Duncan rubbed his brow, where a bandage was wrapped around his head. Damn stitches itched. Sunshine poured over the sea. The water was calm, pretty.
Soothing, or so people said.
He hated the water.
So why was he sitting here, on Cara’s rock again?
“Any word?” a familiar voice said from behind Duncan.
He’d been staring out at the water, trying to wrap his mind around what happened. He still wasn’t sure.
Hell, he didn’t think he’d ever really understand. How could a scream be that powerful? Did they build over time when not released? Or were they always that powerful? And why had the desert taken her like that? Had she done that, or had that come from some element he didn’t know about?
And where was she? What happened to her?
He’d tried everything he could think of. Even consulted the books while waiting for a release from the Healer’s Ward. Nothing had any explanation for what happened. Or if it ever happened before.
Surely, something like that would have records. Cara couldn’t be the first banshee that had ever happened to.
Yet there was nothing.
Figured.
He would still be in the desert looking for Cara, but there was no sign of her. He’d hardly been coherent when Reese found him lying on a sand dune, and they’d rushed him to a healer. How long it took between when he blacked out to when he was found, he wasn’t sure exactly.
Just that the sandstorm was gone. So was the cabana.
All of it had been erased, swallowed by the desert.
And so, it seemed, had Cara.
He glanced over his shoulder. Reese stood there, dripping with water. His wings were fully extended and he flapped them out, blocking all the sunlight around Duncan.
Seemed fitting.
Duncan’s head throbbed, and while he knew a good cup of Fairy Tea would fix the injuries, but he didn’t want to drink it. He wanted the wounds. The scars.
A remembrance of Cara—like the tea itself. He didn’t know if he ever wanted to drink any of that stuff again. Ever. Just the smell of it would make him think of Cara.
Always.
Reese stepped closer and took a seat on the rock.
It was right where Cara would sit. Duncan hadn’t been able to bring himself to take her spot. Seeing Reese sit there, he wanted to punch him. Clobber him. Something. Yet he didn’t have the energy.
The frustration that filled his heart warred with the anger in his soul. He’d lost Cara.
Lost her.
Every moment he tried to make himself cling to the hope that she was out there, and someone would find her, but he knew better.
He couldn’t feel her. Different than how he couldn’t find her in the Merrow Kingdom. At least then he’d had a vague sense that she was still alive.
This was worse. It wasn’t that. That whole touch of her soul seemed gone.
Made him angry. So angry.
He should have held on.
He should have—
“The merrow are fine.” Reese’s words broke into Duncan’s barrage of thoughts. Of course, he’d been having them nonstop, so he wasn’t going over anything new.
“Evidently, Norton had planted several bombs. Not as destructive as what the banshee—”
“Cara,” Duncan snapped. She wasn’t just a banshee. She was Cara. And now she was gone.
“Sorry. What Cara could have done, but they might have killed the royal family. Hence, Cara’s scream.”
Duncan clenched his fists. “He made a Catch-22.” He’d like to pummel Norton. For about a year.
That was the least he’d torture that heathen, trying to use Cara like that.
Reese nodded. “He might have succeeded, if you hadn’t found her too. The merrow managed to diffuse the bombs before they went off, and they all returned to their homes, everyone with the happies now.”
Like Duncan gave a shit right now. All he wanted to know was that Cara had been found. And that Norton paid for his crimes.
“He been executed?”
“They’re taking him to the Knights Templar because he had other mythical partners. They’ll find out who and then carry out execution.”
Duncan nodded. He’d worked with the immortal humans before when fairies teamed up with other mythicals. They were decent guys.
But he wouldn’t want to piss one off.
“O’Leary’s looking for you.”
Duncan sighed. “I know.” The last thing he wanted to do was deal with his boss. He didn’t want to deal with anything right now.
How could the world turn so horrible in a little over a day?
“We have FID combing the desert looking. There’s no sign of her,” Reese said softly.
“I know,” Duncan said. The hope in his heart diminished by the hour.
“Has anyone talked to her family?” Reese asked.
Duncan shook his head. “I’ll do it.”