Trendan looked at Tor, who was at the food table again. They’d been here for over an hour, and that had to be his third trip to get more.
“I still think we need to try again with those found at the cave when we got Arwan,” Leone said. “They had to be more important than some of the flunkies we nabbed. They were there with him.”
“He has a point.” Michael looked at his brother Victor.
Victor gave him a long look that neither said he agreed or disagreed. “Out of close to fifty, we have not gotten anything viable from more than five.”
“Maybe you need to have different interrogators.” Bastian shrugged.
“I don’t think any of them are going to be helpful,” Bethany said. “They can’t tell us who is responsible from each realm.” She looked at Paisley. “Following the places their camera room was linked to seems like it might be more useful.”
Paisley nodded. “We already got to many of them before we even found Arwan and that surveillance room.” She glanced at Prince Arius for a moment. “The cells are full of people with no information.”
“Most of them don’t think of anything we don’t already know.” Princess Kara stated quietly. “I’m tired of listening in on thoughts that are like recycled news.”
Prince Rafael grinned. “Did we get anywhere with those names Arwan thought? Mark or Marx and the ones that Princess Aireese was looking into?”
“No records of Mark or a Marx here. That’s relevant.” Troy said. “Aireese had a few leads on Florin, but it may not be the same one.” He shrugged. “It’s a common name. However, she feels if she can find her, then she will be able to gain more information about Belford and Satine.”
“Sounds like a lot of dead ends to me.” Prince Quinton sounded bored. Trendan had to agree with his thought. None of this seemed to be going anywhere.
“Art hasn’t found Sem, but he’s found the source of the clay used to make the–” Michael glanced up from his phone, “bowl things they were communicating with.”
“That’s something at least.” Alona sighed. “I feel like all the pieces are in front of us, and we’re missing them.” She motioned to the papers on the table.
“I agree.” Chase got up and went over to the coffee brewer. “Nova’s journals have anything in them?” He looked at Victor.
“I believe they do. The detail is more pertaining to the men responsible for Solrelm’s part, but it is a start.” He nodded. “It was refreshing to read proper English in many of them.”
Trendan had only browsed through a few of the keeper journals. Too many of them were obsessed with his brother that they started to read like a romance novel—he imagined, not having ever read one, he may be misjudging them.
“Most of this,” Bastian pointed to the papers he’d brought, “leads us to the men that had their memories wiped.” He looked across the table at Trendan, and it was the first time he noticed remorse in his brother’s expression. “We’re hoping once their memories are restored, they can tell us who did it to them.”
“We have Glen’s family here in Alterealm, and he’s meeting them tomorrow.” Liri glanced at Bastian, who nodded. “A few more have been found but not moved to a safe house in Interealm yet.” She sighed. “Piecing the women and children together with the men is very—” She glanced at Bethany, “emotional. The women don’t talk freely about that time.”
“I met one of the children left behind earlier. She’s an adult now and very angry.” Trendan clasped his hands on the table and looked around. “I believe she will match up to one of the older instances.”
“How old is she?” Liri leaned forward.
“I’m not sure. She had a lot of Solrelm DNA, but there was what I believe was FaTerra mixed in, so she may not age the same as others would.”
“Is it just FaTerra and Alterealm offspring that age differently?” Daxx looked around at the others.
“Mostly, yes.” Victor inclined his head.
“That’s something, then.” Daxx tapped her hand on the table. “Maybe not a good something because with that mixed in their blood, or whatever, a lot before the last fifty years are probably dead.”
“Mmm,” Troy nodded. “And then we will be dealing with fathers that lost their mates or other.” He glanced at Bastain. “—and have no way to mourn through that.”
“We thought of that.” Bastain looked over at Trendan. “And I wonder if we should just leave those ones alone?”
“You mean, don’t restore their memories?” Trendan hadn’t had this discussion with him.
“Not necessarily, but we could find the woman and child before we restore memories,” he shrugged, “prioritize a bit.”
Trendan gave his brother a curious look. Since when did Bas believe in prioritizing?
“It does make sense in a weird way.” Bethany nodded. “And save others heartbreak right away.”
Trendan considered it for a second. “We could do that.” He looked at his brother. “For now. But I think all of them should be found and memories restored eventually.”
Bastain picked up a booklet sitting in front of him and got up. He walked around the table and stopped beside Trendan’s chair. Dropping the booklet on the table before him, he turned and walked away. “That’s only the ones that Elyas knew about.”
Trendan looked at it for a second before picking it up and flipping through some pages. He paused on a page. “What does the red mark across the top of some of these signify?”
Bastain sat down and looked at him for a moment. “The father’s that didn’t survive the mind wipes.”
Trendan’s heart felt like it seized in his chest.
“It’s that dangerous?” Troy looked very concerned.
“I don’t know.” Bastian ran his hand through his already messed-up hair. “I wanted to ask Aireese, but she wasn’t here when I arrived.”
“I believe we need to know more of the facts before we start gathering these men up,” Victor stated.
“It’s very sad, Vic.” Crissy got up off the chair, went to a corner, and sat on the floor. She opened her backpack and took out a notebook.
“Indeed, heart, it is.”
A phone ringing made half those in attendance jolt.
“Sorry.” Liri got up. “I didn’t know the ringer was on.” She answered it, walked over to the thrones, and spoke quietly.
Bastain tapped his hand on the table. “I do have some good news.” He looked at Prince Quinton and then at his mate, Reagan. “We found your father, and we’re moving him later today to the secret location we had Glen at.”
Reagan grabbed her mate’s hand that was resting on the table and held it. “Is he well?”
“Physically, he seems fine. I don’t know about the magic used in his brain. That was another thing I needed to talk to Princess Aireese about.”
“Okay.” She said softly. “When you do, can you let me know?”
Bastian nodded. “I told you I would find him.”
“Maybe once he’s well, he could come here to Alterealm, Rea.” Paisley smiled at her. “We can get him a house or something, and you can see him all the time.”
Trendan exchanged a look with Bastain. He wasn’t comfortable with plans being made when they didn’t know if the Fae could remove the magic. It had been a lot longer than five years time.
“I think we should see how he is first,” Quinton said and then leaned over and kissed his mate’s cheek. “He may not want to leave Solrelm.”
Reagan studied him for a moment before looking down the table at Paisley. “I’ve waited this long. I guess a little longer won’t hurt.”
The infant started crying, ending all conversation in the room.
“Tre?”
He turned to see Liri coming toward him.
“That was one of the Gemini women. They need a favor.”
He stood up. Their leader had saved his brother, so he had no problem helping them whatsoever. “What is it?”
“One of the girls there, she’s invisible. Has been for five years.” She glanced at Bastian and then looked back at him. “She’s just a kid, sixteen or seventeen. I could barely see her, but I saw Solrelm DNA.”
He quirked an eyebrow at her. “You should have shared a long time ago that you could see a person’s DNA, Liri.”
She shrugged. “Not that having the skill would have been useful at home.” She sighed. “Can you go see if you can help the girl? Maybe so she doesn’t have to be invisible all the time?”
He nodded. “Of course.” If she was that way because she was one of theirs, that meant there was a Solrelm father out there who had abandoned his child, had his memory wiped—or hadn’t known about her at all. He looked around the room. “Ulric and I can go over in a bit and see her.” He rubbed the tense muscles at the back of his neck. “I don’t feel like this meeting is garnering any great leads.”
“No.” She looked over at the others. “A few little things are better than none, though.” She looked at him, determination in her expression. “I really think the fathers will have the most information for us. About who took them back.”
“Mmm.” He nodded. “It is my hope that many of those responsible are still living. So we can make their lives hell.”
She looked surprised at his words. “Never thought I’d hear you say that.”
“It’s how I feel.”
“It’s not a bad thing. Justice comes in many forms.” She grinned.
He motioned across the room to Ulric. “Which of the Gemini women called? Who do I ask for?”
“Oh. You won’t have to knock on a door or anything. They have a warning spell around their place. They know you’re coming before you reach the building.”
He gave her a side glance and nodded at Ulric, who started toward him.
“Jerika called.” She touched his arm. “Thanks for doing this. I really enjoy hanging out there.” She walked away.
Trendan rubbed his hand over his face. Fate wasn’t going to leave this alone.
“What’s going on?” Ulric stopped in front of him.
“We’re going to Interealm to the Gemini women’s place. They have a teen girl that is invisible and can’t go back to visible.”
“Sounds like one of ours.”
Trendan nodded. “One of too many.” He motioned to the door. “We’ll use the porter.” He looked at the others, deep in discussion again. “Let the royals work some of this out.”
“This is a mess,” Ulric said quietly. “It could take years to put it all right again.”
“I know.” That was his fear. That he was going to spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to others for what traitors had done.