Page 121 of Queen of the Crimson Throne

“I’m fine. I have to go.” I moved to step around him, but his hands held firm on my arms. “What’s going on? You’re bleeding.”

“It’s not my blood, I’m fine. I don’t have time to explain.”

His brows pinched together. “Why do you have Luka’s sword?”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you—something happened to Luka.”

Declan moved past me, his large strides quickly taking him to Luka’s room as I ran to catch up with him.

When I reached the room he was sniffing the air. “I think he was drugged—the air smells unnatural.”

“The footprints.” He looked at me. “Those are yours?” I nodded.

“Lennox, we’ll find him, but you can’t run off by yourself. We need a plan.”

“We don’t have time to make a plan. We need to find him!”

Declan placed his hands gently on my shoulders. “Luka is strong—he can endure whatever they put him through. If he was drugged like I assume, he’s passed out and not feeling anything right now. He should be out for a while. If he wasn’t drugged he would still be here. He would have fought his way out of it.”

He had a point.

“You can’t worry about him,” Declan continued. “We have to focus on saving him.” I wiped away a tear that attempted to escape without permission.

Goddess, why was I crying? Before I knew what was happening, Declan was pulling me into his body and wrapping his arms around me.

I was stunned for a second before I realized he was attempting to hug me. His body was stiff as a board, but I wrapped my arms around him.

“We will find him, I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Declan”

“I’m not.”

A while later we were all gathered in Luka’s room. I had stayed back, staring at the blood-spattered floor while Declan had woken the others

“Do we want to split up and search the city?” Nico asked.

Declan rubbed his hand over his chin. “That could take days.”

“We could do a tracking spell.” Luce looked towards me. “They can be finicky, but with his blood…” Luce looked around nervously. “I think it would work.”

“Is a tracking spell the same as scrying?” Nico asked.

Kara shook her head. “Scrying can be used in a more general sense—and you don’t have to have a direct connection to who or what you’re locating.”

“Tracking spells are more specific and reliable. They require a direct link to who you are searching for,” Luce continued. “Luka’s blood is the ideal conduit for a tracking spell.”

“Okay.” My voice was rough in my throat. “I’ll do it. Tell me what I need to do.”

Luce nodded. “I’ll go grab what we need. I’ll be a second.”

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.” Kara placed a hand on my shoulder. “Luce or I can do the spell instead.”

I shook my head, my body numb. “I need to do it.”

“If that’s what you want.”

Was it what I wanted? I didn’t want to be in this position in the first place—that’s what I wanted. I wanted—IneededLuka to be okay. That’s what I needed.

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