What were they going to do now? She didn’t want to return to the Hall of Choice and sit by helplessly, waiting for someone else to act. Especially if the Chancellor continued refusing to negotiate. She could very well let all the men die.
On the one hand, Brynleigh hoped that even Ignatia Rose wasn’t that cold-hearted. After all, her son-in-law was in the group. On the other hand, the fire fae was a Representative, and Brynleigh wouldn’t put it past her to sacrifice a dozen lives to hold onto power.
And that just wouldn’t be happening. Not if Brynleigh had anything to do with it.
She had been through too fucking much to lose Ryker now. They’d worked too hard and come too far. By the gods, she wasn’t done with him. They had so much life left to live.
There had to be some way to get to her husband. Some way to find him without knowing where he was. Not after everything they’d been through.
If only they had a bond, a link?—
Brynleigh’s eyes widened, and her gaze shot to her left arm.
“Of course.” She turned to Nikhail, who was running a hand through his hair and scowling at the empty warehouse. “I have an idea.”
The air fae raised his brows. “What is it?”
She tugged up her sleeve, revealing the blue bracelet.
“Ryker gave me this. He said…” She swallowed, remembering the coldness in his voice on that day in the small bungalow. “He said there’s a tracker in this. Could you… Is it possible to flip it around? Find him through that?”
She didn’t know much about technology, but that seemed like something that should theoretically be possible.
Nikhail canted his head and glanced at Indira. “What do you think?”
The other woman drew her bottom lip through her teeth. “Can I see it?”
“Indira’s a witch, but she’s also a technical genius. If someone can make this happen, it’s her,” Nikhail explained.
“Okay.” Brynleigh extended her wrist, and Indira stepped forward.
Her touch was gentle but firm as she twisted the bracelet around Brynleigh’s wrist, studying it. “It’s enchanted, but I think I’ll be able to do it.”
“Great,” Nikhail said. “What do you need?”
Every single minutewithout Ryker felt like hours.
Even though only fifteen minutes had gone by since they left the warehouse, it seemed like an eternity had passed. Indira required a computer, so Brynleigh shadowed them back to Ryker’s apartment.
She refused to return to the safe house lest Jelisette was there, and she could only shadow to locations where she’d previously been.
Brynleigh’s heart hurt, and her body, mind, and soul ached. If someone had told her a few months ago she’d be desperate for Ryker’s presence, she would’ve called them a liar.
Now, all she wanted was to look him in the eyes and know he was okay.
When they first arrived at the apartment, Indira had worked on her magic on the bracelet and released the magical lock. The bracelet fell away, and the witch took it to the computer to get to work.
Ryker’s computer was password protected, but Indira bypassed it with a blue ribbon of magic and a few murmured spells.
A handy skill.
Brynleigh grabbed a few bags of blood from the fridge and downed them before chewing on her fingernails. Being here without Ryker and Marlowe didn’t feel right.
Thank Isvana, Nikhail had contacted Atlas, who confirmed Marlowe had arrived at his house, leash dragging on the ground behind him.
That problem aside, nothing else was going well tonight.
The TV was on, and reporters on the nightly news were talking about the Reunion—or, more specifically, the lack thereof. The live stream had never started, and they speculated that it was because of technical issues.