Page 54 of Magic Betrayed

“Unfortunately, yes.” He glowered at nothing in particular, then held up his phone. “You saw the picture?”

I winced. “I did. I’m sorry. I swear I don’t normally read people’s messages, but when I saw who it was from, I just…”

“I’m not upset,” he assured me. “I just wanted to know that you’re okay. None of us knew, or even could’ve guessed. We’ve called her family, but…”

He paused at the puzzled look on my face. “You didn’t recognize her.”

I shook my head, feeling the uncomfortable weight of dread begin to grow behind my heart. “Should I have?”

“Maybe not.” His forehead creased in thought. “I always meant to ask whether you might have seen her in the fae prison, but there was so much going on that I forgot.”

My heart began to pound. “Who, Callum? Who is she?”

“It’s Chesney,” he said softly. “Chesney Bradshaw.”

I knew that name…

Talia. The elemental queen. Chesney was her daughter’s name.

The woman driving the van—the one who had taken Kes and nearly killed me—was the missing princess of the Elemental Court.

TWELVE

“Blake could still be behind it.”My thoughts were racing as I contemplated the implications, but even as I said the words, I didn’t feel like they were true. Blake was nothing if not vocal in his hatred of all Idrians, so I doubted he’d bother to recruit them to his conspiracy.

Except… hehadrecruited one—Heather, Callum’s former assistant. But that didn’t necessarily mean my initial instincts were wrong. Heather had been used for her connection to Callum, and Blake likely wouldn’t collect any other Idrian allies without a similar reason. So maybe what we should be looking for was anything in Chesney’s past that might make her a valuable asset to Blake’s cause.

What did we know for sure about Chesney? Talia had been searching for information about her when she visited the Shadow Court in the fall, which made sense now that I knew Faris had once been Elayara’s prisoner as well. Callum had confirmed that the elementals suspected Chesney had been taken by the fae, but lacked enough proof to make an official accusation.

What if they were right? And what if… What if Chesney was one of those Idrians who’d lost their magic permanently as a part of Elayara’s experiments?

Most of the fae queen’s Idrian victims had regained their magic with time, like Faris. Those whose magic had been used to create artifacts always regenerated their power. But those whose magic had been transferred to a human subject? They never would.

If Chesney was among them, it would explain why we’d assumed it was humans who broke into my apartment.

And if she had indeed been robbed of her elemental magic, perhaps the loss had driven her to hide, even from her own family. Perhaps it had even made her desperate enough to turn to Blake for help.

“I don’t think Blake is behind the kidnapping,” Kira interjected. “Draven checked on that contract you told us about, and we’re pretty sure Blake is responsible. Somehow he has enough contacts on the shady side of Idrian law to get it seen and picked up by the right—or rather thewrong—people.”

“Maybe he had his own people out looking for her, too.” Kes was literally the linchpin of his plans, so he would be pulling out all the stops in order to find her.

But Kira shook her head. “Rath made contact with Shane, and he confirmed it—the bounty was raised just this morning.”

“So that means…”

Kira’s lips pinched with frustration as she nodded. “Yep. Blake already knows someone took her.”

Which meant there would be more crews out there—more mercenaries just like the ones we’d defeated last night. More professional bounty hunters hungry for a payday, none of whom probably cared a lick about collateral damage.

“You said you called Chesney’s family?”

Callum nodded. “Talia is on her way here.”

That might be a good thing. It might also be a recipe for disaster.

The elemental queen was a powerful woman whom I’d managed to offend within minutes of our first meeting. She’d come to Faris looking for information on her missing daughter, but that night—in her frustration—she’d threatened the safety of his employees and his customers.

I’d accidentally used my elemental magic to stop her, and she’d responded by threatening to destroy Callum’s reputation. We’d reached a tentative truce—in part due to my promise to help her find Chesney. But I doubted either of us had imagined her search would end like this.

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