Page 75 of Discovered Magic
Abbie’s stomach rebelled, and the urge to hurl was strong. Her latent power influx had caused the death of Silas’s wife! If he ever found out what she was and what she’d caused with her magic… Well, let’s say she wouldn’t be placing any bets on her survival.
As if guessing her turmoil, Royal pressed his lips to her ear and said, “I feel the tension in your body. But you need to hear me when I say this, Fire Cat. Don’t ever let my brother know what you are or what you can do, understand? He blames magic. He’ll carve your heart out and leave it to wither beside the husk of his.”
24
“What the fuck do you mean you can’t find her?” Wilder had never wanted to destroy shit more. Directly on the heels of Damian’s entrance, the trio searching for Abbie arrived to deliver the bad news.
“We searched all through the canyon. If she’s there, she’s cloaked,” Castor replied. The thin edge of anger in his tone suggested he was no happier than Wilder.
“Scrying?” he asked, desperate for a solution.
Their grim expressions said it all.
His legs gave out, and he sank to the floor. “This can’t be happening again. It just can’t. Christ. Hasn’t she suffered enough?”
“We’ll find her, son.”
“People keep promising, but they’ve yet to deliver,” he retorted before dropping his head in his hands. “God, Abbie.”
It only took another minute to register the weighted silence, and he looked up.
“Just spit it out. It can’t be worse than losing her a second time.”
“We found two bodies on the trail. Bart and Gus,” Jonas said.
“How’d they die?”
“Bart’s appeared to be an altercation with a rock wall, and the boy was shot in the back,” Castor replied, glancing around the room as if looking for a drink. His gaze landed on Damian. “We need your preferred brandy, Dethridge. STAT.”
The Aether’s brows rose, and he cocked his head as if seeing an unusual species. Perhaps he was. From Evie’s stories, Wilder imagined not many people dared such familiarity.
“And you are?” Damian asked dryly.
“Alexander Castor. Your future best friend and pain in the ass.”
“I see.” His lips twitched, and amusement lurked in his eyes. “You do realize, as a Traveler, you are forbidden from dispensing future information. It could see you dead.”
“Pfft. It’s like you don’t know me at all.”
Again, the Aether’s brows shot up. “I don’t.”
“Yet.”
“There you go with that information again.”
Castor shrugged. “What can I say? It’s a weakness.”
“Hm, yes. I can see why you would be my friend.”
“You do? I can’t see it. He was a complete pain in the ass the entire trip out and back.” Jonas’s complaint earned him a glare from Castor.
“I was not. I merely suggested you get your head out of your asses and perform a proper search for my daughter.”
“We pulled out all your tops,” Draven inserted.
“All the stops,” Wilder corrected absently as he considered what those might be.
Wordlessly, the Aether held out his hands, palms up. Light flared as a crystal decanter formed, filling itself with an amber liquid. The instant he was done, he held it up to the light and smiled.
