Amy's Advantage (33 page)

“He loved you, but you two were split from the same hard
rock. And if he were here, he’d be telling you the same thing.”

“With a lot more swearing.”

Kirry swatted at his arm. “At least that’s one habit of his
you didn’t pick up. The point is, I wish for you the same happiness and
completeness I had with my Crisdyn. Once you have that, it fills you up, stays
in your heart.”

The corner of his mouth turned up as he ignored the weight
her words placed on his soul. What she wanted was not a possibility for him,
but he loved her even more for wanting it for him. He bent down and kissed her
cheek. “You’ve missed your calling, you know,” he said, straightening.

She eyed him suspiciously. “What’s that?”

“You should be writing those romance books you like rather
than reading them.”

Chapter Nineteen

Ellen jabbed Amdyn in the ribs. “She’s not going away. Let
her in.”

With a grumbled curse, Amdyn tossed the sheet off and
reached for the pair of jeans he’d tossed over an armchair. “What good is being
a telepath if you won’t use the ability?”

“You’ll have to ask her.” Ellen reached over the side of the
bed and turned on the table lamp. Pushing herself up on her elbows, she watched
as Amdyn yanked his jeans over his sexy ass. There were some perks to being
held captive by this particular Ilyrian royal.

“First, I like your ass too.” Amdyn looked at her over his
shoulder while he fastened his pants. “Second, you are
not
being held
captive by me or anyone else in this house. And when did you put on my
t-shirt?”

Because he knew she refused to sleep in the nude with him to
basically irritate him, she ignored his question. “Get out of my head,” Ellen
replied, but without much heat.

Amdyn opened the door half way. “What, Shy? What the hell is
so important that you had me get out of bed because it couldn’t wait until
morning or you couldn’t simply
think
it to me?”

“I have to keep my mind as guarded as possible. I can’t just
be operating at full telepath capacity constantly. So if that means I have to
actually talk to you when something important comes up, that’s what I’m going
to do.” Though Amdyn’s bulk blocked Ellen from being able to see Shyrana,
stress was fully evident in her tone.

“Okay. I’m up and talking. What?” Amdyn asked.

There was a pause before Shy whispered, “I think Chloe is in
danger.”

“What?” Ellen sat straight up in bed. “How?” Scrambling out
from under the covers, she padded across the cold wood floor to stand beside
Amdyn. They hadn’t seen Shy since she’d left the Big Boys’ Playroom earlier.
She hadn’t returned to finish the movie and Ellen assumed she had gone to bed,
either by herself or with Kayn, since it had been late.

“What do you know?” Ellen asked. “Are you sure? Why Chloe?”

Amdyn wrapped his arm around Ellen’s waist and tugged her
back as he opened the door wider. “Come in.” As soon as his cousin cleared the
door, he shut it behind her with a solid thump. “Explain.”

Shy’s midnight blue eyes clouded. “I can’t explain…exactly.”
She brushed a strand of her dark hair out of her face. “You know that I’ve been
having headaches—”

“And blackouts,” Amdyn interrupted.

Shy winced. “Yes, and blackouts. Well, sometimes I hear
things from whoever is trying to push into my mind. I don’t know if they
realize that at times I hear what’s going on from their end.”

Amdyn leaned threateningly over Shy. “And you’re just now
telling me this?”

Shaking her head, Shy frowned at him. “It’s never been
anything,” she said. “Up until now.”

“As the leader of this mission, it’s my job to decide what
is and isn’t
anything
and you are to let me know
each and every time
you have one of those incidents. Even a small—”

“What do you know?” Ellen asked, cutting off Amdyn’s slide
into his bombastic lecture mode.

Shy drew in a long breath. “I’m not really sure what I know.
It’s more of a transferred feeling I got, though the feeling was definitely
centered on Chloe.”

“Are you sure?” Ellen asked, her head spinning with a sudden
fear. “Sure it was about Chloe?”

“Yes. It wasn’t much, just a definite threat targeted at
Chloe.”

“Why Chloe?” Ellen asked. “I mean she’s just a baby. Why not
me or Amy or any of my other sisters? That doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t know why. I just got the sense that they wanted
her.”

Pushing back against the roiling fear rising within her,
Ellen asked, “Wanted as in to kill her or to take her?”

Shyrana’s eyebrows pulled together. “I don’t know for
certain. But I don’t think it was to kill her. I didn’t really get that sense.”
She sighed and took a step back. “I told you. It was barely anything and it
came and went so quickly.”

“Where were you when this happened?” Amdyn asked.

Looking away, Shy broke eye contact with Amdyn. “In my room,
after I spoke with Kayn this evening.”

“Did you black out or have any other symptoms like before?”

Shy closed her eyes and rolled her head back on her
shoulders. “A headache, but I’m fine. It wasn’t bad this time.”

“Why didn’t you let me know right when it happened?” Amdyn
demanded.

She opened her eyes and squared her shoulders. “It’s never
happened before, okay?” she snapped. “It took me a while to believe it was real
and to figure out what I had sensed in the middle of
¼
everything else going on.”

Amdyn stared hard at Shy. “What else?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. Look, maybe he realized I was
reading his thoughts as well and he pulled out quickly. Maybe he thought he had
more mental guards in place than he did or maybe I’m becoming familiar enough
with his thought patterns that I’m able to turn the probing back on him.”

“He? You keep saying he and him. You’re sure it’s a man?”
Ellen asked.

“Maybe. I don’t know. He, she, it. You’re focusing on the
wrong thing here.”

“No indication of who, when or how it’s going to happen?”
Amdyn’s abrupt question was biting and Ellen glanced up at him.

“I’m telling you all I can,” Shy said, her chin lifting in
her customary defiance. “I know it’s not much since, officially, everyone
connected to our Houses or the Mystics is under threat, but I got such a strong
feeling of a plan in place targeting Chloe I needed you to know.”

“Have you alerted anyone in Ilyria?” Ellen asked.

Shy shook her head again. “I tried, but I couldn’t connect
with anyone, even Lyra.”

At Ellen’s obvious confusion, Amdyn explained. “Lyra is
Rordyc’s youngest sister. She’s also an inter-world telepath and she and Shy
have been friends since they were young. Because the path between their minds
is well established, it takes very little effort and often Shy can reach Lyra
when she can’t get through to anyone else.”

“But lately,” Shy said, “it’s been harder and harder to
connect. It might be interference from the Sleht or just that I’ve been away so
long.” Exhaustion carved deep lines between Shy’s eyes. “I’ll keep trying.”

Some of the tension dropped off Amdyn’s posture. “We’ll try
again in the morning. Right now you need rest. As tired as you are, you won’t
be able to keep up any of your necessary defenses.” He held up a hand to ward
off her objection. “I don’t want you trying to reach Ilyria without someone
with you in case something goes wrong. It’s become too dangerous.”

“I can handle my job.”

“I’m not arguing that. But I won’t have you hurt. If it’s
needed, I will put you under constant observation.”

“You mean under constant guard. Whatever,” she said as Amdyn
stepped toward her. “I’ll get some sleep, but what about Chloe?”

Amdyn ushered her out of the room. “I’ll take care of it.”

Ellen couldn’t hear Shy’s response as Amdyn shut the door
and cut her off. She crossed her arms under her breasts as she watched Amdyn
open a dresser drawer and pull out a clean t-shirt. “So what
are
you
planning on doing?” she asked when he still said nothing as he pulled on socks
and shoes.

“I’m going to go talk to Jordyn and discuss our options.”

Ellen reached for the thick terrycloth robe she’d worn after
her shower earlier. “I’m coming with you.”

Amdyn stood, hands on his hips, staring at her for a long
moment as she slipped her arms into the sleeves of the robe and tied the belt.
The argument was in his expression, but he didn’t voice it.

“She’s my niece,” Ellen stated, jamming her hands into the
pockets sewn onto the front of the robe.

Amdyn’s frown deepened, creased with worry. “I know.” He
pulled her into his embrace, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin
on the top of her head. “But you need to know that it goes against everything
inside of me to allow you anywhere near a threat, even a discussion of one.”

“I’m stronger than you give me credit for,” she mumbled
against his chest.

“I have a deep respect for your strength and courage but
that respect doesn’t mitigate the need I have to protect you.”

Ellen tilted her head back to look up at him. “Thanks. I
think.”

“One thing though,” he said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Yes?”

“You aren’t going anywhere in just that robe and my
t-shirt.”

* * * * *

“If she’s not here, then where is she?” Jordyn demanded.

“I don’t know, sir. They left before we came on duty an hour
ago.”

Ignoring the urge to shake information out of the guard who
had stepped forward to speak, Jordyn asked, “They? They who?”

The guard glanced quickly at the other soldiers policing the
main entrance to Connyn and Aurora’s quarters in the central palace. “We were
told that the child and her mother had left for the afternoon. They most likely
will be returning soon.”

“Is anyone else from the Royal Family with them?”

The soldier shook his head. “No sir. The Heir is in the
Third House Territories until tomorrow and his mate is in residence. The Queen
and King are also in residence.”

Jordyn held his impatience that though the guard had rattled
off a lot of information, none of it was helpful. “Did they leave with anyone?”

“I don’t believe so, sir. I mean, other than their personal
guards, who would have stayed with them regardless.”

A soldier at the end of the line cleared his throat quietly.
Jordyn snapped his head around to stare at the man. “Do you have something to
add?” he asked.

The soldier stepped forward and dipped his head once
respectfully, as was the custom when addressing a senior officer, before
returning to the rigid stance of Reporting. “Yes sir. I believe I passed them
on my way to my post earlier. I’ve never actually seen either the mother or
child, but I recognized one of the soldiers who is assigned to that detail.
He’s a friend of mine.”

When he paused, as doubt flickered in his eyes, Jordyn
nodded for the young man to continue.

“I believe they were headed to one of the city’s parks.”

There were four major city parks and numerous small and
private ones as well. “Do you know which one?”

“I can’t say for sure, but the child asked about fish in the
park and then started singing some kind of a nonsense song about trees, sir.
They were headed due west when I passed them.”

Twin shards of relief and alarm speared through Jordyn. He
stepped back and scanned the soldiers assembled in front of him, finding the
one with the City Guard insignia on his uniform. “You,” he said, “notify your
superiors in the City Guard and have them close all exits of Syn Vystral Park.
No one is to leave until Amy and Chloe are found. Have all other parks put on
alert in case they switched directions.”

The first soldier, the commanding officer of this unit, took
a quick step forward. “Sir, the Syn Vystral Park has been closed recently for
security upgrades and renovations. No one but city workers are permitted inside
the public areas.”

With the slightest narrowing of his eyes, Jordyn stopped the
soldier just short of questioning his command, saving the man a reprimand and
himself paperwork. “Which will make it easier to search. Correct, CO?”

The soldier snapped his posture back into stringent
attention. “Yes sir.”

“The rest of you, return to your posts. Discuss this with no
one.”

After a chorus of
yes sir
, Jordyn turned to Cirryc,
but before he said anything, the young soldier on the end said, “Excuse me.
Sir?”

Jordyn turned back to him. “Yes?”

The man held himself rigid, though his dark eyes darted sideways
to glance nervously at his CO. “I noticed something else.” He paused, took a
deep breath and then said, “It wasn’t just their guards who accompanied them.
They were with an Elder.”

“An Elder?” Cirryc, who had been silent up to this point,
blurted out the question with a sharp edge of disbelief.

The words mirrored Jordyn’s own skepticism. Though the
Royals associated with the members on the Council of Prophets and Elders at all
political events and even sometimes at public functions and festivities, they
rarely visited on a personal level and he’d never heard of an Elder making a
house call simply to socialize. Though he doubted the young soldier as well, he
kept his voice level and calm, balancing out Cirryc’s abrasive retort when he
asked if he were sure of what he saw.

The soldier’s eyes darted warily toward Cirryc and then back
to Jordyn before he answered. “No, I’m not. Not completely. The person was
wearing a dark hooded cloak, but the shape seemed to be that of a woman. But I
didn’t see her face.”

“What made you think it was an Elder?” Jordyn asked.

“When she reached for the child, she was wearing a ring with
the Elders’ insignia on it.” The soldier’s shoulders set back slightly as he
took a deep breath and held Jordyn’s gaze steady. “That I am sure of, sir. I
saw the ring clearly and have been assigned to the Hall of Council many times.
I know what the rings of the Elders and Prophets look like.”

Since the ring was the only signation the Elders or Prophets
wore outside of Council, it was unlawful for anyone else to wear any type of
jewelry with similar markings. The symbols were as unique and recognizable as
the Matching Ritual rings typically worn by Royals once they’d found and
claimed their mates.

The fear that had clawed up his spine to dig in at the base
of his skull the night Amdyn had come to him with Shy’s concerns bore in
deeper. It had taken three days for another portal to Ilyria to open, and what
was even more distressing than the wait was that Shy had been continually
unable to telepathically link to anyone from their homeworld.