Page 22

Chapter 21

Vareck

“There you are,” Kaia said. She swept her gaze across my office, then arched an eyebrow. “What’s with all the books?”

Several stacks were piled high on my desk and on the end table by my reading chair. Any other visible space had open books with random items wedged in the spines to hold the place.

“Research,” I muttered. My jaw tightened as I scanned the rest of the page I was reading, only to find nothing of use.

“The History of Blood Magic,” Kaia read aloud. She picked up the book off the stack and read the one below it. “Bonds and Bindings.” Her voice dropped an octave as she picked that one up too. “Blood Oath Case Studies.”

My head snapped up. “Hand me that one?—”

“What the hell? Please, please do not tell me you’re considering entering a blood oath with her.”

“I’m not considering anything.”

“Then why are you—” Kaia tilted her head, lips parted. “You didn’t.” She dropped the books back onto my desk, a tiny plume of dust rose in the air, catching in the light.

“We’re going to find Damon.”

Kaia barked an unamused laugh. “How do you plan to do that with the necklace on her?” I didn’t answer. “Godsdamn it, Vareck. Tell me you didn’t do a blood oath with her and take off the necklace. I know she’s the dream girl, but come on. She’s the one who abducted him and can’t even tell us who hired her.”

“I didn’t take the necklace off.”

“Oh good,” Kaia deadpanned. “You didn’t take off the trinket that was temporary and instead entered into an unbreakable vow that will last till one of you dies. Yeah, that’s so much better.”

I sighed. “This is why I didn’t ask you.”

“Because I would have talked sense into you,” she snapped. “Maybe that should have been your first hint it was a bad idea.”

“I trust her.”

“Clearly not if you did a blood oath.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “Meera has a unique ability to find things. She can find Damon, but she can’t do it without her magic. The necklace was only on her to begin with so she couldn’t persuade me. The blood oath runs deeper?—”

“Because it’s permanent!”

I leveled her with a glare. “We have no leads. Meera’s bound to a magical contract. There isn’t a trace of him. The longer that goes by?—”

Kaia threw her head back and laughed. “She’s been here all of what? Eight days? Nine?”

“We have to find Damon. You’re the one that told me sometimes sacrifices have to be made.”

“About being king, not this!” she snapped back. “You may be able to lie to yourself, but not me. This has nothing to do with Damon and everything to do with your obsession with her.”

I slapped my hands on the desk. “If you’re just here to lecture me, you can leave.”

Kaia pressed her lips together, crossing her arms. A tense minute passed before she spoke again. “Why are you researching if you already did it?”

I ran my hand along my jaw. “Something went wrong.”

She dropped her arms immediately. “What do you mean wrong? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. The oath just didn’t take right. It’s weird and I probably wouldn’t have questioned it if I didn’t know what it should feel like.”

Kaia glanced down at her left hand briefly, where the binding from our own blood oath was embedded in her skin. Deep red lines twisted around her wrist and down the back of her hand. They met on her palm and formed a jagged crown. Most people would mistake it for a tattoo.

My own binding matched hers but sat on my right hand. The only difference was that instead of a crown, mine became a sword.

We’d been kids when we did it. Teenagers who thought we knew everything. I remembered us being confused about why the bindings took the forms they did. They were supposed to represent us in some way and back then, I wasn’t the heir. Back then, she wasn’t a soldier.

Yet somehow, it seemed fate knew. We were always meant to end up here. I had no regrets.

“What’s different? Explain it to me.”

I tugged off my left glove, revealing my bare skin.

Kaia frowned. “So it just didn’t work? ”

I shook my head. “I feel her. Flickers of emotion. Where she’s at.”

Kaia took the seat across from me, pushing the books out the way so we could see each other. “Neither of those things happened with ours. I don’t feel your emotions, thank the gods, and I definitely can’t track you with it.”

I nodded. “Same. I would assume it didn’t work if not for that.”

“Hmm.” She tilted her head back, looking off into the distance. “Do you think you formed a different kind of oath?”

“No idea. Hence, the research.” I motioned to the book in front of me.

“The lack of a binding mark makes me think it could be temporary,” she said. “So that’s good.”

I kept my face neutral, not betraying how much that idea bothered me. I knew it was insane to want something permanent with a woman I’d only known a little over a week. But I did. Badly.

“Hey guys,” Corvo said, making his presence known.

“Not now. We’re busy.”

“You might want to?—”

“What if you made her your familiar?” Kaia interrupted. “You feel Corvo’s emotions and can kind of sense where he’s at right?”

“I already have a familiar.”

“Well you clearly made some sort of weird bond with her and the familiar bond doesn’t have a binding mark.”

“V, my man, you need to listen.” I looked over at the window, but he wasn’t on his usual perch, sunbathing.

“Where are—” I caught the flick of his tail in my peripheral. He was scrunched up on one of the high bookshelves. “Why are you up there? ”

“Because I don’t want to be turned into a hat.”

I got to my feet, pushing the chair back. “What did you do now?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“But you’re hiding,” I growled. “From me.”

“You’re a little crazy when it comes to Meera?—”

“Did you push her out the window again?”

“No,” Corvo groaned. “Fuck’s sake. I didn’t push her the first time. I told you; she tripped.”

“On you,” Kaia added, picking her nails clean with the blade end of a dagger.

He narrowed his eyes on her. “Not helping.”

“Corvo.” I ground my teeth together. “The point. Find it.”

“Right, so, I know you’re all focused on the necklace, but you don’t need to worry about it anymore.”

Kaia and I looked at each other. “Why?”

“Because she’s gone.”

A second passed where I froze. A single breath. The beat of a heart.

Time held still.

Then the spell broke.

“What do you mean by gone?” My hands clenched into fists. I stepped around my desk. If she ran . . .

“She got dragged through a portal by some brownies.”

“WHAT?” I exploded, sending books flying across the floor.

Corvo cocked his head. “And that right there, is why I’m up here.”

I couldn’t listen to this. Without wasting another second, I took off down the hall. My blood rushed to my head as my steps quickened. I didn’t let myself hesitate when I got to my door .

“Meera!” I yelled, storming through the empty chamber to the bathroom attached. There was no sign of her. No nothing. It was like she disappeared into thin air, or through a portal.

I paced, taking in the scene around me. Nothing seemed out of place. Her food was barely touched, but other than that . . .

“Vareck.” Kaia stepped into the room. She did a quick sweep of the room and frowned. “Doesn’t seem like there was a struggle.”

I lifted the stew to my face. The aroma was strong and slightly pungent. Almost like it was disguising something.

“Valerian root,” I spat. “She was drugged.”

Her lips parted to form an ‘O’. “You said you could feel where she was though, right?”

I focused on that feeling in my chest. The thread that was distinctly her. I felt a pull somewhere to the north, but that was it.

“It’s not exact. I can sense the direction she was taken, but Faerie isn’t small, and they could move her at any point. If they take her out of the realm . . .” I shook my head. There was no way that was happening. I wouldn’t let it. There had to be another way.

I’d never heard of anyone being able to track the way that Meera could, but even with her ability, it could take months. A lot of Faerie was inhospitable. Even a draft horse would struggle with the deep snow. No. I needed something that could find her and take me to her now.

I made for the door and was halfway down the hallway when Kaia called, “Where are you going?”

“To find a witch.”