Syndra reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone.
Oakley stared.“I realize that you guys use human technology, but why when you can just mind tap him, and is that thing even still charged?”
“Youwouldn’t be able to hear the conversation.This way, you can be a part of it.And elven magic is excellent at many things,” she mused.“Battery life is one of them.”She tapped the screen, lifted the phone, and didn’t bother softening her tone.It rang one time before it was answered.
“Took you long enough to get in touch,” Trik snapped.“Tell me you have news.I don’t care what kind it is.I just want to know something.”
Syndra felt his voice like a whip.That wasn’t a good sign.He sounded much worse than when they’d left.She just jumped right to the news they needed.“We need to know where the girls are.”
There was a tense silence that she felt wrapping around her throat.As if Triktapic’s power reached through the device because his rage was so potent.Finally, it eased a bit and she could breathe.“Not here.”It was as if the words were ripped from him.Though he was furious, he sounded completely broken at the same time.
Syndra’s spine went cold.“They’re not with you?”she said, as if she needed confirmation despite the fact that he’d literally just said it.
Oakley’s breath hitched.“When was the last time you saw them?”His voice was demanding, no doubt forgetting that he was speaking to a very powerful, very unhinged elf king.
Despite the disrespect, Trik didn’t raise his voice.He didn’t need to.“Neither of them have been in the palace since yesterday morning.And Cush and I are ...indisposed.”He bit the last word out through gritted teeth.
Oakley took a step forward as if getting closer to the phone would somehow get him the information more quickly.“Indisposed how?”
There was another pause.Syndra wondered if Trik was having trouble forming words because then it meant he had to acknowledge that his Chosen was indeed missing.The response was short and laced with danger.“The Book.”The word settled like a blade between them.
Syndra closed her eyes.“Of course.”That damn Book had become more than a nuisance.Somehow the Chamber was funneling power into it and it had grown strong enough to impede even the king of the elves.Things were going from bad to shit storm in the blink of an eye.
Oakley’s voice cracked.“Where’s my sister?”
Syndra looked past him, not at the trees, not at the path, but at the pressure converging in from every direction.Once again, it was as if there was some unseen force completely focused on them.Planning, scheming, preparing to do whatever it needed to in order to accomplish its goal, whatever the heck that was.
“I don’t knowexactlywhere they are,” she said, speaking to Trik, because Oakley’s question wasn’t really for anyone but himself.“And I don’t know why they left–whether it was of their own free will, as if they felt like going on a walk through a forest none of us expected to act in any way other than it normally does, or,” she paused, considering her words carefully.The ground thrummed beneath their feet as if warning her to be careful.“Or whether they were called, coerced, or even forced,” she finished softly.
Trik’s breath trembled through the phone for several heartbeats before he spoke again.“It’s the Chamber of Light and Dark.”He didn’t bother explaining what he was talking about.But, then they didn’t need him to, though he didn’t know that.“It wants them.”
Tamsin sighed.“We’ve had the unpleasant memory of the Chamber recently unearthed to us as well.I’m glad we’re not having to catch you up.”
“We’ve been given visions,” Syndra continued.“But we weren’t sure if the events they revealed were actually happening.Elora and Cassie walking through the forest.But it feels as if they’re being led.”
“We’ve seen the same thing,” this time it was Cush’s voice.His words practically vibrated with rage.
“Do you get the impression they’re in danger?”Syndra asked them.
“We can’t get the impression of anything,” Trik answered.“The bond between us is completely blocked.There’s nothing.”
Tamsin’s eyes met Syndra’s.They understood the pain that would cause.And she could see in his eyes that he hurt for the king because they wouldn’t wish that kind of pain on anyone.
“I need you to find them,” Trik practically begged.The former dark elf assassin, and now restored king was begging for their help because Cassie, his Chosen, was his world.Their souls were forever entwined and incomplete without one another.He would do more than beg to get her back.He would tear the elfin realm apart if that’s what it took.He would become the monster he’d once been, killing with unparalleled skill, heartlessly and without remorse if it meant having her back in his arms.
“We will, Triktapic,” Tamsin promised, his gaze fierce with determination.
“I can’t lose her,” Trik said softly.“I can’t lose them.I don’t know what I would become.”
Syndra felt the sting of tears as emotion clogged her throat.Trik had been through so much.He’d fought his way back from the edge of destruction, he’d humbled himself before the Forest Lords, and he’d been given the blessing of a Chosen.His words registered.“Them?”He no doubt cared for Elora, but that’s not who he was speaking of.
“Cassie is pregnant with our child,” his voice was strained and tight, “I didn’t know.She hadn’t told me.”
Syndra felt the breath knocked out of her at the revelation.Her eyes were focused so hard on the phone, as if she’d be able to see his face.“Trik.”She didn’t know what to say.Congratulations?That would be the normal response, in normal circumstances.But it didn’t seem like the time to say that, not when he might actually lose them before he even had the chance to hear the words from Cassie.
“I can’t lose them,” Trik said again, and then the line went dead.
* * *
