Fate Forsaken (18 page)

“I know.” He shook his head. “But it’s hard to know who to trust right now.” Understatement of the century.

“I understand. You’re right to question people.” She shook her head. “But I want you to know that you and I are on the same side. You’ve known me a long time. Long enough to know where my true loyalties lie.”

He wanted to believe her, but with all the deception and politics playing out, he feared putting too much faith in anyone. After their last run-in with a fae queen, a kidnapping, and loads of green fire, he’d count on his team alone. They’d already proven their alliance. Everyone else was guilty until proven innocent.

Her brow creased in concern. “I hope you’ll be leaving town very soon?”

“We have one more errand to run. Then we’ll go,” Rho spoke up.

Cadence made her way to the door. “The sooner the better.” She set a hand on the knob before swiveling back around to face the team. “And if a single mover steps one toe out of line in the presence of any of you, I want to be the first to know about it.”

Preshea rose from the table and gave her a firm nod. “You got it.”

Cadence offered a slight bow. “Thank you for the coffee. And remember what I said. Get out of Paris as soon as you can. I can’t guarantee your safety here.”

She turned and disappeared into a ball of blue light, making Eldon wonder if she’d only appeared outside and knocked on the door to be polite. Not that it made much of a difference either way, he supposed.

He gave Rho a slight smile, trying to downplay the nervous energy running through his mind. A breach in the Collective was bad news.
Very
bad news. And whoever the person was, he or she had managed to get close enough to Cadence to track her at her home. Maybe that tracker could give him some clue about what they were up against.

They’d just added one more errand to their to-do list tonight.

Chapter Eighteen

R
ho scanned the perimeter of the large room, her vision bathed in a tinge of blue light. Despite the protection circle that Eldon had cast around them both, she was thankful the Louvre was mostly empty during the weekday mornings. Even if people couldn’t see him working, she didn’t like the idea of having anyone nearby when he spun his magick. Gifts like his were the secrets of the DarqRealm and had to remain hidden. Especially from humans.

“Did you find it yet?” she asked over her shoulder, her back turned to Eldon. He’d been weaving his fingers through the air in complicated patterns and murmuring foreign words for what seemed like forever.

“Still looking,” he answered. “And this isn’t going to go any faster if you keep asking me.”

“Oh, shut up and hurry.” She hid the smile on her face, and her gaze darted from corner to corner, keeping tabs on the three entrances into the room. Still no one in sight. “Did she have to pick the largest painting in the place?”

“The
Coronation of Napoleon
is a great piece. It’s a staple in the Louvre. Easy to find.”

Rho snorted. “Yeah, and really high-traffic. You’d think she could’ve put it somewhere less conspicuous.” A shadow filled a doorway, and she snapped her head toward the opening, relaxing only when an elderly woman tugged on the old man’s arm and pulled him away. “How much longer?”

At over thirty feet wide and nearly twenty feet tall, the painting took up almost the entire wall. She glanced toward the ceiling, marveling at the ability of an artist to ever create a painting that large with any proportion. Art wasn’t her thing, but she could respect it.

“Found it,” he grunted.

“About time.”

“Watch it, woman.”

“Or what?” she teased. This time she couldn’t keep the smile from her face. She glanced over her shoulder to find him staring at her.

He smiled. “Come over here.”

She arched her brows. “Now’s not the time, Eldon.”

“Not that.” He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Your mind…always in the gutter. Come look at this.”

She traced her gaze along the perimeter one more time before she nodded and drifted toward where Eldon was crouched. At the bottom right corner of the painting, tucked behind the edge, was a tiny blue square.

“That’s definitely a tracker,” he said, leaning in for a closer look.

“If you say so.” She kneeled down beside him and wrinkled her nose. “Pretty unremarkable.”

“That’s because you don’t know the magick behind it. The unremarkable things are the ones that can be the most dangerous.”

She shot a glance toward the doorway once again. Still no one. “So how exactly do you plan on evaluating this tracker if you can’t touch it?”

“Good question.” Eldon sat back then crossed his feet beneath him. “Best thing I can think of is taking an impression of it.”

“Like a picture?”

“Basically.” He tilted his body back and shoved his hand into a pocket. A moment later, he pulled out a little gray stone. “Here, hold this.”

“What is it?” Rho extended a hand.

He placed the cool stone in the center of her palm and gave her a sideways grin. “A rock.”

“No shit.”

He pointed to Rho’s open palm. “I’m going to cast an impression into that stone while you hold it.”

Rho glanced down at the rock in her hand and frowned. “Can’t I just put it on the ground while you do this? I need to be watching the doors.”

“First, even if someone comes by, we can’t be seen. I told you, I set a circle.” Eldon shifted forward to sit on his knees and extended a hand toward the tracker. “And second, I need your life source to help capture the spell.”

“But I’m undead.”

He turned his gaze slowly toward her then shook his head. “Not entirely. You’ve got something else in you, too. Since you can wield magick, I’d be willing to bet that whatever is inside of you is enough to help me take an image of this tracker.”

Probably true. She’d only ever thought about herself as being one of the undead. She still hadn’t quite adjusted to the idea that she had mover in her as well. That was going to take some getting used to.

“You sure I can’t get hurt with any residual magick by holding this?” Rho asked.

Eldon’s eyes narrowed. “Do you think I’d allow you to hold it if you could?”

She sighed. “Do your thing, magick man.”

“Don’t worry. I’d never let anything happen to you.” With a smile, he leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. “Agate has excellent absorption properties. It’s the perfect stone for impression casting. I’m just lucky I brought one with me to Paris.” He extended one hand toward the tracker and hovered his other palm over the stone. “Hold as still as you can. I’d like to get the impression right the first time so we can leave.”

Rho snorted. Only a few years ago she’d thought she was nothing but a human. Now she was gripping an agate stone to perform an impression spell in the Louvre, which would help her magick-moving boyfriend figure out who might have taken one of five relics said to contain the magick of their world. Yeah, times had changed just a little bit.

With the stone in the center of her palm, she willed herself completely still while trying to maintain a close watch on the doorways.

A glow emitted from Eldon’s palms, one centered over Rho’s and the other near the edge of the massive painting. He nodded. “From whence this magick once was bound, let this spell now be unwound.” His voice was soft but the words were commanding as the blue fire at his hands grew brighter. “And send it now to bind in stone, let its origin of life be known.”

Blue fire poured from Eldon’s hand hovering over the tracker, traveling through his chest and dumping into the stone in Rho’s hand. The stone began to glimmer, not in the familiar shade of blue but in a bright, fiery red.

In a rush, the blue light evaporated.

Eldon opened his eyes and turned to Rho. He glanced down at the stone. “Strange.”

“What?” She stared at the luminous red stone in her hand, watching as its brilliance began to fade. The stone was slightly warmer to the touch, but as Eldon had promised, she’d been unaffected by the magick.

He bent forward to examine the stone but didn’t touch it. “Not what I expected.”

A nervous knot tightened in the pit of her stomach. Was there a reason he wouldn’t touch it? “Did the spell work? I don’t feel anything.”

“You shouldn’t.” He shook his head and leaned a little closer. “But the spell definitely worked. It’s just not fae magick.”

“Oh?”

He lifted his gaze to meet hers. “A mover was behind this spell.”

“What? How?” With the way Rhyannon had gone after the Kamen the last time, she’d thought that surely one of the fae had been sent to track Cadence. But a mover? That confirmed Cadence’s worst fear. Whoever had placed that tracker was definitely a magick mover and knew enough about the leader to know where to find her and how to trace her movements. This had to be an inside job.

Now they had more than the fae to worry about. Either someone else was after the Kamens or Rhyannon was recruiting. Even worse, that person had managed to follow Cadence to Paris and watch her long enough to know the team was here. Now they were all in danger.

“I could be wrong. Reading impressions isn’t one of my specialties. I’d really like a second opinion.” Eldon blew out a long breath before grimacing. “You know I’m going to hate to ask you this.”

That didn’t sound good. “Then don’t.”

“I have to.” He clenched his jaw, the muscles beneath his cheekbone pulsing. “I need Trinador to look at this.”

“Shit.”

“I know.” Eldon reached out and took the stone from her hand. After he tucked it away in his pocket, he reached across to take both of her hands in his. “I can go by myself if you don’t want to see her again. I know you don’t like me being around her, but we need her help.”

“Why?” And why did the one person Rho felt threatened by always have to be the one person with the skills to help them? Not
again
.

“She can read into this impression.” His eyes were serious as he squeezed her hands.

“Why can’t you do it yourself?”

He shook his head. “I’m not that good.”

“And she is.” Of course she was. Damn mover was great at everything, apparently. And entirely too attractive.

“Yes.”

Rho sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind of negative thoughts. Trinador wasn’t a bad person. Actually, she was a very nice person who had put her own ass on the line for her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend, so she probably deserved an award for her unbelievable patience. And this wasn’t about Rho; this was about the team. They had a mission, and the only light she could see at the end of the tunnel was tracing that tracker back to its originator. Someone was working against them, and possibly with Rhyannon. If they had more than one enemy, they needed to know.

“Fine.” Rho sighed. “I don’t like it, but we don’t have any other choice. Whoever was tracking Cadence obviously knows about the Kamens, and that person must be looking for them. Maybe even looking for us.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

She bit her lip as she considered their options, wishing there was a better way to get what they needed. Trinador had been through enough. The last thing she wanted to do was bother her for help again, but from where she sat, they didn’t have any other choice. “I’ll let you go to her house, but on one condition.”

“Name it.” Eldon nodded.

“I’m going with you.”

An hour later, Eldon strode hand in hand with Rho up the stone path to Trinador’s picturesque cottage. With the Collective leader’s instructions to get out of town ringing in the back of his mind, they’d made quick time of navigating the metro to get back to the outskirts of Paris. Time was ticking, and their research here was nearly complete.

Eldon extended a hand and pushed the doorbell then gave Rho’s hand a gentle squeeze. The protection circle he had surrounding them both was strong, thanks to the supply of energy from the major ley lines near Trinador’s home. No wonder she loved this place. Moments later, the hand-carved front door opened and a familiar face emerged.

“Eldon? I thought you’d left town already.” Nick tilted his head.

Eldon’s brows lifted in surprise. He’d figured Nick would’ve gone home by now, not stayed to babysit Trinador. Had he been here this whole time?

Eldon cleared his throat. “Not quite. I was hoping to have Trinador give us some advice before we left. How is she?”

“Better. Still not a hundred percent.”

“Can we see her?”

Nick glanced back toward the house and sighed. “I doubt she’ll be up to performing any magick just yet, no matter what she says. Her aura isn’t fully healed.”

Eldon shook his head. “We don’t need her to work any spells. I just wanted her input.” He patted his front pocket. “Actually, maybe you could help, too.”

Nick wasn’t great at reading imprints, but he did know quite a bit about magickal history. If Trinador could tell them where the magick originated, maybe Nick could tell them how it got there.

“I can try.” Nick shrugged.

With a quick glance at the periphery, Eldon leaned forward. “Can we come inside?”

“Sure.” Nick scanned of the cottage’s exterior before adding, “But take it easy on her, will you? She still isn’t back up and running again, even if she tells you otherwise.”

Rho cleared her throat. “Thank you for taking care of her. I feel bad for the way we left things.”

“I don’t mind. Trinador’s a sweet girl and a good friend.” Nick nailed Eldon with a hard stare. “She’d do the same for one of us if the roles were reversed.”

The sucker punch of guilt landed squarely in Eldon’s gut, and he grimaced. Nick was right. Trinador had done nothing but help them, despite being thrown into a bad situation. She deserved better.

Stepping aside, Nick pushed the door open to allow Eldon and Rho to enter. The aroma of burning incense hit Eldon’s nostrils, and he rubbed his nose quickly to hold off a sneeze. Clearly Nick had been working a little healing magick today.

A delicate cough stole Eldon’s attention, and he snapped his head toward the source of the noise. Another healthy dose of self-loathing settled like a rock at the pit of his stomach as he took in Trinador’s frail appearance. She was lying on the couch, the peach chiffon of her nightgown and matching robe draped across her tiny frame and spilling over the couch and onto the floor. Her cheeks were pale instead of their usually pleasant pink color, her lips thin and colorless. The pillow was covered in golden ringlets of her shoulder-length hair, and she turned her head to glance toward the doorway.

“Eldon? Rho?” Trinador rubbed her eyes then blinked furiously. “I didn’t know you’d be stopping by again. Nick, why didn’t you tell me we had guests?” She moved to push herself up on the couch, but Nick rushed to her side before she could try to stand.