Page 70 of Bound

At once, a gritty picture filled the screen.

Also at once, no one had any doubt about the identity of the prisoner in her brother’s custody.

Thank every saint in the universe.

But that was not what blurted from her suddenly parted lips.

“Oh,” Jayd rasped. Just that and just once. But she did not have to worry about forming anything else, with Emme taking over quite perfectly on the duties.

“Oh, Highness. Creator be truly praised. They did catch the awful kimfuk!”

It seemed merciless to quell her responding chuckle. “’Twould absolutely seem that way, bonami.” Weirdly, she wondered less about a status update on the mission now, and more about the karmic balance that Carris’s capture seemed to knocked loose. Nothing else could explain the new freedom of Emme’s profanity button.

She had to get Brickham’s input on the matter.

But when she lifted her head and turned back toward him, he was no longer there.

He was not anywhere in the vicinity either.

The cement block returned to stand in for her head once again. Jayd let it guide her in a clumsy roll as she wheeled around, searching for him. But he was nowhere in the throng that had now closed in on Iscah’s monitor. She was stopped by many of them, clasping her for tearful celebratory hugs. Though she forced out pleasantries and smiles, none of the sentiments climbed from her lips to her mind. That, of course brought a new tidal wave of guilt—to this crowd, she was still their princess no matter what—but she could not spare even a corner of her mind for that consideration right now.

Where was Brickham?

And why did her senses not want to answer that?

How did they already pound with one sole suspicion? That Brick had only been biding his time until this moment. Waiting Trystan was finally in cuffs—which signaled the moment he could escape his.

The cuffs that might as well have her name engraved on them.

That, in some disgusting way, Evrest had locked down with resounding snicks.

Evrest.

She should have known that her bonsun brother, and the harmless conversation he had behested from Brickham, would be the explanation for her lover’s abrupt change. It was not about getting the intake table ready or focusing on the looming threat at hand. It was not even about them being back in a public situation together.

It was bigger than that.

Big enough to have Brickham activating all his sneaky spy wiles and slipping out of here during the single minute that everyone was distracted. The sixty seconds in which she had not been excruciatingly aware of his every move.

Except for the agony of this one.

And then the one that followed it.

And then several more, in which she tried talking herself off her own mental ledge. Perhaps he had not actually snuck away. Maybe he had sought out the facilities or finally gone to grab some food from the buffet line. She knew he had not eaten for hours. She had not pushed him to do so, out of gratitude that he had not foisted the same pressure on her.

But after she observed at least six other men leaving the lavatory and confirmed the lack of his huge form in the buffet line, she reverted to assumption one. Which was not an assumption anymore.

Which was not the move she was letting him get away with.

And yes, she was damn sure she could follow through. Brickham had a head start, but was still the stranger in a strange palais: a building that was actually a collection of other buildings, erected at different times and then linked together as afterthoughts. Seasoned courtiers often compared the place to a stucco hedge maze.

And she knew shortcuts through it. Many, many detours.

She checked her instincts first. Brickham would not return to her suite even if Evrest had not stepped in when he had. Though he was alone, she sensed that made no difference. The man had not bolted from the commissary because of a need for fresh air. He wanted to get away from her, period.

Another presentiment had her avoiding the infirmary, as well. He had no possessions or even clothes to collect from the room, and he would obviously peg it as one of the first places on her search list.

Then where?