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Ava could look after herself, he knew. But it eased something in him that the general would watch her back.

“Where are you staying in the city?” Ava asked Guran Hur.

“I . . .” He looked over at the others, and they seemed equally unable to answer.

“Then we will organize a place for you close by to the palace.” The general shared a look with Raun-Tu and he nodded.

Luc approved. Better to keep the envoy away from the rest of their entourage. Especially if they were so befuddled they didn’t know where they were staying.

As they were led out, Renate Ewing reached out a hand to Ava, and before Luc could stop her, she gripped Ava’s arm.

“Your mother was my friend. I’m glad to see you alive and well, because your grandmother and I feared the worst for you when word came back that your parents had been killed.”

Luc did not relax, even though Ava placed her own hand over Renate’s and patted it. “Perhaps one day we can sit together and talk of my mother. Remember her.”

The woman nodded and then followed her colleagues out of the room.

Ava waited until they were gone and her posture drooped. “They are so confused, they don’t even know where they are staying. There is no way I’ll be able to find out from them where Tomas and Velda have been taken.”

“And yet, they didn’t seem confused at all when they got here.” The general was skeptical.

“They were probably told the same thing every day, and it burrowed into their minds, so the spell caster needed to do less and less work to keep them ignoring reality. We pulled the loose thread, and the whole construct has unraveled. Things like where they are staying, where their luggage is, that requires them to be present in the now, and they haven’t been in the now for a few weeks, is my guess.”

The general hummed, but she didn’t contradict Ava. “You’re ready?” she asked Luc.

“Ready?” Ava turned, eyes wide. “We’re going now?”

“No.” Luc saw the general slip out of the room and take the guards with her.

Good.

They would need privacy for this conversation.

Ava was frowning at him, but not because she was confused. She was bright enough to have worked out he didn’t mean her to come with him.

She said nothing, looking up at him. She was working through it herself. When she finally came to the same conclusion as him, she sighed, leaned against him.

“I can’t leave. You have to go.”

“Yes.” The word was hard to get out.

His arms were around her, and she burrowed closer. When she lifted her face to his, he could see tears in her eyes.

“I don’t like this.”

“I know.”

“How soon will you be ready to go?” She tried to step back, he could see it was to show him she accepted and understood, but he held on to her.

“Rafe is organizing things. Soon.” He nuzzled her hair, unwilling to waste even a moment with her.

“I need to work a few things for you.”

He wanted to protest, to keep her with him for the short time they had left, but he would be a fool ten times over to stop her.

He had seen first hand how valuable the workings she made could be.

He forced himself to loosen his hold and step back. “Half an hour, maybe a little more, and then we’ll be off.”