Niko ignores him. “If we find her, Nissa should be with her. If we can’t locate her, we’ll reevaluate and notify everyone of who we’re actually looking for.”
“My wisp will transmit a likeness of Ophe to you,” I add in.
“And where are these Guardians that were supposed to be with them tonight?” Enzo’s voice is sharp.
Shockedly so. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the vampire bothered.
Niko grinds his teeth. “The queen and her friend didn’t leave the premises. Or at least didn’t notify us of plans to.”
“So they could still be in the castle or have just left to get away for a night?” Enzo inquires.
The implied accusation—that we’re fools not to have considered it—grates on my last nerve. “In the middle of the night, without telling anyone? After her sister was killed doing the same thing?” I snap back. “Something is wrong.” I growl.
Silence falls over the room.
Nissa, where are you?
Chapter
Thirty-Five
NISSA
The pain radiating through the back of my head pulls me awake. Groaning, I try to lift my hands to touch the source of the throbbing. My eyes fly open when I realize that my wrists and ankles are bound to a chair. My head spins as the light in the room floods my vision, and I’m sure I’m going to be sick.
I do my best to breathe through the nausea and confusion but the wind is putrid. I gag at the burnt, moldy odor that fills my nose. I close my eyes tightly, trying to remember what happened. I recall Ophe and I arriving in Varethiel and making it to the witch’s empty shop…
A string of questions bloom in my mind. Where’s Ophe now? Was this a trap? Did Aiden lure me away, just like he did Nova? But what’s his plan? Kill me? Use me as leverage?
I don’t know enough about Aiden or the politics to figure out his end game. But I don’t want to stick around in Varethiel to find out. I need to find Ophe and get out of here.
I reach for my magic to snap the bindings that hold me down. When nothing answers, panic instantly takes root in my veins. I try again and again to pull vines through the moss and algae covered stones that cover the floor, but nothing grows.
My magic that is now normally a vibrant, mighty plant, is nothing but an unreachable seed below the surface. Even rootwalking is unattainable in this position.
With the bindings still secure, I frantically look around to figure out where I am. Aiden obviously didn’t bring me to his castle. Unless this is a long-forgotten section.
The gray stone walls are faded and covered in burn marks, paint is peeling off the door from years of aging and what looks like water damage. Parts of the ceiling are missing, exposing wooden beams that look ready to collapse on top of me at any moment.
Twisting my head, I find a mattress with a stained blanket and no sheets. My heartstone shattered on the floor next to it. Otherwise, the room is empty. I want to call out for Ophe, but Aiden, or whoever he had taken me, could be on the other side of the door.
I slump in the chair as I weigh the pros and cons of drawing attention to the fact that I’ve woken up. Surely, he has someone keeping watch outside the door.
Before I can make a decision, I hear Ophe’s voice. “Hey, burnout! How about you tell me what the hell you want with us?”
A loud thump follows. Ophe goes quiet. Chill bumps break out across my skin, and I begin fighting harder to free myself. The shackles cut into me, not budging a leaf.
I gasp when the broken door begins to scrape across the floor but panic quickly erodes into confusion. The male's face is partially hidden with his downcast eyes, disheveled hair, and unkept beard. His clothes are dirty and torn, like he has been living on the streets.Or somewhere like this.There is no guard’s uniform. There is no well-kept Aiden.
“Caspien?” I gape at him as he lifts his dark eyes to mine. There’s no doubt it’s him, but the lack of any emotion in his gazeonly increases the anxiety that had been growing since I woke up here.
If the Guardians were searching for the prince, it makes sense they would have overlooked him. This male looks half out of his mind.
Caspien’s eyes are wide, wildly scanning the room like someone other than the Fae he tied to a chair would be hiding here.
Is Cillian looking for me? Does he even know I’m missing yet? What were we thinking, going to Varethiel alone?
My frantic heartbeat has my body shaking, but I try to keep my voice calm. “Caspien… where are we? How long have I been here?”
