Chapter 40

CHAPTER 40

" I think we should do the bait and switch again," Zaire suggested in the war room. "It didn't work the first time, but maybe Morana wasn't close to either Rael or Arava."

"Not a terrible idea," Zaccai agreed. "The teams are restless."

"We cannot plan one for at least another few days," Amory told them both. "The team in Arava is planning to stay one more day." She let out a long sigh. "There was no sight of Morana during either the bait or the switch, we have no leads, but there is a person missing in Arava who still has not been found."

"A missing person?" Jagen asked. "What?"

It was his first meeting back with the advisors since he'd been taken to the holding cell by Nana Mallick. Nana Mallick was not present today, feeling a touch under the weather, and she had demanded that Reyald stay away. His issues with his brother were part of why we were in this mess to begin with.

When Jagen had asked Esta yesterday if he could come back to these daily meetings, she hadn't hesitated to say yes. He was motivated to find Morana as much as we were.

Amory explained, "We do not know the cause. Could simply be travel."

I already knew all of this. Amory had come to our room the night before to let us know. We hadn't rushed to panic, thinking the person would show up. Yet still they hadn't. And the longer the person stayed missing, the more suspicious it felt.

I figured it was time to voice what I had suspected when she first told us. "Could it have been someone who is not okay with a Wylan prince being bonded to their queen and left the town quickly to avoid our trip? Avoid us? Before it was explained to the Arava people that our trip was merely to smoke Morana out?" The people of Arava were a little disappointed, so eventually we were going to have to plan a visit. A real one.

I felt Esta's anger come chasing down the bond.

"It is an option," I told her gently.

"An awful one," she bit out.

"Was it an Enchanted?" Otis asked. "They could be hunting, or out running. Particularly if they are newly healed."

"No. Human," Esta provided.

Otis shook his head. "But they should turn up eventually, right? Even if they did hide away or leave for a bit, eventually they will return home?"

"We hope so," Amory said. She gave Malachi a nod, and he rolled out the Agria map. "Now. Agria. While Dra Skor is healing at a rapid pace, we need to ensure we have the time to heal fully before threats of war are made. Agria is not going to like being the last country healed."

The whole room went silent at that, many curious eyes darting to Avril as if wondering what exactly she'd seen.

Amory continued, "Esta and I, along with a few sages, have already started drafting the treaty that Prince Keiran will take to Agria. Wylan will hopefully send theirs after Keir's next letter. Prince Keir is wanting to begin healing at least a few Agrian Enchanted as soon as late next week." She paused. "Avril has been gracious enough to tell us this is a way to lessen tensions. We need to plan the safest way to go about doing that."

Avril was quiet during these meetings, but still took everything in.

"I demand Keir take dragons," Esta said curtly. "Multiple dragons. Since he prefers we both do not go."

"Esta," I began.

She let out a sigh. "I know why. If unease is brewing in Agria, sending the queen of Dra Skor over there is not smart. I understand it, but that does not mean I have to like it."

Dammit, I loved this woman. "I would like to do day trips," I explained to the others. "No longer than it takes my men to do their healings. There and back over to Dra Skor in a few hours. I will write a letter to the Agrian spy we freed in a few days. And we will go from there."

"I will go," Zaire said with a nod to me.

"Nyx too," Esta said strongly. "Fire is our best weapon against the shadows, other than Keir's Enchantment, of course."

"They are not fool enough to anger a dragon, I'd think," Whit said with a chuckle.

I was, I said to Esta.

She didn't respond, so I looked up only to find Esta with her attention pinned on Zaire. It did not look complimentary.

"What?" Zaire asked.

"You do not like him. You have questioned his every step since he arrived here, even continuing to do so after he healed me. Stopping only when you needed him to heal you . Now all of a sudden, you'd like to go with him to Agria?"

I wasn't going to point out that I wasn't all that surprised because of Avril's vision. I was also mystified by the push and pull with Zaire. This weird somewhat agreement we had going on, shoving our differences aside .

"I do not have to like him," Zaire tossed out with the same intonation Esta had. "He does what is best for Dra Skor. That I can respect."

Again, it was more about Dra Skor than about me. I wondered if that wasn't the problem with Zaire. He'd always been more in love with Dra Skor than Esta. But I'd still take this over what it used to be. We were never going to be friends like Malachi and I were. Which was fine.

Amory and Malachi started to point out Agria's numerous water sources, as we assumed to heal someone from Agria, they'd have to stand in their cleared water source just like the shifters did. Then again, if the Agrian Enchantment was not linked to the water like the sanctuaries were linked to the shifters, it might not even be necessary. Which I hoped was the case considering half of Agria was a jungled land with numerous streams weaving throughout.

I just needed to get my hands on a few Agrian Enchanted to see what happened if I tried to heal them the same way I did the Dra Skor Enchanted.

"I think we should try to heal them without the water source first," I explained. "If we can manage that, then we could perform healings right over the Agria and Dra Skor border. If that does not work, we know to move to the water sources next."

The streams of Dra Skor had avoided the poison, so was it safe to assume Agria's had also? I wanted to say so, but so much of this poison made absolutely no sense. My father had struck to kill, somehow knowing each country's weaknesses.

Malachi asked me, "How many of your Wylan team will you take?"

Dex standing by the doors stated, "He's taking me."

"I assumed he was, Muscles," Malachi laughed. "But how many more?"

"At least two," I provided. "I should be able to pull half of the team that does the healings to head to Agria for a day, that way we don't totally disrupt the lottery. It might take us a while to figure out how to clear the poison from their bodies, though." I wasn't able to heal Esta in a day. Far from it. And that was what I was afraid of. If I couldn't heal Agria right away, would that only worsen things?

We needed this to work. Far faster than I had gotten it to work in Dra Skor.

Just as Malachi pointed to the nearest water source to the border, Avril slapped her hand down on the table, making a few people jump.

Her eyes slammed closed, a deep crease between her eyes, and though her eyes were now shut, her eyes seemed to be darting back and forth from under her eyelids.

"Is she?—"

"Shh," Esta cut off.

In what had to be just a minute later, Avril's eyes opened, the crease still present between her eyes. She immediately looked to the map and the rest of us. "Is there one of these for Dra Skor?"

While Amory moved to get her one, I tried not to let hope take root. Avril could have seen anything. It could be about Morana. It could have been about our first trip to Agria. I was going to assume it wasn't another inappropriate one about Dex because she looked worried and not excited, but there was too much at play to be sure.

As her eyes scanned over the map, she asked, "Is there an underground tunnel system in Dra Skor?"

"No," Esta answered.

Avril looked up to meet her eyes. "I do not mean to pry, Your Highness."

"You aren't," she answered calmly. "I am not intentionally withholding information from you. We do not have a tunnel system. There isn't a point to have one when our winged shifters can simply fly to wherever we need to go. "

Avril closed her eyes a moment as if thinking. Or seeing.

Otis said, "But there are the cells which are underneath the castle. Could it be that?"

"Give her a moment," Esta snapped.

For another minute, Avril sat, pinching her nose. "It wasn't all that clear. I just saw our traitor in a damp darkness." She mumbled more to herself than to us, "She has a way out. She always has."

Malachi was immediately standing, fists clenched at his sides. "Does this mean she will soon be in the castle underground?"

"I didn't think it was anywhere in the castle, which is why I asked for a map," Avril explained. "But she was on her way out—I think."

"So she could be down there right now?" Malachi asked.

"She is somewhere dark," Avril clarified. "That is all I know."

My eyes went to Esta's, hers to mine. The hallways were interconnected, far more complex than a mere tunnel, but truly what was the difference? I knew from experience how dark those hallways were. I said to Avril, "You haven't seen the darkness of the cells and hallways down there though. They are entirely underground."

Esta gestured to the door and said to Malachi, "Go. Start in the cells." She gestured for Zaire and Whit to join, both of whom immediately shifted out the balcony doors to speak to and call on their teams.

Avril explained, "I only saw her shove something in a dark, damp place. A tunnel of sorts is what I assume because I saw a light at the end. I am so sorry I do not have more. Nor do I know what it means. You can take me to these underground hallways, and I will tell you if that was the location I saw."

I smiled at her tightly. "Maybe when it is safe to do so."

How could one person be so damn nonchalant about rather repetitively asking to be put in danger's way?

"Esta," Jagen said gently .

"I know," she said from where she sat with a hand to her forehead. She gave a defeated sigh and looked to me. "There is an emergency exit not far from the cells out of the castle. I wouldn't call it a tunnel, but it is there. It opens up near the bottom of the cliffs of the gateway. Only a few of us know about it. It's a secret passed down from royal family to royal family. She could know about it." She turned to me. "I suspected that was how she got to the cells the night she tried to go after Jagen. Was the first place I flew to, but the door is stone and rather heavy. Heavy enough she cannot move it in a human form."

"But with Silas's help?" Amory asked.

Esta sighed. "It could be possible, but she doesn't have him now." She looked to Avril. "Thanks to our help from Corsha."

I had to stand and release my wings. The mere thought that Morana could be coming and going from the castle, under our noses this entire time without us knowing it, made my anger burn hot beneath my skin.

Avril asked, "May I go to my room? I'd like to revisualize and wait. In case the vision expands."

"Of course," Esta responded. She turned to Zaccai. "Can your team keep guard over the wing Keir is staying in? Charlotte and Avril specifically."

"We will. Of course, Your Highness," he responded, seeming pleased with the assignment. "None of us will rest until the entire castle has been searched."

I knew how large the damn thing was. It was going to take hours.

Esta looked to Amory. "You are in charge for the afternoon." She turned to Jagen. "You're with me. There is a Mallick family secret we must destroy."

"Should we call the team back from Arava?" Amory asked.

Esta shook her head. "No. We still have a missing person to find."

By the time we fell into bed that night, we were both bone tired from this utter mess of a day. Esta and Jagen spent the afternoon blocking the hidden exit with huge boulders. It had been around the corner of a turret near the gateway, the gateway which had promised death upon my arrival to Dra Skor.

I had stood guard and moved some rocks with my magic to help. We didn't stop until the entire stone door was buried behind a pile of rock. Eventually, the door would be welded shut on the inside, but for now, it was not usable.

"We were so close today," Esta whispered to me, her voice raspy with the weight of her exhaustion.

There was no sign of Morana in the castle or near it. The teams had cleared the whole damn thing and were running constant patrols both from the sky and on foot. For that matter there was no sign of the missing person in Arava either. For all intents and purposes, the day was a bust.

Just a few days ago we had been laughing in Keld, now it was hard to ignore that lingering threat of defeat. The hard days were tucking in close to the good ones and trying their best to taint them. Taint us .

I brushed a kiss to Esta's temple as she rested her head on my chest. This war being waged within Dra Skor would likely not end tomorrow, but one day at a time, we would get there. We would do the next right move and keep doing them until eventually we had Morana in reach. Our enemy was smart enough that we could not depend on her to misstep. Yet we could depend on ourselves, the strength of the Dra Skor shifters, and our grit to keep moving forward. Keep hunting.

I had no answers. Only an irrational hope burning deep within me. Still, before sleep caught up to me, I promised her, "We are close. We have to be."