Page 27 of Magic Betrayed

The shapeshifter king shrugged wearily. “Somewhat. The Fae can’t treat him as a legitimate threat without acknowledging their responsibility for this mess, so they’re mumbling diplomatic nonsense while silencing any potential witnesses and refusing to let us investigate in their territory. The Elemental Court has rallied behind Talia’s search for her daughter, who they believe was one of the Idrian prisoners. Essentially, they’re blaming the fae for everything and trying to convince the Wildkin Court to side with them so they can justify demanding a search of official fae enclave property. But the wildkin are so loosely organized, they’re terrified of provoking human retaliation, so they just keep running around counseling caution, while Leith sits back and watches them scurry with a smile on his lips.”

Sounded like a proper nightmare. But he’d left one court out. “And the shapeshifters?”

Callum’s answering silence was more than a little ominous, and it was Ryker who eventually answered. “They’re busy putting out fires and issuing formal apologies to petty little whiners who can’t stop being butt-hurt long enough to see the bigger picture.” It was the closest I’d ever heard to bitterness from the usually cheerful red dragon.

Callum shot him a look of annoyance. “And you ask me why Skye won’t agree to send you on diplomatic missions.”

“Am I wrong?” Ryker demanded, a little heat behind the question.

Callum sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “No. At least not entirely. But I suspect the complaints and the fuss are largely a smokescreen to cover the fact that the courts are simply doing what they’ve always done in moments like these—acting independently in the face of a threat. They move to strengthen their own position and secure their own people, and trust that the other courts will do likewise.”

“So, the courts are probably all searching for Blake on their own?”

He shot me a confirming nod. “And they’re all looking for ways to protect themselves from humans who have the ability to use our magic against us.”

Which meant…

If any of them figured out why Blake wanted Kes, she would become the most hunted person on the planet. And none of those who hunted her would truly understand her power, let alone what it cost her every time she used it.

So who all knew what Kes could do? I suspected Shane did, but I had no proof. Prince Rath probably also knew the truth. He’d grown up with Kes—the two of them had even once been friends—until his mother had manipulated her by threatening his safety. The heir to the fae throne played his cards close these days, but his protective stance towards Kes was undeniable, and I was fairly certain he wasn’t her enemy.

As for our fellow prisoners, not all of them knew about Kes’s magic, but many would. Once Elayara had learned to mimic Kes’s power, she hadn’t needed her every time she wanted to drain someone, but she’d used her often enough—compelling her cooperation by threatening the lives of everyone she cared about back at the Fae Court.

So there were more than a few others who’d escaped with the knowledge—human and Idrian alike—and any one of them could technically have posted the bounty on Kes. Hoping to use her to continue stealing magic, or maybe clinging to some tragic hope that she could reverse what was already done.

Of that number, the first person who came to mind was Ethan. Ethan was like me—one of only five humans who’d successfully assimilated stolen magic. But he’d hated his new powers even more than I had, and for good reason…

I shivered. There was so much pain, guilt, and terror wrapped up in my memories of Ethan. But there was no way he’d been here. His magic was too volatile, and there would have been far more destruction if he was personally involved. Not to mention, the last time I’d seen him, he was nowhere near stable enough to concoct a plan like this one.

He would have needed help. Human help… which might mean Blake again, but that brought us back around to where we’d started.

The realization of how many potential enemies were out there made the yawning pit in my stomach grow, but it was better to know. Better to understand what we were facing now.

“So I’m guessing if you’d found anything meaningful on Blake, you’d already have told me.”

“There isn’t much,” Ryker confirmed. “But we think he may be close. I did an investigation into his background, and before being taken by the fae, he spent pretty much his whole life in the Denver area. Lived alone, and like all their victims, had no family to speak of. After his escape, we think he established a base somewhere in either the Southwest or the Plains before starting to track you. And he came here shortly after the location for the Symposium was publicly announced. We know that’s about when he started to recruit humans for his ventures, and it was around the same time he made contact withHeather.”

He said the word with a bitter twist and a glow in his amber eyes that promised retribution.

Heather had been one of Callum’s assistants—a half-shifter who couldn’t actually shift, and who had betrayed us in exchange for Blake’s promise that he could give her shifting magic. She’d disappeared after the Symposium, probably well aware that if she’d been caught by the shifters, her life would be cut very short, very quickly.

“Do you think his base could be in Oklahoma somewhere?” Most Idrians would know better than to start anything anywhere near the Shadow Court, but Blake wouldn’t. Oklahoma was at a junction of major interstates, yet still far enough away from the Fae Enclave in Colorado, the shapeshifters in New Mexico, and the Elemental Court in North Carolina.

“It’s possible,” Ryker admitted. “We’ve been trying to retrace his steps after he escaped. He was moving a pretty big stockpile of stolen magic, so it’s likely he left a trail somewhere. Hired a truck, rented a warehouse—something.”

“We should step up our scrutiny on the vehicle rentals,” Callum noted. “I can’t figure out how he managed to move that much stock out of the prison on his own. Much less transport it out of fae territory.”

“I’m on it,” Ryker promised. “Wherever he is, Blake has been lying low since the Symposium, but if he so much as twitches, we’ll find him.”

“Thank you,” I said soberly, knowing I could never truly repay any of the people who were helping me. “Thank you for caring enough to help. I know I can’t do much, but if you’re ever in a position to need help in the future, you can count on me.”

The red dragon did me the favor of not laughing at the offer—just reached out and squeezed my shoulder sympathetically. “Try not to worry too much. Your family will be ok. We’ll find the base, storm the gates, then I’ll eat Blake, and everyone else will live happily ever after. Deal?”

To my dismay, I felt the sting of tearsagainand swiped at them hastily as I offered him a shaky nod. “Only if I don’t eat him first.”

SEVEN

We split up after that.Ryker handed over the keys to the SUV and took off with some mysterious plan of his own, while Callum called Draven. The former assassin confirmed that he could find a “surveillance professional” willing to work with us, but that the hacker would need a picture of what we were looking for.

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