Objectively, it wasn’t a bad place to talk.
The warm, September breeze cooled the sweat on my face, still smelling of the dregs of summer, and the view from the terrace overlooked the main grounds of the mansion, including part of the Promenade, the Fountain of the Furies, and the extensive gardens just above the Great Lawn. I looked out over rose bushes, hedges, and trees tinted blue with moonlight, and a sky awash with stars wherever the moon didn’t penetrate.
I lost myself in the beauty of it for a few seconds, taking deep breaths, my hands gripping the stone railing. I closed my eyes and smelled freshly cut grass, roses, lavender, and jasmine. Once I felt marginally calmer, I leaned my hip against one of the wide, stone columns that encircled the terrace.
I turned towards Valor, and adjusted my hip on the stone.
I assessed him a little shyly, and tried not to feel intimidated. His formal manners didn’t exactly help, making me feel like I didn’t fit in the same era as him, much less the same family. He looked a lot taller now that I stood right next to him, and regal in the black cape, his long black hair curling the slightest bit at the ends.
He really did look like a storybook prince.
“It’s okay,” I said, when he continued to look hesitant. “You can tell me, whatever it is.” I made a lame attempt at a joke. “Is someone dead?”
He flinched and my stomach dropped.
“Issomeone dead?” I asked, feeling the blood drain from my face.
He shook his head at once. “No.”
Something about his answer only made my panic worse.
“Is it Arcturus?” I asked, voice taut.
He exhaled and turned slightly away from me. He placed his hands on the stone balcony next to where I leaned.
The bluish-silver wolf looked at me from where it lingered by his feet. It was small compared to a real wolf, and this one’s eyes were green, not dark blue like Ankha’s, but I still watched it warily. It stuck to Valor La Fey like a guard dog that knew it had one job, and took that job extremely seriously.
“Itisabout your brother,” Valor admitted.
My throat closed, my magic tightening around me like a shield.
Valor must have seen it. He held up a hand, his voice tilting back to reassuring.
“He’s perfectly fine, Leda,” he said. “He’s completely unharmed, I promise. However, there were…” He hesitated.“Well, there really isn’t a good way to say this, so I will just say it. Someone attacked him last night, cousin. They attempted to break into his guardian’s house. Had they succeeded, we think they’d intended on abducting him.”
Valor winced, his green eyes studying mine.
My mind must have fuzzed out for a few seconds after that.
I didn’t hear anything he said for the next however-long he spoke. I stared at the moon, and the glow of the lake in the distance, as I fought to make sense of his words. When my vision clicked back into focus, Valor La Fey was still talking. His voice sounded worried, and I could feel his magic whispering around me, possibly trying to ground me back in my body.
“…part of some wider scheme by those behind it,” he was saying.
He exhaled, gazing out over the same view as me.
His hands gripped the stone.
“There were over twenty disappearances that night, Leda,” Valor added grimly. “All of them human, all of them involving evidence of magic. But we haven’t discerned any pattern, apart from the inclusion of your brother, and elements of similarity with the magic used. For this and other reasons, we suspect the intention was to abduct your brother, as well.”
“You think those disappearances were abductions?” I asked, startled.
Valor looked at me. “We do,” he said.
“But why?” I asked. “Why not assume they’re dead?” Still thinking, I added, “Why would a Magical be abducting people, alive, from Overworld?”
Valor’s emerald eyes remained grim.
“The Praecuri are looking into possible motives,” he said. “We have reason to believe those successfully abducted were taken out of Overworld altogether. Alive, as of the dimensional crossing.” He gave a cautious shrug as he studied my eyes. “Right now, we have only theories as to why.”
