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Ivain sighed, smart enough to recognize when he’d already lost. He turned to Aiden. “Maybe we should back up a bit for Skye and Sarina. You were saying you started in Vale?”

Aiden gave a shallow nod. The earth mage looked exhausted. His face was drawn and pale, his lips nearly bloodless. His red hair was longer than it had been less than two weeks ago—no longer shaved but curling around his ears. That meant he’d been injured, seriously enough to need healing magic.

“I couldn’t get a good read on her with the locator spell, so I thought it was as good a place as any to start.” Aiden’s voice was hoarse, and he swayed on his feet, favoring his left side. Sarinagestured for him to sit, but he refused. “To put it mildly, Vale was destroyed.”

“What do you mean?” Sarina pressed. “Was it abandoned, attacked…?” Her eyes cut to her brother and then back to Aiden. “Were there bodies?”

“There was nothing,” Aiden whispered. “No bodies, no buildings; even the relay was in pieces.”

Ivain stiffened at that. The relays were made of hyaline, and even a fully trained shadow mage would have trouble shattering a piece that large.

Aiden went on, “I was able to get a read on her there. Even though it looked like a bomb had gone off in the middle of town, I can say with complete certainty that she walked out of there—alive.”

Sarina took a sharp breath, and even Ivain looked hopeful before he carefully schooled his expression.

Skye waited patiently, soaking up every scrap of information. If Aiden hadn’t been able to find her, that meant it was his turn. He’d leave tonight if he had to.

Aiden pulled a vial from his pocket. There was less than a few thimblefuls of blood left at the bottom. “I followed the trail east, through the forest. That’s where I found her horse—Byron. He was injured, and it looked like he had been wandering the woods for several days. Taly’s pack was still strapped to the saddle, and when I went into the horse’s memory—I was only able to get a few flashes, and I’m not a beast master, so it was muddy. But I think she was thrown.”

Ivain took a breath, ready to speak, but one look from Sarina silenced him. Skye already knew what the man wanted to say: Taly was too good arider to get thrown, especially from a horse she had helped train.

Still, even Elvethan spooked. And if she’d been injured—

“I went through her pack,” Aiden rasped, mumbling out a quick thanks when Ivain handed him a glass of amber liquid. The healer knocked back the glass, and his voice was a little steadier as he said, “There wasn’t much besides some clothes and papers, but I was able to salvage a few strands of hair for a second locator spell. It led me to Infinity’s Edge.”

“The old palace?” Ivain’s eyes widened, and Skye could already see the man running through the variables. Why had she fled to a place that was abandoned? Had she been seeking shelter or… what? Why the palace? Why not Della?

Aiden nodded. “That’s where the trail ended, but…” He shook his head, dragging a finger along the rim of the glass. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

“What do you mean?” Skye asked.

Aiden’s eyes found his. “I spent two days investigating the area. I circled the palace grounds so many times I lost count, but the locator spell kept leading me in circles. One moment, she would be there, and the next, the spell would just die.”

“But that doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Sarina said, her voice soft—hopeful. “Locator spells aren’t perfect. All she would need to do is climb a tree or go inside a building to sever her connection to the earth, and—”

“I checked the palace, Sarina,” Aiden interrupted, his lips a thin line. “Believe me, I’m aware of the limitations on my own magic, and I checked every building and every tree in the area.I even tamed a wolf to see if he could sense something that I couldn’t, but the only thing I found was…” His eyes fell to the floor.

“What,” Ivain growled. A demand, not a question. He still gripped the edge of the desk. The wood began to groan.

Aiden sighed, glancing at Sarina and then Skye as he shoved a hand into his pocket. Silver flashed, and when Aiden uncurled his palm, Skye had the distinct feeling that the world had somehow slipped out from underneath him when he wasn’t looking.

Even caked with mud, and gravel, and blood that had already dried to black, he recognized the tiny, teardrop pendant. Taly had worn it every day of her life, not even taking it off to bathe after a much younger version of himself had gotten it into his head that it would be a funny prank to take the necklace and hide it from her while she was in the bath.

Skye wasn’t sure how he managed to stay on his feet as he watched Aiden place the necklace in Sarina’s outstretched palm. He wasn’t sure what it was that kept him from vomiting all over the carpet when Ivain asked, “Were there shades?” in a voice that was far too steady given the quiet devastation that dimmed those stark blue eyes.

Aiden nodded. “There was a small group patrolling the palace gates.”

“Fresh?” Ivain asked.

Another nod.

“And the species?”

“Human.”

Sarina let out a broken sob and clutched the necklace to her chest.

“No.” Skye shook his head, refusing to even entertain the idea, the possibility that Taly could… that she was… might’ve been turned…