Page 58 of Magic Betrayed

“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said sincerely. Whether his accusations were true or not, I had no way of knowing, but his grief and his fury were unfeigned.

It explained his vendetta against the fae. Even his antipathy towards Kira and Faris.

But why Kes and the kids? He’d helped so many others to escape. What was it about them that drew him here, offering his help without hope of compensation? Unless…

Unless he saw himself in Ari and Logan. Saw his mother in Kes. Perhaps a part of him was trying desperately to avoid a repeat of that tragedy.

And perhaps, just like me and like Talia, he was trying to find a way to deal with guilt he’d never been able to shake.

Suddenly, his uncharacteristic compassion made all the sense in the world.

“You can help.”

His gaze shot to me, eyes glowing fierce and gold.

“But all of your past vendettas, all your grudges, are going to have to wait.”

“I am neither a fool nor a dog that must be constantly watched,” he growled at me. “While I prefer to work alone, that doesn’t mean I lack the ability to work with others.”

He might not be happy about it, but I felt like we understood each other.

“What did Ari tell you?”

His arms folded tightly across his chest. “A lot of babbling I didn’t understand, to be honest. But there were a couple of things that might help. It sounds as if all of them were unconscious at first, so she didn’t know how long they slept, or how far they were taken. But when she woke up, it was still dark. When did they disappear?”

“Around midnight. Maybe thirty-four to thirty-six hours ago?”

He nodded. “And she recounted her entire day yesterday, so they’re somewhere within probably a six to seven hour radius.”

It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

“Anything else?”

His expression said that the answer was yes, but he didn’t quite know how to tell me.

“Shane. It won’t help to hide the bad news.”

“I don’t actually know whether it’s good or bad,” he warned me. “I’m assuming from Talia’s presence that you already know Chesney is involved. But Ari recognized more than just her.”

A shudder oozed down my spine and left me feeling cold and clammy with dread. “Not Blake,” I whispered. “Just tell me it’s not Blake.”

“She didn’t mention Blake,” Shane hastened to assure me.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t involved, but I was going to hope that meant Kira was right and he hadn’t found them yet.

“But she did tell me a few other names—Bianca, Noah, Jacob, and Reese.”

Familiar names… I dove into my memory and found only hazy images.

“Were they…”

“Idrians,” Shane confirmed. “Ari used to teleport around the facility and make friends with anyone who didn’t immediately reject her, so I suspect she knew almost everyone.”

Poor Ari. She was a natural born extrovert, so being forced into hiding had been incredibly difficult for her.

“All of them are elementals who lost their magic to Elayara’s experiments.”

Then I’d been right. And all of them had abundant reasons—justifiable or not—to hate Kes.

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