Delani sighed and holstered her pistol. “A warden opened a side gate. She handed Blaine over to the Daijalans. They got him in a submersible and off the island.”
Bile crawled up his throat, hot and terrible. “We bombed the shore. We bombed thelake.”
“He’s alive,” Caris said, stepping forward and reaching for Honovi as if to comfort him, only Honovi didn’t want her pity. “Once the fighting was over and the laboratories were opened up, I checked the map. My tracking crystal shows he’s traveling west.”
“That doesn’t guarantee he’salive.”
“The crystals won’t move if the one it’s tied to is dead,” Delani said.
Honovi wanted to demand the map, wanted to tear free the crystal hanging from Caris’ throat and use it to find Blaine. He wanted to follow wherever it led and rescue his husband from whatever horror he’d been betrayed into. “Your wardens handed Blaine over to the enemy.”
Delani pursed her lips, her single eye dark and betraying nothing. “Only the one.”
Honovi stepped close to her, hands clenched into fists. “One wasenough.”
Delani said nothing to that, merely inclined her head in acknowledgment of his anguish but offered no words of comfort. He wondered if wardens even knew how. “Raziel is alive if you’d like to question her.”
He jerked back, gaze snapping to Caris. “Raziel? The same warden from Veran?”
Caris nodded tightly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Yes.”
“Is she arionetka?”
“She doesn’t carry any vivisection scars. She did it of her own free will.”
“Apparently, she was promised a large sum of aurons, enough to retire handsomely in any town she chose if she handed over Caris and Blaine during the attack.” The disdain in Delani’s voice did nothing to ease Honovi’s fury. “She wouldn’t dare try to fight Ksenia, and prying Caris out of the laboratories would have been too difficult. Blaine made the easier target.”
“E’ridia won’t stand for your betrayal,” Honovi promised harshly.
Delani’s expression never changed. “Raziel will be punished.”
“I want her given over to me.”
“Your country—”
“Don’t preach to me of politics and neutrality when it was one of yours whotookhim. I amjarlto Clan Storm, and Blaine is my husband. She committed a crime against my clan, and she will pay for it.”
Delani was silent for a moment before letting out a harsh sigh. “You may have her if your people don’t blame the wardens as a whole for her betrayal.”
“Do not worry, governor. I have no intention of suggesting E’ridia break the Poison Accords.” Honovi looked at Caris. “Where is the map?”
“Still in the laboratory,” she said.
“Retrieve it. I need to make a call to Glencoe. TheComhairle nan Cinnidheanneeds to be apprised of the situation so they can send someone to take custody of Raziel.”
“Unless your airship’s radio reaches over the mountains, then your call won’t go through. The Daijalans targeted our communications tower. It’s damaged and unable to send or receive calls or telegrams,” Delani said.
“I can fix it,” Caris said, looking between them. “The underground generator is undamaged, and the laboratories would probably have the clarion crystals I’d need. We can dismantle any other machines or automatons to use their parts to rebuild it.”
Nathaniel wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “I’ll help. Between the two of us and with wardens to help, we should be able to get it up and running while you focus on relief efforts.”
“We have the dead and wounded to see to,” Delani agreed.
Honovi grimaced at that reminder of the threat that came in the aftermath of any battle. “Take me to Raziel.”
Caris and Nathaniel peeled away from their small group, following another warden to the communications tower and the task ahead of them. Honovi wanted more than anything to board theCelestial Spritewith map in hand and go after the bastards that had his husband, but he had his duty asjarl, and that meant informing theComhairle nan Cinnidheanof what had befallen the Warden’s Island and Blaine’s kidnapping.
As Delani led him through the rubble-strewn streets of the fort, Honovi got his first up-close look at the damage he’d only seen from the sky. Gas lamps still burned outside buildings that had escaped the bombs, but many more were damaged and left areas in the dark. Wardens resorted to setting up field gaslights to shine on the collapsed buildings as automatons scuttled about. Delani’s handheld gaslight provided much-needed illumination in the areas where light couldn’t reach.
