I nodded.
And then he was gone.
I sank to my knees, knowing what I told Faolan was right. He needed to be far away from here to be safe, and I prayed to the Sun God that he was long gone, and Arkyn’s threats were empty.
My sister camein some time later.
“Can I sleep in here?” she asked.
“Of course,” I replied, waiting for an objection from one of my handmaidens. To my surprise, none of them did.
Nova grabbed my hands before we climbed into bed. “I need to use the bathing chamber. Come with me?”
“Sure.”
We headed for the small doorway, and as soon as we were closed inside, she turned towards me. “You can’t get into bed. They have it spelled or something. I’m not sure, but I have been falling asleep every night as soon as I climb in. That’s not natural. It has to be magic to keep us compliant.”
“Is that what it is?”
She nodded. “And they are trying to prevent us from speaking to anyone.”
“You’ve noticed that, too? I can’t even reach out to Faolan to speak through our bond. It’s like one of my handmaidens can sense it before I even try.”
“Mine are all over me, too.” She looked into my eyes. “But Kol got a few moments alone with me and Alaric today and gave me something to pass to you.”
“Tell me.” My heart jumped into my throat.
“He said they can’t find Faolan.”
“Did he leave?”I demanded.
“They think so. He told Kol you told him to leave.”
“I did.” Tears streamed down my cheeks while I quickly explained to her how Arkyn was and how the meeting with the King went. “I’d never forgive myself if he’s harmed.”
“I understand.”
“Do you think he’s really gone?”
“Only you can know.” She was right.
I could sense him, perhaps even trace him if he wasn’t far away. But not if they were forcing me to sleep with magic and watching me every second.
I had to find a way to speak to him or at least go to him and say goodbye.
“I’m going to need your help,”I whispered.
“Anything.”
FORTY-TWO
CALYTRIX
Iclosed my eyes and gripped onto Nova the second the curtains on my bed were pulled closed, fighting sleep as I yanked us through the nothing, taking us to the dragon landing.
It was one of the only other places I’d been in the palace and knew well enough to not kill us both. It was one thing if I’d seen a place clearly, but I’d been taken through most of the castle in the dead of night when we arrived. I couldn’t sense any of it. It all felt like a giant maze.
That was the thing about pulling myself through space. I had to be very careful with it or I’d end up in the middle of a wall and kill both of us. I could go to Nova, wherever she was, I could sense it, but anywhere else, I had to be very intentional about. I only had a few jumps in me before I had to recharge. Two, maybe three portals if they were long ones, so I had to be quite careful to conserve them. I might need them all to find him.
