And found two surprises waiting on the screen.
First, the high-number account sweep he’d run on everyone in Faoiltiarn not banking with the new system his sister-in-law had set up had come back with a hit.
But the second program—his facial-recognition algo—was flashing with an even bigger alert.
Designed to ping him if a Wölfennite bride or any of their persons of interest showed up on an official CCTV feed, it had tagged a series of screenshots.
Iain’s eyes widened.
There was Sadie Ellis. Clear as day, walking past an airport camera.
Flanked by two fellow fintech billionaires who’d recently announced they were on indefinite hiatus.
Now he knew why.
“Gotcha,” he whispered.
With the return-to-Ireland trip date fast approaching, Alban had decided to take a honeymoon with Leora, his new bride and Queen Tara’s other sister--the one who hadn’t been kidnapped by the Irish Wolves.
Too bad for him.
Iain handed Ellie back to Milly with a quick apology and snatched up his Jag keys.
Because Alban’s honeymoon was about to beseriouslyinterrupted.
By their biggest clue drop to date.
Return
Sadie
Only Declan accompaniedme to St. Ailbe. The Shadow King had taken a separate car, rented under a secret name, to the hotel where we’d meet him after I confronted my mother. Declan and I drove another rental to the sign just outside St. Ailbe.
“You’ll have to pull…” I started to say, only to trail off as he cranked the wheel to the left, already reading my thoughts about technology not being allowed past the town limits.
I once again wondered if I would ever…
“You will,” Declan assured me before the thought could finish. “Twenty years from now, our kids won’t even know how much we’re gossiping about them behind their backs.”
I laughed as we stowed our phones and digital watches in the glove box, which he locked with a click.
To my surprise, I felt much more relaxed than I’d expected as we walked the rest of the way into town on technology-free foot.
Not Declan, though. He looked like he was about to come out of his skin. “I don’t think I’ve intentionally been without a phoneor some other piece of tech since my school days in the Secret Kingdom. Feels like I left my right hand in the car.”
“Don’t worry, it’s still here.” I took hold of his right hand to prove it.
“That’s not what I meant….”
“I know.” Now it was my turn to interrupt. “I just wanted an excuse to hold your hand.”
We exchanged a grin, and his mood lightened considerably as we turned onto the dirt road that wound through our small Wölfennite village.
No.Theirsmall village.
I’d never felt more like a bear than I did walking through the quiet Wölfennite community. Where I used to live was a rough sketch made with dull crayons. This place had nothing on the Secret Kingdom—or the full-blown work of extremely fine art walking next to me.
Declan threw me a sly smile. “I’m glad you appreciate the, ah… vibrancy of our home.”
