___

T

alen returned in the early afternoon. He took Hara aside to tell her what he found. He glared at Gideon, who moved from his place at the bridge window to be close enough to hear what Talen reported.

Hara said to Talen when she saw the look, “I trust him, Talen.”

Talen narrowed his eyes as he studied her. “You have never trusted anyone before.”

“And there is a reason for that. You know better than anyone what I had to go through with my father.” Talen had a skewed view of her father and to him, her father could do no wrong.

Gideon growled at the mention of her father and said in a rough voice, “He will not bother you anymore.”

Talen dropped it. “I followed that strange man and he went to an airship with the Duke’s emblem on it. They were loading up gear so I don’t think they will be in port for very long. What do you want me to do now? Sneak on board to see if the boy is there?”

“No. We need to deal with whatever the Duke is planning in any case. We can’t leave him as a threat and just rescue Demetrius. We will take a few of us to see if we can delay them. Hopefully, by then we can come up with a plan to not only stop the Duke but to rescue Demetrius without him being hurt.”

“Don’t you think leaving him in the Duke’s clutches will put him in danger?” Talen asked with a frown on his brow.

“No, as Demetrius is bait for Hermia. If Demetrius fell into the trap to get Hermia, she will feel obligated to rescue him. The Duke is hoping because Hermia is a girl she will simply trade herself.” Hara was worried about Demetrius but she didn’t think his life was in danger. At least not yet. Duke Lysander had already proved he could kill someone when he had his wife killed. Demetrius was still in a lot of danger.

Hara had already spoken to Hermia about the foolhardiness of trading herself to the Duke. It wouldn’t solve anything and only put them in the same trouble as before.