Page 101 of A Wayward Movement

“Could Alina already be asleep?” Captain Mitchell asked.

She shook her head, swallowing. “She would wait up for me. After what happened tonight…she would wait.”

Fear spiked in Xavier’s throat, threatening to choke him.

“What’s that?” The sharp question came from one of the guards. Following his pointing finger, Xavier knelt down to look more closely at a potted plant that had been knocked askew across the porch. Reaching down, he lifted up a ribbon lying alongside it. A green ribbon.

“That was in her hair,” Lilah whispered.

It was unnecessary information. Xavier had noticed every detail of Alina the moment he’d laid eyes on her. He couldn’t help it.

“It worked.” The guard who spoke sounded elated. “So quickly!”

Horror spread through Xavier’s body, too potent to allow even for anger at the hapless guard. Alina had been taken? And mere minutes after what had passed between them. He’d vowed he wouldn’t let her put herself at risk, then he’d immediately let his heartbreak overcome him and done nothing as she disappeared alone into the night.

A quiet sob from Lilah broke through his paralysis. His face swung toward her, their gazes locking in silent acknowledgment of the disaster of the moment.

They were the only ones. The rest of the group were murmuring excitedly, examining the area for any further evidence of what had happened.

“We should get back to the inn,” one said. “See if the guild craftsman can track her!”

“Yes!” Xavier clutched at the reminder like a drowning man. “Come on.”

He sprinted back across the town, his guards hastening to keep up with him. When they burst into the parlor at the inn, it was to a scene that was much too calm for the situation.

“Can you feel her?” Xavier demanded, striding around the table to the craftsman.

“I…what?” The man stared at him blankly.

“Alina is gone,” Xavier said. “Signs of a struggle. Can you feel her?”

The man looked aghast, his eyes glazing over as he appeared to search himself.

“I…I don’t know,” he admitted. “There’s a tug. Very faint. I could feel it when she left the inn. It’s gotten fainter since then. I thought maybe it was because she was sleeping. But it’s possible she’s further than such a weak link can handle.”

“Can you follow the direction of it?” Xavier asked desperately.

He stood, moving to the door, his face lined with worry. “I can try,” he said.

Xavier groaned. “That’s not good enough! You said it would work!”

“I said it might,” the man said, sounding wretched. “I said there were risks.”

He glanced at the guard who’d been the original subject of the enchantment, the one who’d failed to get himself abducted. Alina had really put him to shame in that area, Xavier reflected bitterly.

“The trouble is, Your Highness,” the craftsman went on, “the link has been weakened not just by the act of transferring it, but by what that transfer means. One factor in its strength is the connection that naturally exists between the parties. I was selected to be the one on this end of the link because I know the subject. He and I grew up in the same neighborhood. We played together as children.”

The guard nodded solemnly.

“It’s not a strong connection,” the craftsman went on. “And it doesn’t need to be with a full-strength linking enchantment. But it helps. And the trouble is, I don’t know Alina at all. I have no connection to her. And now that we’re working with a weakened link, that matters.”

Xavier’s mind was going at double speed, panic making everything urgent.

“Can you transfer your end?” he demanded. “Like you did for the other end?”

“I…probably,” the man said helplessly. “But we don’t have anyone else with skill in magic craft.”

“Is that necessary?” Xavier asked.