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Zeke turned toward him when I didn’t answer Ezra’s question. “Ash?”
Nothing.
His chest wasn’t moving.
Fuck.
“Ash!” I rushed around the couch, almost tripping over my own feet when my legs buckled.
Before I could reach him, Ash sucked in a ragged breath, his whole body jerking with it. He relaxed again, his breathing deep and uneven.
I turned to Ezra, glaring at him. “Ash is going to die if we don’t do something!”
“What would you have me do? I can’t even go to the palace without a vallant here to temporarily disable the wards.”
I paced behind the couch, ignoring how difficult the muscle spasms and shortness of breath made walking. “You’re supposed to know what to do. You’re supposed to fix things.” I turned to face him. “Why aren’t you fucking fixing things?” I hated how my voice cracked with emotion.
Ezra lowered his foot to the floor, staring at me.
He saw it. He saw what losing Raelynn did to me beyond Bondrot.
He sighed deeply, sounding exhausted. His gaze swept the room as he pulled his phone out of his pocket with a trembling hand. He typed something before placing the phone on the cushion at Zeke’s feet.
I walked over to the couch, my knee buckling as I reached it, but I avoided falling over the back into the recessed pit.
Zeke sat up, leaning in to check out what Ezra had done.
Ezra’s jaw clenched as he sat back, his hand gripping the armrest. He was in pain. He’d hidden it.
“Cam—”
I slapped a hand over Zeke’s mouth, and his eyes widened. I gave a quick shake of my head.
It seemed Ezra wasn’t as unconcerned as he appeared.
Turned out the wards doubled as surveillance cameras and listening devices? What did Cornaith think we’d do? The wards kept us here. He clearly believed we weren’t telling him everything.
It definitely meant we couldn’t make a break for it out the back when vallants arrived to escort Ezra to the palace. So much for that idea.
Ezra grabbed his phone, deleting the message he’d written. “We’re of no use to Raelynn or the guard in our current condition. The best thing we can do is to remain as calm as possible.” He gave me a pointed look. “And rest to keep our symptoms from worsening and hastening our inevitable fate if they don’t find her.”
He had a point. It explained his behavior. He’d been performing for Cornaith all week.
Raelynn had to be sick. She’d need us, but if we were all worn out and falling apart, we couldn’t help her the way she deserved once we had her back.
“Fine,” I said, coming around to sit on the sofa beside Zeke, putting his feet in my lap to give my hands something to do. They were ice-cold to the touch. “Did they say anything about how someone got Raelynn?”
The council said Kavina took Raelynn to the mall even though she wasn’t supposed to, and Rinlora went after her because Mom wanted Raelynn back at the palace for Cornaith’s tests. Mom never sent the message, but Rinlora’s phone showed someone had used her number to send it.
“Nothing new. I suspect whoever contacted Rinlora took Raelynn,” Ezra said. “Father agrees.”
Rinlora had said that when they reached the car, two masked people grabbed Raelynn and pulled her into another car before Rinlora could stop them.
What I wanted to know was why the fuck Rinlora hadn’t told us Kavina had her. Mom would’ve told us if she knew, so it made sense the message wasn’t hers.
But who actually told Rinlora to get Raelynn? And why?
And where were the witnesses? Surveillance footage?
