Page 41 of Magic Betrayed

“I think it’s definitely her,” I said, trying not to let anyone hear how badly I was shaking. “Not someone pretending to be her. She’s the only person I know who texts like that with all the capital letters and correct punctuations. If they were pretending, they would have texted the way they would expect from someone our age.”

And if it really was her…

“Pretty sure she’s being coerced into doing something, and they’re holding the kids hostage to ensure her cooperation. She thinks she can keep the kids safe by doing what they want, and keeping me safe by warning me to stay away.”

The fae prince’s expression was grim as he scanned the series of texts. “I agree. And given that she didn’t use your name but lumped you in with Faris, I believe she doesn’t want to risk them learning your identity—or your connection. There’s a chance her kidnappers would have taken you too if they’d known the truth.”

That… one hundred percent sounded like Kes. Far more like her than insisting I stay out of her life because I only caused trouble. We’d been through too much together—relied on each other for too long. I knew her better than that, too, but for those few moments, I’d let my guilt and my fears overwhelm the truth.

“She said there’s something she needs to do,” I said slowly. “That means…” I looked at Rath and he offered me a grim nod.

These despicable monsters were threatening the kids to manipulate Kes into using her magic. They were hurting her, just as Elayara had done.

I drew in a deep breath and whirled to face Callum, pulling his phone out of my coat pocket and shoving it into his hand. “Can you contact Grandma Pearl again? See if she can trace this phone number?”

He didn’t ask a single question, just snapped a picture of Kira’s screen and started texting.

I turned to Kira. “Thank you.”

She was watching me with a peculiar expression, her arms folded across her chest, and I recognized the stubborn glimmer in her eyes as one I’d seen on her brother a million times.

“You’re about to try to brush me off, aren’t you?” she accused.

“I…” Couldn’t exactly deny it. “You have a wedding to plan,” I pointed out cautiously. “I don’t want anything to get in the way of that. You’ve been waiting for this for so long, and…”

“Weddings be damned,” she snapped suddenly. “If you think I’m just going to sit back and fiddle with music and flowers after this, I swear, I might just lock you up in The Portal’s basement until you come to your senses.”

She glared at her brother. “Andyou! You know what I can do. Were you planning to keep me in the dark over some misguided nonsense about keeping me safe again?”

“No.” His answer was steady and sincere. “I trust you. And I do know how capable you are. But this time it isn’t up to me. Also, up until a few minutes ago, we weren’t sure what we were dealing with, and there’s no point in calling in an army unless there’s actually a war.”

Kira huffed a bit, but seemed mollified. “Okay then. Restock my tea cabinet, and I might consider forgiving you. So what’s our first move?”

If only I knew. If only I had information to help me decide. But I was flying on pure, terrifying guesswork, and praying that it would be enough for me to save Kes and the kids.

“I still don’t think we can rule out the possibility that Blake is involved.” He suspected I knew Kes’s location, but according to Shane’s warning, didn’t have absolute proof. His flunkies would have had no way of knowing we were roommates, so it might actually make sense they would have tried to incapacitate me rather than grab me.

“But I also don’t think we should limit our options,” Callum added. “Just because we believe humans took them doesn’t mean it has to be Blake. There could be any number of humans out there targeting Idrians for reasons we haven’t even thought of yet.”

But if that was the case… Why Kes? Why not take someone more visible? More powerful? Someone with obvious magic? Kes’s unique power made this theory unlikely, but how could I explain that to Callum and Kira without betraying her confidence? And yet, how could I possibly point them in the right direction without telling them the truth?

Kira dropped onto her sagging couch and hugged one of the worn green pillows with a frown. “We still don’t know where that”—her words devolved into viciously muttered commentary on Blake’s character and parentage—“is, do we?”

“Ryker is looking into it,” Callum told her. “But we don’t have a lot of good leads yet.”

“We have the van,” I reminded him. “We can go chase that down while we’re waiting for an answer on the phone.”

“I’ll go with you,” Kira announced, bouncing up again, but I’d already made up my mind. There was no chance I was letting her put herself in harm’s way—not now. But there was one thing she could do, just as long as I was willing to take the risk.

I’d hoped there would be no need for this, but under the circumstances… “Actually, there’s something else you could investigate. Something that might need Draven’s help, if he’s willing.”

“Anything,” Kira promised. “Name it and it’s done.”

I hoped desperately I wasn’t making a mistake, but now that I knew for sure they’d been taken… my family’s safety had to take priority. Our secrets wouldn’t matter if none of them survived.

“There’s a contract out on Kes,” I blurted out. “Or at least there was. I need to know who’s behind it and whether or not it’s been withdrawn.”

Everyone in the room was suddenly staring at me, Kira in shock, Rath with calculating focus, and Callum with narrowed eyes.

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