Page 101 of Forged Bonds

“This magic doesn’t feel guiding.”

Laughing, she shook her head. “Your intuition is good. It’s not guiding, it’s malicious. In the case of this particular scroll, though, it’s all in the eye of the beholder. I trust you won’t let the malice get in the way of the knowledge.”

Her phrasing made little sense, but I nodded. If I couldn’t handle a malice-filled document, there was no way I would be able to jump inside the head of someone working for Kylan. I imagined most in his employ had a more than healthy dose of malice.

“I’ll be careful with it. Is there anything else?”

“Not about your memory magic, but I would enjoy a hug.”

She held out her arms and I only hesitated a second before throwing myself into them. It was the next best thing, only one step down from hugging Elodie and Clara. I’d never been much of a hugger, but the last couple of months had brought it out in me.

Burying my face against her shoulder I let her hold me, patting my back, until she pulled away. “Good luck on your journeys, Freya,” she said, kissing my cheek. “It was nice to meet your remaining mate in person, finally.”

“You haven’t met Shan yet.”

“We’ve crossed paths before, though he isn’t aware of it. They’re all good for you.”

I wondered where they’d run into each other and if he would remember once he met her, but I didn’t have time to hear the story. “Thank you for your help.”

“That’s why I’m here,” she said, stepping back into the safety of the diner’s wards. Before she turned to head back inside, she looked at Nolan. “Wish Julian well for me.”

Then she turned around and whisked through the doors, a happy Null couple walking out of the diner immediately after. They held the door for us and I had to numbly shake my head, telling the confused couple we weren’t going inside.

THIRTY

Freya

“There are a couple of options for people to implant memories into,” Nolan said, turning his phone to face me. Up on the screen there were four wanted posters, with high bounties listed. “All skilled men who can get close to Kylan on a regular basis.”

I sighed, leaning my head off the edge of the couch so it was upside down. The whole trip to Hex Sisters Kitchen had been uneventful, Clara and Elodie’s worries unfounded for the moment. No one malicious had been around the diner.

“None of them feels right,” I said.

The gut feeling was something I was unable to ignore. These men didn’t get close enough to Kylan on a regular enough basis, and none of them would have knowledge of where Caspian and Shan were being held.

“And they’re hardened assassins,” I added. “We have no way of knowing if they’re trained against memory manipulation. It’s a fairly common thing to train to fight, and considering I’ve never done it before I’m not confident in my ability to overwhelm someone who’s prepared.”

Nolan let his phone drop to the couch, his head falling back against the cushion as his feet dangled beside my head. “Anyone closer to Kylan is going to be incredibly hard to access,” he said with a heaved sigh. “Unless Julian is able to work miracles and get us close, we’re going to have to take who we can get without getting caught.”

“What did we say about Julian and miracles?”

The unfamiliar voice had me upright and on my feet so fast my head spun, my wand out and pointed at the intruder. Emmett was similarly on guard, but both Oswald and Nolan were calm. Nolan sighed, unhooking a chain from his key ring and tossing it toward the new arrival, who was casually standing in the middle of the room, his legs crossed at the ankles. The new man caught it.

“I always suspected that was a tracker,” Nolan said. “There’s simply no other reason you would give it to me. In this case it was helpful to eliminate some of the back and forth, but in the future I’m going to keep my whereabouts private.”

My body relaxed at Nolan’s calm tone, and I sat back down, this time on Nolan’s lap. We weren’t especially touchy at this point in our relationship, but I felt the need to claim him in front of a man who’d apparently given him a gift.

“I assume you’re Julian?” I asked, my arms slung around Nolan’s neck.

He watched the show of possession with a raised dark eyebrow and a nod. I couldn’t say he was unattractive, but his scent of campfire and metal was too aggressive for my tastes. His skin was a dark umber tone, hair black and cropped short close to his head. The clothes he wore were out of place compared to us, a suit and loafers in a style crossed between medieval and modern.

“Duke Julian Barlow of the Outlands,” he said. “Although I won’t be your miracle worker today. There’s no way in all four realms I’m going to be able to get you close to Kylan. Nolan, if that’s the only request you had, I hope you’re aware you’re wasting both of our time.”

“Not the only request,” Nolan said quickly. “We’ll be able to discuss what you can do to help in a moment. This is Freya Alverona, the Omega my cousin is desperate to have.”

“She’s pretty, but I don’t see anything especially special about her,” Julian said, looking me over casually.

I bristled but said nothing. To be honest, I didn’t see what Kylan saw either. There was no logical explanation for why he’d opted to throw away countless resources in pursuit of my capture.

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