“Alexander,” I growled, “what the fuck are you doing here?”
“Now, Cashiel,” Arsenio said from where he was leaning against the far counter. I’d missed him in my anger towards Effie’s father. “Don’t get angry at the warlock that is currently in the middle of helping you.”
I turned to advance towards the fae, not caring that he was a thousand years older and infinitely stronger than I was. “You’re no better than him, it’s your fault that her piece of shit ex was even able to stay in this town. I bet you gave him that damn glamour too.”
Arsenio held his hands up in front of him in defense. “I did not do either of those things. I backed off from all of this as soon as you uttered the word‘mate.’ What Michael did afterward was none of my business.”
It may not have been his business, but he could have done a lot to prevent what happened last night. Instead he’d just ignored it until it became a problem.
“You let him operate in town limits, and now because of that, Port Haven was infiltrated by hunters for the first time since its founding,” Dallan pointed out, clearly not amused by the mayor’s excuses.
“Which is why I am helping you now by loaning you my chief warlock,” Arsenio said magnanimously, gesturing to Alexander who was busily sprinkling powders on the paper in the middle of the table. “Something I do not have to do.”
“Why aren’t you running the spell?” I asked Effie, who just glanced guiltily at her feet.
“Because, while I’m sure she’s a wonderful witch when it comes to bespelling inks and creating glamour objects, Euphemia has a lot to learn about true spellcasting,” Alexander said, disappointment dripping from his voice.
Effie seemed to shrink in on herself.
“I tried most of the night, but we needed help faster than my skill could keep up,” she explained quietly.
“She did the best she could,” Dallan said, stepping in to defend her, his golden eyes blazing with anger at the warlock.
Effie had refused to speak with her father for over a decade, even going so far as to move into the apartment that we were all currently standing in to get away from him. For her to break that silence was telling of how much she’d tried to get the spell to work on her own.
“Thank you,” I whispered, hoping she understood just how much it meant to me.
Tears gathered in the corners of Effie’s eyes as she nodded. “Of course. I’d do anything for you two.”
I nodded, giving her shoulder a pat before returning my attention to Alexander. “Have you got a location on her?”
The warlock nodded, glancing down at the map on the table. “Yes, but just barely. They must have some kind of magic blocker with them, but I’ve got an approximate location.”
I watched as he lifted a crystal on a chain and began to chant under his breath. The corners of the map, which had four clear beakers of fluid sitting on them began to glow and soon the crystal also lit up too.
The crystal moved in circles until it finally pulled in one direction, the tip pointing to somewhere in Utah. They had made progress in the twelve hours since taking Daphne, and if I had to bet, Mike was taking her back to New Hampshire.
If I still had my wings, I could have closed the gap in a couple of hours. My back ached at the thought. “How the fuck am I supposed to get there before they get any further away from us?”
We could use a teleportation spell, but those took hours to prepare and needed at least a half a dozen witches and warlocks to make it work. By the time we teleported, they could have moved her again.
Dallan smiled for the first time since I’d walked into the shop. “I’ve got an idea. Just because you don’t have your wings doesn’t mean you haven’t got any wings at all.”
I wanted to ask what he meant by that, but then another thought occurred to me. I turned back to Effie who was standing quietly in the corner. “Effie, you said that Daphne isn’t by herself right now, what did you mean by that?”
Effie stepped forward and reached across the table, yanking the crystal out of her father’s fingers. She unhooked something from the top of the chain and held it up to my face.
“We looked back at the camera footage from the entrance and it turns out that one of our own either has the best timing in the world,” she said as my eyes zeroed in on the hooked earring with a purple stone dangling in front of my face. “Or the absolute worst.”
“Who’s earring is this?” I asked, taking it from her so I could get a better look at it.
Dallan snorted. “That sparkly bit right there belongs to none other than our resident sour puss.”
“Ambrose?” I gasped, shock filling me.
“Yep, it looks like he came upon them mid-abduction and stepped up to help, only to get taken in the process,” Dallan said, crossing his arms over his chest.
I shook my head in disbelief. If I was a betting monster, there would have been no way in hell that I would have ever thought Ambrose capable of helping a human. Especially a human who he’d spent the past three months hating.
