“Of course, my queen. We’ll find him. Here or we’ll hunt them down.”There is such promise and assurance in his voice that I almost believe him. Almost believe that he can save him no matter what.
Where are you, Nyx?I whisper into the dark.
Ambrose doesn’t say much, but I continue to cling to the feel of his steady heartbeat. Calm and unshakable.
He’s probably doing it to try to keep me calm. To keep me from trying to break through the shield and run after him. But it’s not working.
My heart is erratic, wild, and uneven. I can’t stop pacing as my mind spirals into a tornado of thoughts I can’t control.
I’m not in a cage. But I might as well be. Every instinct in me claws at the walls, demanding I break through, run after them, do something. Anything.
My promise keeps me here. My faith in Ambrose, in the Bloomoon pack, the Moonlight pack, Kael, and even the vampires keeps me here. Knowing that they need me alive no matter what. I owe it to them all to break the curse.
“Lumi, I think—”Ambrose starts in my head, but he never finishes his thought.
“Ambrose?”I ask cautiously back.
He doesn’t answer immediately. I give him a minute, knowing he could be distracted, but the second his minute is up, I’m frantic.
“Ambrose, talk to me. What’s going on?”the words float out this time, but they don’t make it to him. I know because it feels the same way as it does when I speak to Nyx. Empty. Hollow. Like I’m talking to myself.
I strengthen that connection in my mind to Ambrose, searching for the heat, warmth, comfort that only his mind provides me. But it feels lost. It’s not where I normally find it. It’s like it’s been ripped from my brain.
Unlike with Nyx, I don’t find an empty void. I find something. Remnants of the heat. Remnants of an earthy scent. A tingle of magic.
He wasn’t ripped from my head. He’s still there, just hidden. Like a cloak has been placed between us, making it impossible for me to find or communicate with him.
Fuck, this can’t be good.
I stare at the invisible wall in front of me. I promised Ambrose I wouldn’t go through. That I would stay safe. Run if I had to.
But with him unable to communicate, without even being able to share if he’s alive or dead, I’m not sure I can keep my promise. If everyone I care about is captured or dead, who cares about my promise. I won’t be able to break the curse if my mate is dead.
I try once more, concentrating as hard as I can on the darkened spot in my mind that has been dampened.
Come on, Ambrose.
A flicker sparks back. Like a steady heartbeat—once, twice, then nothing.
He’s alive. Or was for two seconds. I felt his heart beating. Ambrose is alive, but our connection is being controlled by the Moonfire witches. I have no doubt about that.
I feel a tug in the other direction in my brain. Like there is something there. Something worth checking on.
I move from one side of my mind to the other. To the far more painful side. To the spot where Nyx should be, instead, it’s completely empty. There isn’t a flicker. Isn’t a drop left of him in my mind. He’s gone. Like he’s been surgically removed with exact precision. There is nothing for me to wade through. Nothing for me to find. No connection to be regrown. He’s gone.
And I sent everyone he and I cared about after him to their deaths, most likely.
Tears well, but I refuse to be the damsel in distress. I refuse to sit on my hands and not help.
“I’m sorry,”I send to Ambrose, but I doubt he gets the message. I’ll have to deal with breaking my promise to Ambrose later, but right now, I have to break through this magical shield of a wall the witches have created.
I run as hard as I can straight at it, hoping that it will be enough.
It’s not.
It feels like hitting a brick wall—unwavering, with absolutely no bend or softness when I hit it. I crumble to the ground in agonizing pain.
That was stupid.