Page 108 of Death Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

I cleared my throat. My mouth tasted like stale coffee and anger.

“Dagna is shielding it,” I said. “We had it at the hospital. Greyson had a device that made a seam in the shield, but it only held for seconds.”

Greyson, standing by the magical board with his phone in hand, lifted it slightly. “I can do better now that I’ve had more experience with her shield.”

Lucinda’s gaze flicked to him, then away, as if she didn’t want to acknowledge anything that wasn’t her idea.

Aurora’s eyes narrowed. “So the relic is mobile?”

“Yes,” Tegan said. She stood near the table, shoulders tight, relic tracker in her hand as if it had personally betrayed her. “The moment we started getting traction, the signal smeared. She moved the anchor point.”

Aurora leaned her hip against the table’s edge, careful to stay out of Lucinda’s reach. “Where would Dagna move something like that?”

That question settled like a stone.

We all had opinions. None of them were comforting.

Nishi spoke first, calm and clipped. “Somewhere isolated, but not too far. She will want quick relocation options. She will also want terrain that blocks pursuit and sight lines.”

“The forest,” Aurora said immediately, as if it was obvious.

Eve crossed her arms. “Or anywhere she can hide a lair. She likes staging. She likes drama.”

Faith snorted. “She likes being annoying.”

“That too,” Aurora agreed. Then she looked at me again. “You saw her. Any tells?”

I thought of Dagna’s smile, the way she had looked straight at my chest like she could see me unraveling.

“She knew what she was doing,” I said quietly. “She wanted us chasing outbreaks while she repositioned. She used Drathar to flood the field with spirit-driven corpses, then slipped away.”

Carnell, lounging with his usual infuriating ease, tapped a finger against the table. “A classic distraction.”

Lucinda’s eyes narrowed. “Enough commentary. Find the relic.”

Faith’s gaze snapped to her. “We’re working on it, Your Majesty.”

Lucinda ignored Faith the way she ignored anything that didn’t flatter her.

Tegan’s fingers tightened around her tracker, then she inhaled as if she had made a decision. “I can do another spell.”

Nishi tilted her head. “Your last tracking attempt hit the shield and died.”

“I know,” Tegan said. “That was the tool. Not me. I was using a device keyed to relic signatures, and she smothered the signature with her own magic. I need to track the distortion instead.”

Aurora’s brows lifted. “Explain that in normal words.”

Tegan’s mouth twitched. “Imagine someone poured black ink into a clear stream. You can’t see the original water anymore, but you can track the ink.”

Greyson nodded, approving. “That’s doable.”

Lucinda looked unimpressed. “Then do it.”

Tegan did not ask permission. She moved to the open space near the magical board and set her tracker down. Then she pulled a small pouch from her coat. Powdered minerals, I guessed, and something that smelled like old stone.

Her guardian bloodline magic always felt different in the air. It carried heat. Like the earth itself paid attention.

Tegan drew a small circle on the marble floor with the powder, then added five marks around it. They weren’t runes I recognized from coven work. They looked older, more like symbols you’d carve into a vault door and then sleep easier.