fae realms with the most powerful fae in existence…I scratched under my collar. When that didn’t help, I ripped off my tie and tossed it onto my desk.
“Fuck!”
ETA? I texted back.
Unknown.
Those three little dots went on for long enough to make me nervous.
She’s safe with him. If he took her through the bridge, something must have gone wrong. As soon as I hear from her, I will let you know.
I let out a heavy breath.
Thank you.
Evie didn’t respond again.
I tried texting Moira again, but the message came back as undelivered.
Feeling helpless was awful. I was never helpless. Ethan Flint was always prepared. There was never a situation he couldn’t fix.
“And yet here you are speaking about yourself in the third person,” I muttered to the air.
I tried Soren again. He picked up on the third ring.
“She’s with Cernunnos. That’s all I know,” Soren said. “I’m a little busy here, if you don’t mind.”
“What happened?”
“Cats,” Soren snarled. “Cats everywhere. Evie’s father is a dick.”
I’d had few dealings with the god. He never visited me like he did Caelan and eventually Rowan. I thought it perhaps because he could not use me for anything to further his own agenda. Gods were always bored and fickle, a lesson I learned long ago.
They find your weak points and press them so you will dance for them like a puppet.
“Can you tell me anything else?”
Soren sighed and rattled off what happened before cursing and hanging up.
She’d left Soren with the witches and gone off on her own to check out the wards. He didn’t know anything other than that. Evie must have told him where she was.
Soren could handle the cats. My lips twitched. Cernunnos must know about the Lord’s witch harem and disapproved.
I tossed my phone on the desk and ran my hands through my hair. This would be so much easier if she still lived here—if I could feel her on my property and know where she was at any given moment.
I’d fucked things up so horribly. And yet, I couldn’t fix it. To do so would tear a piece of my soul away.
Any feelings I had for Moira had to stay locked up tight. I could care for her, take care of her, even touch her sometimes if I took care when I did so.
But I could never love her.
Not the way she deserved.
My heart belonged to someone else and always would.