I looked down the long hallway as the crystal stayed warm on my neck. For the first time, my magic felt stable. I could not waste the opportunity—I had to chase this little spark of happiness to whatever end.
Logically, I should have started looking for Ilsa’s vault, but magic was not logic. As the crystal pulsed warmth against my skin, my heart’s desire was pulling me on a different path. I wanted to help Brietta, and Annalisa, and…
I let out a shaking sigh. Just as I had once hastily sewed two stars into linen, I needed to make sure Derrick was all right.
If I could even find him.
I never thought the heir to Lycaster would be so hard to find.
None of the Hytons had seen him. He was not holed away in his music room or his bedroom. He had not gone for a ride on his horse.
He was just…gone.
After hours of searching, I crashed into a chair in yet another small room in the maze of the palace. I slumped over, my belly full from a quick dinner, and tried to think.
Bloody pieces of a shattered armchair were stacked in the corner of Derrick and Brietta’s room. The blood bond meant Derrick could not be dead, but he was hurt.
Ineededto find him.
“I thought you were taught to have better posture than that.”
I whipped my head toward the noise. Standing between two suits of ancient armor was a floating white head—a phantom.
No, it was not a phantom, it was…
“…Daigen?”
He had followed me to the palace?
He stepped away from the wall, his cloak that perfectly matched the blue damask wallpaper fluttering around him. “Much calmer of a response than normal. Looks like you heeded my advice about keeping that crystal on you.”
I was not about to admit he was right. “Is invading my dreams not good enough? You have to harass me in the halls too?”
He kept his arms folded as he stepped over. “Watching you wander around the palace like a lost sheep was too painful to bear any longer. I could not wait for you to pass out.”
I hissed out a breath. “You could actually teach me how to get inside dreams instead of sneaking around, you know.”
“It’s easy.” Daigen mussed the hair at the crown of my head before I could flinch away. “You just stand over someone while they are sleeping…” He tapped me between the eyes. “…and go right through that open door. You drool a little, you know.”
He had watched me sleep? “You are vile.”
“I ameffective.” He hooked his ankle around the leg of a chair and dragged it across the floor beside me. He sat down with a flourish, resting his feet on top of a low table. “People are much more vulnerable when sleeping.”
I wrinkled my nose at his boots on the furniture. “Noted.”
He folded his arms behind his head. “How is following your heart’s desire going?”
I held back a scowl. “Leading me in unproductive directions. All I know is that Riyan is a murderer and Ilsa might not be.”
Daigen slid his feet off the table and rested his elbows on his knees. “We know anger fuels your power, but when do you connect with your magic the most?”
Evereon had let me in when he was talking about how he was kicked out of Heaston. Astrid had let me in to see memories of Ragnar. Annalisa’s raindrops poured on me any time she mentioned her siblings.
“When someone is sad,” I said. “Usually they send me memories—things that should be happy, but an underlying bitterness sours it.”
Daigen gave me a soft smile. “Seems like we know what your affinity is.”
“Sure would be nice if you gave me a clue.”
