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He still couldn’t feel her on the other end of their bond, but it was as though shrinking the distance between them had strengthened it, even if there was still a wall in the way.
She was here, and he was here, and he was going to find her.
It took Cedric several moments to place himself, to realize exactly where following that bond through the shadows had led him.
Brisk night air. Rough-hewn stone walls to his left and his right. An alleyway, light pooling at the far end of the narrow passage. Beyond it, flickering lanterns hung above doorframes. A city.
His boots skidded on uneven stone as he stumbled forward, blinking rapidly as he reached the end of the alley and the world snapped into brutal focus before him.
Not just any city.
Because there, beyond the cobblestone streets and neatly-laid-out rows of homes, the towers of Castle Lumin stretched into the starlit sky.
Cedric’s chest nearly caved in.
Here? She was here? Had she been in Luminaria, under their very noses, all along?
Cedric shook his head, refusing to believe it. Hadn’t Ollie and Jocelyn both had the Lost City on their long list of places to hunt down leads in the Midlands? Surely they would have seen something. And Elderglade was, what, two, three days’ ride from here? How many times had he seen the looming spires of the castle from afar as they’d traversed the continent? Wouldn’t Cedric have felt it—felt her, felt the hum of their bond, felt a pull toward his solimaeus, as he did now?
For all that new breath he’d thought he was inhaling, now Cedric was suffocating. The light travel armor he had worn during their trek up the Sacred Mountain suddenly felt too heavy. Ashrender was an anchor strapped to his waist. He careened into the wall next to him, fingers pressing into the rough surface like he was scrambling for purchase.
Months. It had been months since he’d last seen her perfect face, since the sweet melody of her laugh seeped into his bones. Since he’d last brushed a strand of periwinkle from her face or heard the steadying beat of her heart in his ear as he laid his head against her chest.
Months, and all this time she had been stuck in the place where it all began.
Had he truly failed her so greatly?
It ended now. Tonight.
He would get her out, he would see her free, even if he died trying.
Mind racing, lungs tight, Cedric launched forward—
Only to come to a jolting stop as strong fingers wrapped around one of his arms and hauled him back into the alley.
Ashrender was unsheathed and pressed to the neck of his assailant in a heartbeat, instinct surging, sunfyre flaring in his veins, ready to ignite, ready to kill—
“Put that the fuck away, you stars-damned idiot. Do you want them to find us?”
Cedric froze. Blinked. Lowered Ashrender a fraction of an inch.
“You want to keep that thing moving?”
Cedric didn’t budge, though his power immediately guttered out, like it had been doused in a bucket of water.
Another huff. “By all means, take all fucking night. It’s not as though you’re in a hurry, right?”
Cedric let his arm drop, though he kept a firm grasp on Ashrender at his side. “What are you doing here?”
The fae pulled the hood of his cloak back, revealing strands of blond hair that fell to his chin, half of it tucked behind a scarred, torn ear. Raefe’s gray eyes narrowed on Cedric for half a second before he said, “Possibly the very same thing you are, though I’ve been at it for longer.”
“Explain.”
“I imagine you can recall the way I was so unceremoniously ousted from our traveling party after leaving Kingshelm.”
Cedric snorted. “I recall breaking your nose outside of King’s Keep and the softness of your gut around my fist on the road, yes.”
“Well, that was unnecessary,” Raefe said with a sniff. “But I’ve been here in Luminaria since then, keeping an eye out for more leads on the Cult of Malakar for—”
