Vaxan pulled out his phone and typed rapidly.
In the next moment, both mine and Zayn’s phones were buzzing.
We pulled them out and opened the Group Chat, the three of us gathering close, phones between us.
Vaxan:Dragon auditory perception, darling little Ifrit.
Zayn:Shit, sorry. Can’t cast a spell in such close quarters to keep things quiet either or they’ll feel it and it’ll seem suspicious as fuck. So, what’s up? Where’s Win? Is he trying to grab one of those floating flute drinks again? They move so fast, I swear they’re only made for dragon reflexes.
I couldn’t help it. A giggle escaped me.
In spite of it all.
Evira:Winter is missing. Kai and Sylas also never showed.
Zayn:Sylas missing a big event of his son’s? Yeah, that’s way off base. Shit. You think Win’s had to head out with them somewhere? Some high-level magical situation? Ruxnoth, right? What else could it be with where things are at right now?
Vaxan:Let’s focus on tracking Winter first.
Evira:Agreed. If it doesn’t pan out, we’ll go the Sylas and Kai route.
Zayn:Gotta casually walk out of the crowds first, right?
Evira:Exactly, hellion. Like I’m giving you a tour.
Zayn:You already gave us a tour when we got here earlier. Not sure that’s gonna fly.
Vaxan:Then let them draw the other likely conclusion. That we’re seeking privacy to engage in somedeep eroticized expressionwith each other.
Zayn:All this time and you still can’t call it ‘fucking’, huh?
Vaxan:As you wish: let them believe we’re ‘going to fuck’. Better, beauty?
Zayn shifted his weight, trying to hide the fact that he had to fix his tight little pants.
Evira:I’d say so.
Zayn:You better pay that off later, you sexy motherfucker.
Vax chuckled and stowed his phone away.
I blinked, trying to shove those words down—and the dirty images they’d conjured.Jeez.I stowed my phone away, Zayn doing the same, then we casually headed out through the crowds.
It didn’t take that long, fortunately.
Largely due to the optimal route that Vaxan mapped out and led the way through, weaving highly efficiently through the crowds and ensuring we weren’t stopped once and asked to talk with any key people.
As soon as we were clear, I grabbed them both either side of me, then teleported us to Vortimer Palace, just outside where there wouldn’t be guards every step of the way hearing and watching.
Now we were out of the crowds, it was possible to do a scent-track.
“It doesn’t make sense that Win would just take off without telling us,” Zayn muttered. “He wouldn’t. I mean… unless…” His eyes shot wide. “Unless he was hurt. He wouldn’t want anyone to see that. Or if he was feeling that chill again, which could be noticeable to people around him. He doesn’t want people seeing him as a problem. And getting a taste of this reverence today for the first real time in his life, he would do everything in his power not to fuck with that. I mean, it wouldn’t really fuck with it, but that’s just how Win sees it.”
My throat tightened and I grimaced, reaching out and brushing my hand over Zayn’s cheek.
Vaxan scrubbed his hand over his face, struggling to contain his distress too.
Then he looked at me and managed in a steady tone, “You track his scent and I’ll—”
