“We’ll search the skies,” Stefan offered, and he took Delmare’s hand. “Maybe they flew away.”
“Or they’re still hiding in the woods,” Lucien offered. He hurried away, to search with Emma’s grandparents. People scattered in all directions.
I kept Emma firmly in my grasp and said, “This doesn’t seem like Ozzie.”
“I don’t think it’s him. It has to be Jasper,” she said. “We should’ve known it all along. He gave such terrible excuses.”
My mind recalled many situations. We’d run into Jasper after a council meeting, one where we’d discussed mounting an attack against Gabby to save Pruska. He’d been outside, and told us he just came back from a training session…
The times didn’t add up. He’d said he’d gone to the rink for a five a.m. practice, but we hadn’t run into him until nearly noon. He hadn’t been at the rink at all. He’d been listening in on the meeting. Later on, we’d run into him outside of Kiara’s room, just before she’d been cursed.
And Emma’s hearthfire… the only ones who had access to our quarters at the palace were our friends. Jasper had been there during our honeymoon. He must’ve been the one to sneak in and destroy Emma’s altar, just before the Black Claw came looking for her.
There were other signs. The guilt he’d shown after Vara’s death…
Bile rose in my throat and nearly spilled. I’d been so focused on accusing Vara that I hadn’t bothered to consider other potential suspects. My prejudice had left us unguarded.
“Oh, hell.” Emma smacked her palm to her forehead. “I came across him making agolemback at the palace. He was probably helping Gabby create the clone that she staged at the fortress during our attack. We’ve been so oblivious.”
The reality was crushing, but despite my harsh feelings, I forced my better judgment to come into play. “He has betrayed us, but he’s still our friend, so we must find him and stop him from giving the stones to Gabby. He must ask him why he would do such a thing.”
“You’re being awfully forgiving toward someone who might’ve cost us everything,” Emma spat.
“I made the mistake of distrusting Vara, and I will regret it forevermore. I won’t make the same error with Jasper,” I said.
“He betrayed us. He sided with Gabby!” Emma shouted.
“We don’t know for certain if Jasper took the stones to Gabby,” I said. “He could’ve taken them for other reasons.”
“Whatever they are, I’m going to rip his head off when we find him!” she yelled.
“Emma, you must control yourself.” I took her into my arms and gave her a tight hug; more or less to calm her down, but also, to make sure she didn’t take off and do something reckless. “We don’t know if Gabby has the Crystals yet. We can’t allow ourselves to believe the worst possible outcome. Remember what you told me? If you believe that we’ll win, we will. We have to trust that we can still fix things.”
Emma took a few ragged, furious breaths before she allowed herself to calm. The other side of my bond steadied, although there was an angry undertone beneath the lull of patience she forced herself to have. “You’re right. They can’t have gotten too far, right? Everyone’s looking for them, and neither one of them are accomplished sorcerers. Jasper has trouble making portals, and there are protection wards around the estate that make casting them even harder. He’d have to get off the grounds before he could even try.”
“Then let’s start there. I’ll trail Jasper’s scent. Maybe it’ll lead us somewhere.”
I don’t think he lingered in the vault for long. There were so many different scents from all the people who lived at the estate, but I was able to distinguish Jasper’s and follow it outside.
In the gardens, pandemonium was taking place. Odette held on as Theo galloped into the woods. Amantha called their names. Arthur and Finlay were both wolvens, their nose to the ground trying to detect Jasper’s scent. Delmare took off on Stefan’s back, and the dragon flew upward. His form wavered before it vanished, blending into the clouds with the effect of Delmare’s illusion magic to camouflage him against the sky.
So far, it didn’t look like anyone had discovered much.
“Do you smell anything?” Emma asked warily.
“No,” I said. “Jasper has been living with the rest of us for months. His scent is all over the place. Day-old trails are mixing with new ones.”
I turned on the spot, fully confused. I wasn’t sure which way he’d gone. I attempted using my shifter sight to find footprints, but again, the estate was always bustling with people, which made a trail hard to find.
Kiara was near the woods. A spinning arrow made of her magic twirled in the air around her, flying in haggard circles. The arrow spun back and forth, as if it didn’t know which way to point.
“What are you casting?” Emma asked as we drew near.
“A locating spell,” Kiara said as she watched the arrow fly.
“I thought you had to induce a vision in order to perform a locating spell,” I said.
“This is my own magic, something I made up,” Kiara explained. “It’s a new spell I invented for finding things, just in case one of our family ever went missing again, like what happened with Kalina. I’ve found it to be one-hundred percent accurate each time I’ve checked on our locations since I invented the spell.”
