Chapter 4

Inona stared at Delbin’s back as they hiked down the deserted trail. Her elven eyesight was keen enough to avoid disaster, but she nonetheless stayed close enough to reach out and touch him. And not just because she wanted to touch him. How had he managed in the human world at such a young age? It was phenomenal. He was phenomenal.

Odd energy tingled along her skin as they grew nearer to the source of the disturbance. With a shudder, Inona sent her mind toward Delbin’s and brushed against the edge of his thoughts.

He connected immediately. “We can’t just rush in,” she sent. “We should’ve come up with a plan.”

“It’s simple. You’ll hide while I go in. Then you save me if I don’t come out.”

Inona’s steps slowed in surprise, but she forced herself forward. “I am a trained sonal. I’m not going to hide while you go into danger.”

Delbin smirked over his shoulder. “I’m not questioning your fierceness. Rawr.” His eyes twinkled with suppressed laughter before he faced forward again. “But Kien saw you earlier. How am I supposed to find out what’s going on if you’re with me?”

“No.” Her skin chilled at the very thought of him going in alone. “You aren’t here to confront him. We’re doing as much scouting as we can without being caught, and then we’re heading back to Moranaia to report.”

He was quiet for so long she wasn’t certain he was going to answer. “But we could find out a lot if I pretend to join him.”

“I said no. And I have seniority.” Inona reached out and poked him with her finger, but he only smirked at her again. She sighed. “Think. Allafon might have used you for your talents. What if Kien’s goal is the same? He must have chosen to approach you for some reason.”

That erased Delbin’s smug look. “Good point.”

“We’re getting close, I think.” Inona tugged at his wrist until he stopped. “We need to switch places. I’m trained to navigate the forest without a trail, so I’ll do better in the lead. You cast about us for signs of life. Unless scouting is another skill of yours?”

He gestured at the woods. “Lead away, my lady.”

Inona rolled her eyes at him as she passed, but she couldn’t hold back a smile. His good humor was contagious. But he’d had opportunity enough to cultivate it, considering all he’d been through from such a young age. Sixteen. She shook her head as she ducked between the trees. Criminally young.

The moonlight barely trickled through the thick trees overhead, but it was enough. Inona led them steadily through the underbrush, heading ever closer to the source of the pulsing magic. Each throb was more erratic than the last, a heart struggling to control its blood. It was far from normal. Earth in particular had steady, reliable magic, if much less than that of Moranaia and most of the fae dimensions.

This fractured energy was no coincidence.

Inona stopped abruptly at the sight of a small clearing that ended in the wall of a short ridge. Flickering light caught her eye, and she peered at the stone wall. A slit about half again her height glowed softly—an entrance. Although caves were common in this area, the sickly energy emanating from the opening was not. She crouched low and gestured for Delbin to duck behind a tree. Carefully, she scanned the area. No people in sight.

“Do you sense anything?” she sent to Delbin. Telepaths were among the best at detecting others, since thoughts were tied so closely to the energy of life.

“There are three inside,” he answered immediately. “Poor shielding on two of them. They’re arguing.”

Inona squinted at the small entrance. The glow was faint, and from the positioning, she was fairly certain that a long tunnel curved away from the opening. Otherwise, they’d be able to see the people within. What should they do? If something was damaging the very energy of Earth, Lord Lyr would want to know of it at once.

“Can you tell their distance?”

A pause, and then Delbin answered. “Several feet to the left and deeper back. I think.”

Inona scrunched her brows, considering. “We should stay and watch. See if they leave.”

“They aren’t going to leave,” Delbin answered. “One of them is trying to hold together some kind of spell. The other two are arguing about what they’re going to do about Kien.”

“What do you mean?”

“He left a few days ago after something happened to the spell.” Delbin shifted closer until his shoulder brushed hers. Then he let out a soft curse. “We need to stop them. Now. They’re poisoning Earth’s energy field. That’s why it has felt off. If they gain control of that spell again, they’ll stand a better chance of succeeding.”

“The mage has been holding this together for days?” She bit her lip. “That doesn’t make sense. Really, I don’t see how they could affect the entire Earth from here.”

Delbin fell silent for a moment before connecting with her again. “Sorry. I delved deeper. They placed nodes all over the place, all connected. A different node was destroyed, but all that energy had to go somewhere. It backlashed along the connection. Now this one is about to blow, too.”

Her breath caught. “Why would they do that? Energy is life.”

“Domination,” Delbin answered immediately. “Get rid of other magic users with the poison and then unleash your own powers on the unsuspecting humans. There’d be no one left to stop you.”

Clechtan. Did Lord Lyr know about this? If Delbin was correct, they didn’t have time to find out. Inona scanned the clearing, expanding her senses in a sweep. She didn’t detect anyone outside the cave. But then, the assassins sent after Lyr had been able to slip through shielding.

“Any idea if there are more?” she asked.

In the light of the moon spilling through the thinning trees, she watched as his eyes lost focus. After a moment, he shook his head and fixed his attention on her face once more. “None in their thoughts. But I planted an idea. When one of them comes out, let him take me.”

Inona scowled. “Didn’t we discuss this?”

“In sight of them, I can take control of their minds.”

“What?” Her mouth fell open, and she forced it shut with a snap. “I’ve heard of Prince Ralan doing such a thing. And a few others. But you’re not formally trained. How can you be certain?”

A hard, sad glint entered his eyes. “You learn much as a teenager in a strange world, Inona.”

An ache settled in her chest at the hint of pain pinching his face. What had he been forced to do? Earth wasn’t a terrible place, but it wasn’t necessarily safe, either, especially for those who were different. Laws varied so wildly, and exiles had to not only hide their true natures but recreate their lives on a regular basis.

She’d believed only the worst of their people ended up in such a situation. She’d even wondered about her own prince after he’d chosen to live on Earth. How many exiles were not what they seemed? For the first time, she found herself wanting to know their stories more than how strictly they followed the rules.

“Something needs to be done,” Inona said. “There could be others who—”

“He’s coming out now,” Delbin interrupted. “I’ll try to get in and out quickly. If things go wrong, you can rescue me.”

“But—”

Delbin cut off their link and ducked around the tree as a red-haired man stepped out of the cave. “Ah, I’ve found you,” Delbin called in a jovial tone, and the man froze, his hand shifting to a weapon at his side. “Prince Kien said there would be friends here.”

The man’s expression went slack, and his hands dropped to his sides. Without a word, he led Delbin into the cave. Just like that, they were gone.

This wasn’t going to be as easy as Delbin had led Inona to believe. He had taken control of minds before, but only for a brief time when under duress. In his early days on Earth, he’d used his magic to defend himself, but quick mental blasts or suggestions were more effective than control. He’d only done it a handful of times.

He was almost certainly going to be captured within minutes of entering. But a few moments were all he needed. If he could coerce the person holding the spell to release it, the spell would break. From what Delbin had read in their minds, they wouldn’t be able to recreate it quickly.

Delbin followed the one named Patrick through the growing golden light of the tunnel. It was longer than he’d thought. Had his mental range grown? It hadn’t been so easy to find others’ minds when he was younger. His time in the dunk tank must have given him steady practice. But his heartbeat still pounded in his ears as they entered a large cavern. Stalagmites and stalactites speared like teeth around them, water pooling like saliva in puddles on the floor.

His nose crinkled at that mental image. Yeah, no.

In the center, one of the men stood in front of a column of rock. His body blocked sight of the spell’s focal point, and he didn’t turn when the third let out an exclamation and rushed forward. “What are you doing, Patrick?”

“Kien invited him,” Patrick answered, his voice a little hollow under Delbin’s control.

As the man eyed him uncertainly, Delbin took a deep breath. Then with a quick jab of power, he forced his mind past the other’s shielding and tried to assert control. This one fought against him, trying to shove him away so forcefully that Delbin’s head began to ache. By the time he finally succeeded, sweat beaded his brow and dampened his palms.

Unlike Patrick, this one—Victor—was difficult to contain. Wiping his memory would be a much harder task.

The only sounds in the cavern now were the steady drips of water sliding from countless stalactites and the harsh, panting breaths of the third man. Despite his companions’ sudden silence, he hadn’t moved. Delbin frowned. Would controlling his mind be the best way to distract him? He was already trembling with the effort of holding the other two, and this one was stronger. But the guy hadn’t twitched a muscle even when his companions went silent. Controlling the spell?

Delbin crept around the edge of the cavern as he angled for a better view. His gaze narrowed on a glint of light in the middle of the column. No, not a column. In the spot where a stalagmite and stalactite almost joined, a crystal the size of a child’s fist hovered. Eyes closed, the third man held his hands around it as it pulsed with a murky, gray light.

Tentatively, Delbin extended his power, searching for the extent of the mage’s shielding. Almost at once, he drew back. Yeah, that wasn’t going to be easy to crack, and he would lose control of the other two in the attempt. But the mage seemed so intent on holding the spell together that he wasn’t paying attention to the rest of the room.

If Delbin had learned anything, it was that magic didn’t solve everything.

He glanced around the cavern floor until he found a piece of some hapless stalagmite that had broken. He bent down and grasped it. Then he paused again as Patrick shifted, fighting against Delbin’s control. Better speed this up. He grasped the worn hunk of minerals, drew back his arm, and let it fly.

It hit squarely against the mage’s left wrist, shoving his hand against the pulsing crystal. The man’s eyes snapped open, and he screamed as the sickly light flared brightly. Delbin ducked behind a wide stone column, releasing his mental hold on the others to reinforce his own shielding. He barely had time to wipe Patrick’s memory before all hell broke loose.

“Which one of you fools did that?” the mage shouted against a growing hum emanating from the crystal. “What have you done?”

“There was another one,” Victor answered.

“What other one?”

Delbin didn’t even try to follow the argument. Couldn’t they feel the danger? He shoved his hands against his ears as pressure began to build, but it was more magical than physical. Then the light exploded, filling the cavern until Delbin had to close his eyes against it. A sharp crack sounded, loud enough to hear despite his covered ears.

The mage yelled a curse, but any further words were drowned by a loud crackle and one final, grinding snap. As the light cut off abruptly, the ground began to shake. Delbin’s arms shifted to cover his head as bits of stalactites rained down. But the energy that had released from the crystal was beautiful. Healthy.

Moranaian.

“So help me, Patrick—”

“I didn’t do anything,” Patrick interrupted. “I was just standing here.”

“Where’d your new friend go, then?” Victor asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Dammit, this was the last node standing after the Moranaians used their counter spell. We’re going to have to redo the whole thing. Years wasted because—”

“Silence!”

As another voice rang through the dark cavern, Delbin flinched and scrambled to reinforce his mental shielding. Kien. He forced his breaths to slow, though panic gnawed at his insides. Had the prince found Inona on his way in? He sent out a quick mental search and slumped in relief to find her alive and well.

But Delbin probably wouldn’t fare so well. Trapped in a cavern with the dark prince and his minions?

Yeah, he was screwed.