Page 36 of Acolyte (Tempris #2)

Ivain had bolstered security on the townhouse since the attacks began.

There was still a traitor in their midst, and even with Taly’s warning, they still hadn’t been able to narrow in on just who might be working against them.

More than ever, they had to be vigilant, and since Ivain’s office now harbored information and orders that may very well spell the difference between life and death for an entire city, countless layers of steel, iron, and magic now separated the lavish house from the rest of the village.

Only family and a few of the more trusted members of the serving staff could unlock the wards. Everyone else had to be vetted.

Skye made his way inside the house, only stopping to drop his pack in the outdoor workroom before entering through the kitchen. He was still scraping mud off his boots when Sarina found him.

She had changed clothes since he’d seen her that morning—removing the dirt-stained tunic she wore to work outside in favor of a pale blue gown.

The scent of smoke and aether clung to her, indicating that she’d most likely spent her day helping Ivain burn away the rubble and wreckage that had collected at the northern edge of the city.

Very few fire mages had the skill to produce flames hot enough to melt stone, and Sarina, even if she didn’t like to flaunt her abilities, was no ordinary fire mage.

“Where have you been?!” she hissed, pulling him inside. Skye grimaced at the muddy boot prints that trailed behind him as she ushered him forward.

“I was helping the Gate Watchers set up the monitoring station,” he said as she pushed him down the hall and up the stairs.

Though it wasn’t a perfect solution, they did have equipment that would allow them to track the status of the Aion Gate remotely—let them know when it was time to move closer. “Sarina, what’s—”

“Aiden’s back.”

Skye stopped abruptly, turning on his heels. He barely caught Sarina before she ran into him.

They shared a look .

And then he was running, up a second set of stairs, following the familiar path to the study on the third floor, Sarina close behind.

The door at the end of the hall stood open, the light spilling out onto the plush carpets that blanketed the dark hardwood. Just beyond, Aimee was crying into her brother’s stained overcoat, pulling back occasionally to make sure that he was, indeed, still there, alive and unharmed.

Ivain leaned against a massive desk stacked with papers and books, his grim expression at odds with the cheery fire that roared away inside the carved marble hearth.

Skye slowed his pace, stepping inside the study and scanning the room. The hope that had flared to life so suddenly flickered and died.

Because Taly… wasn’t there.

Which meant that Aiden hadn’t been able to find her.

Which meant—

Skye took a breath. It meant nothing. Only that Aiden hadn’t had any luck and that Taly was still out there, waiting to be found.

“Aimee.” Ivain turned to his niece. “Would you go find Eliza and ask her to prepare something for Aiden? I’m sure the boy is famished after such a long journey.”

Aimee bobbed out a curtsey, wiping her eyes as she reluctantly stepped away from her brother.

So far, the siege had taken little effect on the water mage’s sense of style.

Her dark hair was immaculately curled, and the teal gown she wore was pressed and pinned to flatter her slim waist and full bust. The only change Skye could see was that she had taken to wearing a jeweled belt with a red velvet bag attached .

Skye’s nostrils flared. It wasn’t a scent.

Not really. More a sense, an awareness that thrummed just beneath his skin.

Water crystals . He knew it instinctively.

Those were water crystals clicking together in that bag.

It seemed that after the incident with the harpy, Aimee had finally started taking her magic seriously.

She gave him a teary smile. “I hope it’s good news,” she whispered. Somehow, Skye knew that she meant it, despite her and Taly’s mutual animosity.

Sarina placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder as she passed by, closing the door after her.

“Sister.” Ivain gave Sarina a pointed look.

“If you tell me to leave,” Sarina said, sinking down onto a green velvet couch that sat opposite the desk, “I’ll gut you where you stand.

” The smile she gave her older brother was sweet—and lethal.

“You don’t need to spare me, Ivain. Taly is just as much mine as she is yours, and if something’s happened, I want to know about it. ”

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. Sarina gestured 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 a rider 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…