“Can I ask you a question?” I asked.
She gave me a weary look. “Okay…”
“Why’d you mute your magic?”
She twisted her lips to both sides as if thinking of a response. I figured it would not be something light. To suppress your ownpower was not an easy thing to do, and I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to lessen themselves. “I did it after my father went missing.”
That was not surprising. Up until seven months ago, her father had been missing. For seven years. I nodded slowly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help more.”
She raised her brows. “You knew?”
“Of course. I told you I’ve been tracking you from afar.”
She grinned. “Stalker.”
I lifted a shoulder. “More like dedicated to you.”
Her playful smile faltered, and I saw a mix of emotions pass through her eyes that I couldn’t quite define. “You’re too much.”
I shook my head. “I’m not enough, princess. I wish I could have found your dad earlier. I put out searches everywhere, including the underworld and the fae realm.”
She stilled, tilting her head and assessing me with confused eyes. “What do you mean, found my dad earlier?”
I knew she didn’t know. How could she? I’d said that too casually. I had to remember that she didn’t know how much I still cared about her all this time. “Well, as I said, I’d had searches on him. We got some leads, but it seemed to always be a step behind. He was realm-hopping. In many places we couldn’t get access to, but then I got word he was in the shadow world. I wasted no time in getting him pulled out before he moved again.”
She put a hand to her mouth, her eyes watering, and it cracked my heart.
“You brought back my father?” she asked in a shaky tone.
“Yes, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier. I didn’t want you to know back then. We tried to help him, but, well, he’d been through a lot.”
She gave a dry laugh. “That’s an understatement.”
“I only wish we’d gotten to him sooner.”
She released a breath and closed her eyes. “Yeah, me too, but thank you all the same. Realm hopping is a scary skill. For the adventurers, it can seem amazing, but there is so much out there that we don’t know. It’s like exploring space or the deep ocean. And for mage realms, it calls to you. You itch to explore, and it feels like the universe is asking you to. Kind of like when you get cabin fever from being inside too long. You want to get outside and touch grass after a while. And for us, touching grass is visiting a realm. Only the grass can sometimes be deadly. My father had been pulled by a particular realm of interest for some time. Almost obsessed. Ask my mom. She had been terrified he wouldn’t come back, and that very thing happened.”
I nodded. I’d already spoken to her mother, of course. I had to understand her father’s movements in order to search for him.
Camilla continued, playing with one of her braids absentmindedly. “One day, my mother said he went into that realm and never returned. She never thought it was him trying to escape. My parents had a good marriage. He would never leave voluntarily. Definitely not for almost seven years. He was stuck, and someone was keeping him away.”
I knew that much because we questioned him when we found him. He was not in good shape, and we cleaned him up as best we could, but there was only so much we could do with his mental state. He was talking almost in riddles when we found him, covered in scratches, sores, hair long, and unkept clothes, dirty and wrinkled. We kept him with us for a week before we returned him home. It might seem cruel that we didn’t immediately return him to his family, but even I was shocked by his state. I didn’t want them to see him like that. His appearance still haunted my mind from time to time.
“Some horrible being used him to jump realms and conduct crimes,” Camilla went on. “And then he was sold to others who did the same. He saw horrors he still can’t even discuss.Although he’s in a better mental state than before, he’s still not the same.” Her eyes widened. “You didn’t happen to…take care of the being that kidnapped my father?”
I sat up. I had no concerns about telling her the truth. She knew who I was and what I did. “Yes. The one who last had him and the one who originally took him, we were able to track him down as well.”
She got up and moved to my lounger, sitting near my hip. She took my hand into both of her small ones and kissed my knuckle. “Thank you.”
My heart twisted in my chest. She never had to thank me. I would give her the world, free of charge. However, I would take any intimacy she was willing to give me. We had years to make up for.
She kept hold of my hand and placed it in her lap. I took my other free hand and began to stroke it up and down her spine. Her body relaxed, and I wouldn’t have been opposed to her lying down beside me. I wanted to comfort her, keep her by my side. I guess that was happening anyway, but I wouldn’t be completely happy with it. A dark spell was at work, and it would only be a matter of time before we succumbed to the effects if I didn’t find a fix.
“So, you muted your ability after your father disappeared because you didn’t want that to happen to you?”
She nodded. “While it can be lucrative, realm hopping is terrifying. I’m not that adventurous. Not anymore. I can teleport within the realm, and that’s enough for me. I also have heightened awareness and some defensive magic as an elf, so I’m not powerless. It seemed to help both ofusout in the end.”
I squeezed her hand in thanks. “You’re right. If not for your quick magic, I might be dead. I owe you.”
