Leaning close, she murmured, “Is this too much? I can get everyone out of here.”
Taevas shook his head. “No, I…”Where is she?
His gaze roved over all the familiar faces until he found two standing just behind the small crowd — his radiant cousin Hele and Vael.
Vael wore his Wing uniform and appeared as though he hadn’t slept in days. His dark green face was gaunt, his eyes shadowed. He had one arm tightly wrapped around Hele’s slim waistlike heneededto be touching her. Hele looked little better. She didn’t require sleep, but the air of exhaustion and worry hung around her like a miasma.
Ask,something whispered in the back of his mind. Not his voice, but someone else’s.
Before he could open his mouth, Constantin caught the direction of his gaze and cleared his throat. Gesturing for Hele and Vael to approach the bed, he explained, “You have our Hele to thank for finding you. She was chasing a lead near the border of the Packlands when she spotted the car.”
Taevas’s eyes narrowed. “You… found me?”
Hele patted her Chosen’s arm, which fell from her waist reluctantly, before she stepped up to the bedside. Taking one of Taevas’s hands, she explained in her blunt way, “I saw a car parked dangerously by the side of the road and went to check that everything was well. When I found you inside, I used the nav system to call Vael, who ordered an m-gate to the hospital.”
The hair stood up on the back of his neck and arms. The way she said it, it sounded like she’d found Taevas abandoned by the side of the road. But that couldn’t be right. Alashiya had been with him. Heknewthat. He also knew that she’d never leave him. Not willingly.
A cold feeling settled into his chest — the prelude to an explosion of instinctive panic. “Side of the…” Gaze bouncing between Hele and Vael’s grim faces, he asked, “You found me in a car?Alone?”
A ripple of tension went around the room. Even Emilia, who’d been happily babbling a story to her grandmother about taking Taevas to visit a river, went quiet.
Vael braced one hand on the railing of the bed when he roughly explained, “No. Not alone. There was a woman with you.”
Shiya.
Taevas tensed. The heart rate monitor beside his bed began to beep in earnest when he demanded, “Where is she?”
Hele and Vael shared a loaded look. Taevas knew them both well. Certainly well enough to see the aftermath of a blistering argument in that singular look. Hele was angry with her Chosen, but what that had to do with Alashiya was beyond him.
Speaking slowly, Vael said, “The nymph was found with a cache of weapons, sedatives, and black market shift-suppressants. She was also covered in your blood and had obviously been transporting you across territory lines.”
Taevas understood what he was saying. He heard the words, picked up the implication. But it was so patently outrageous, and the consequences of the accusation so horrific, he simplycould notprocess it.
His tone was flat when he asked again, “Where is she, Vael?”
Obviously trying to soothe him, Constantin answered, “Vael took her into custody for kidnapping and attempted murder of the Isand, Taevas. She’s being held in?—”
He didn’t make the decision to rip out his IV, nor lurch upright to grab Vael by the scruff of his neck. It just happened. All he heard was that Alashiya had been taken into custody. In an instant, he knew exactly where they’d be holding her, what kind of questions they’d be asking her.
His Alashiya. Held for kidnapping and attempted murder. Inhisterritory.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that Vael had done the only sensible thing in the moment. Even if Alashiya told him the whole truth, the story was outrageous and the only evidence available pointed to her as the main suspect. He knew what was in that SUV, and all of it was damning.
But to think that his Chosen, as soft and kind and devoted as she was, could have all her efforts to save him rewarded with suspicion and imprisonment… Shame and outrage were a potent cocktail swirling with the pain medication in his veins.
He’d sworn to keep her safe. He’d told her again and again how wonderful the ’Riik would be, how she’d be treated withnothing but respect by his people. But the very first time she set foot in his territory, his own fucking clan turned on her.
Taevas’s mind was blank with rage when he roared, “You threw her injail?”
He was barely aware of Artem quickly ushering his mate and child out of the room, or of several people gently but firmly attempting to get him to release one of his oldest friends. Taevas’s tail rattled with menace, and if his wings hadn’t been firmly strapped in place, he would’ve mantled them in aggression.
Vael’s dark green skin went chalky, but he didn’t flinch. “Of course I did! Her story is insane! She was found wi?—”
“Minu tutar,please stop talking. You are making things worse.” A pale, glowing hand came between them and settled on Taevas’s wrist. A jolt of electricity ran down his arm, forcing him to release his grip with a hiss.
“There,” she murmured, pressing on Taevas’s rigid shoulder. “Do not kill my Chosen, cousin. Explain why you are angry.”
No matter how fast he breathed, he couldn’t seem to get enough air. “Thatnymphis the reason I’m alive. She sheltered me, fed me, cleaned my wounds, and then drove me hundreds of miles to bring me home. And you put her in fuckingjail!”Jerking his shoulders to dislodge Hele’s hands, he braced himself to throw his legs over the edge. “Tell me where she isnow.”
