Page 26 of Magic Betrayed

But only a few moments later, he’d brought my world—all my hopes for the future—crashing to the ground. I’d believed everything over between us, even the first, tentative, unfurling feelings of friendship.

Then, of course, he’d learned the ugly truth about my past and about my magic. Blake had tried to kidnap or murder a room full of powerful Idrian leaders, and nearly destroyed fifty years of peaceful relations between Idrians and humans. And in the aftermath of that destruction, I’d walked away. Left Callum to deal with it alone, because I couldn’t bear the thought that he might hate me.

But he didn’t hate me, so what did we have now? Now that he wasn’t my boss—wasn’t anything official. Just a man. But also a dragon. And maybe most importantly, someone who cared enough to help me.

“So, where are we going?” Ryker stepped through the doorway, and I saw his expression change as he spotted the gruesome bloodstain on the floor. “Have you found out who I’m going to be setting on fire for thinking they can get away with attacking my friends?”

I blinked at him, and he nodded back, with an uncharacteristically grim expression that promised violent retribution.

“Sorry, Raine, but dragons don’t do anything halfway, especially not when it’s family. We have each other's backs—always—so whatever this is, I’m in.”

I choked a little. “Ryker, we aren’t exactly family. And I don’t know what we’re getting into here, but it might be messy, and you’ll probably end up regretting it. If you’re doing this to get out of wedding chores, I recommend you stick with the glitter and tulle.”

He somehow managed to look mortally offended. “First of all, since when am I not family? You’re one of Faris’s people, you’re Kira’s friend, and you’re Callum’s…” He paused, raised an eyebrow, and shrugged with a slight grin. “…something.”

Great, now I was probably blushing on the soles of my feet.

“Not to mention you saved his life,” Ryker reminded me. “Anyway, maybe the more important point is, I’m a red dragon. We adore trouble. Our favorite things are tactical dilemmas, weird conundrums, and downright sticky situations. They’re what get us up in the morning and make life worth living.”

“And also he’s just easily bored,” Callum added from behind me.

“You wound me.”

“But it’s Raine’s decision,” Callum said firmly. “I promised she got to make the call on anyone else being involved.”

Ryker didn’t exactly pout, but it was close. “Please?”

Again, it wasn’t like I was in a place to be choosy. “You have to promise not to do anything crazy,” I warned. “The most important thing is getting my family back safely. I don’t know yet who did this, or why, but I won’t risk them being hurt because one of us went off on our own or acted on impulse.”

“I would never take their safety lightly,” Ryker assured me. “I want to help.”

“Then… welcome?”

He gave me a serious nod. “What can I do?”

What could he do… What could any of us do? The van was our only real lead, so our first priority would be tracking it down. But maybe we could approach this problem from more than one direction.

“We’re guessing from the lack of any magic used in the attack that whoever broke in was human,” I told him. “Which seems to rule out Idrian mercenaries or bounty hunters. What it doesn’t rule out entirely is Blake’s people. We know he…”

I stopped and swallowed my next words, along with a jolt of terror. I’d caught myself just in time—just before I let slip the real reason why there was a bounty out on Kes. I had to hope that Callum wouldn’t remember what Blake said that night…

“There is only one piece left now. Only one thing I need, and I suspect you know where it is.”

“We know he what?” Callum prompted.

“He seemed to want to capture me pretty badly,” I continued shakily. “Maybe he… He may have decided to take Kes and the kids to use them against me. Convince me to do what he wants.”

But why not use magic? And why not rely on the bounty hunters, if he was actually the one who’d hired them?

It didn’t make sense, and the more I thought about it, the more I had to conclude that we might have more than one human enemy. Maybe more than one person had escaped the fae queen’s prison with a vendetta and full knowledge of what Kes could do.

But even if Blake’s involvement seemed unlikely, I still couldn’t afford to overlook any possibilities. With Ryker’s help, though, maybe we could narrow the field.

“I know it’s a big ask, but do you think you could work on tracking down Blake’s whereabouts?”

The two dragons exchanged glances. “We’ve been working on that since the day of the Symposium,” Callum informed me grimly. “But quietly. The other courts have, of course, made their outrage with his actions known, but they’re also completely divided on the best response.”

When were they not? “Are they making it harder to find him?”

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