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A cock-stiffening thought, one made no easier to disregard when he considered the possibility of bringing Ria back with him. But first, he had to bear the brunt of her anger. He slid from the bed and donned his discarded tunic and pants. A little wrinkled, but they would do.

Fortunately, her room was next to his, so it only took a matter of moments to reach her door. But when he knocked, the wood shifted beneath his hand, and fear chilled his heart as the door swung open. She wouldn’t have left it unlatched, would she?

Toren sent a mental call for Mehl as he peered into the room beyond. There was nothing apparent amiss, except…was that fabric unrolled across the floor? Perhaps she’d decided to work on her designs and had left her door ajar while going for more supplies. Aside from the cloth, he spotted only a tea tray on a side table.

When Mehl hurried over, it was with knife in hand and sword belt strapped over equally wrinkled clothes. “Did you call the guard?” he murmured.

“Not yet.” Toren pointed at the fabric. “She could be working.”

The hard lump of fear in his stomach said otherwise, but he tried to ignore it. There had to be a simple explanation.

Had to be.

“I’ll go in first,” Mehl said.

Unlike earlier, Toren made no effort to stop Mehl, though he burned with the urge to do so. Nothing about this situation felt right. But Mehl had made his point, however much Toren hated it. His husband was a trained warrior, skilled enough to have guarded royalty. It was an insult to suggest otherwise.

Toren followed Mehl as he crept beyond the sitting area and through the open bedroom door, but it didn’t take a bodyguard to see that both rooms were empty. Nor did a search of her new workroom provide any hints. According to the guard, he’d last seen Ria carrying a bolt of fabric to her bedroom.

Her now empty bedroom.

Please let there be a simple explanation.

“Where could she have gone?” Toren scanned her sitting area once more for clues, but there was no sign of a struggle. “The wards have not been activated. Unless the guard is remiss…”

Mehl stopped beside the tea service. “If she were quiet enough, she could have slipped into one of the empty chambers. I ordered them checked.”

Something Toren should have thought of, but the sick twist of his stomach and the pounding of his magic clouded his mind. In so many ways, this was his fault. But had she fled or somehow been abducted? He walked over to the fabric and frowned down at the cushion some distance away from the cloth.

Had she been sitting there? Why? He knelt down to take a closer look, and the sudden taste of magic had his vision going white before he controlled it. This was Ria’s energy. Had she done a spell on the fabric? One of the flowers seemed smaller, but…

Smeared. That edge of color looked smeared, though this design didn’t seem to be painted. And there, nearly blending into the pattern, were several red drops.

“This tea set,” Mehl said, his tone cold and hard, “Is remarkably absent of tea.”

Awareness coalesced into one sickening lump of fear and rage.

Ria had been taken.

Chapter23

Secrets and Delusions

Training smothered all but a single, tightly held core of fury, chilling and deadly. Mehl nourished it as much as stifled it, but balance between the two took care. And as he watched Toren’s face go white, Mehl had a moment’s fear that his well-honed balance might fail. But he couldn’t allow it. He had to keep his mind clear and focused.

A wave of Toren’s magic washed over him, stealing his breath. This could topple everything, beginning with his husband’s control. As Mehl sent a quick, mental summons to Feref, he rushed across the room to Toren, who still knelt beside the fabric. Carefully, Mehl gripped his husband’s shoulders and tugged him to his feet.

“Tor,” he said sharply. “Look at me.”

Energy streamed through his body from the physical connection, and despite the twinge of pain in his head, Mehl channeled and grounded the power as usual. He had no choice. Though the family wing had few residents, Toren was like contained lightning—if he lost his grip, there was no telling who or what he might destroy.

Mehl tightened his hold. “Toren Eyamiri. Look. At. Me.”

After the longest heartbeat of Mehl’s life, his husband blinked a few times before his unfocused gaze sharpened on Mehl. “Ria…”

“Needs you to not level the castle before we find her,” Mehl said, keeping his voice matter-of-fact. “Send me what you have to, but get control.”

Toren shuddered in his hold, but after another endless moment, energy slammed into Mehl like a blow. Though gasping from the force, he again channeled the power into the ground and did his best to ignore the increasing pain in his head. Only when the energy cut off did he truly recognize the extent of the hurt—the agony pounded in his very blood.