With the threat from dark magic turned real, I temporarily put field training on hold in order to send out all the soldiers to Mandalay and around the castle so they could keep their ears to the ground for any news they could discover.

Not twenty-four hours later, we caught a lead, and I requested an immediate audience with the king.

“You asked to see me?” Caulder said as soon as I was admitted into the Throne Room. “How’re you doing, by the way? Any permanent injuries from the explosion?”

“I’m well, Your Majesty.” I lifted my arms and rotated in a circle to show myself off. “All wounds have healed completely and without consequence.” I glanced Soren’s way since it was his wife’s fault I was doing so well.

The dick narrowed his eyes but refrained from speaking.

“That’s good to hear.” Caulder nodded. “What would you like to discuss then? I hope it’s an update on the search for dark magic.”

I glanced around before answering. The king had beefed up on security substantially. Soren, along with nearly three dozen servants, guards, pages, and dignitaries loitered about, keeping him safe. Most were soldiers, men I had personally trained and grown close to. But that didn’t mean I necessarily wanted them knowing such sensitive information, so I turned back to Caulder.

“Do you think we could have a bit more privacy for this conversation?”

“Of course.” Caulder waved the back of his hand toward his short-banged dignitary who commenced to clear the room until only Soren and six security guards stationed against the walls remained.

When the king focused on me, I drew in a breath and announced, “Yes, we have a lead on the dark magic investigation.”

“Really? You…” Caulder started to lurch to his feet but then must’ve realized a king should probably remain seated at such times, so he sank back into his chair and cleared his throat to mask his enthusiasm. In a moderated tone, he said, “Thank God. Let’s hear your news.”

“We came across information that a registered woman of magic from Lowden who’s currently residing in Mandalay is set to meet secretly with someone from inside the castle today.”

Caulder wrinkled his brow. “How did you learn of this?”

“I’ve been having all correspondence to and from the registered people of magic tracked and intercepted. And this… This note definitely came from somewhere inside the castle, but the source was untraceable and the contents of the message sketchy, which sent up immediate flags.”

Irritation tightened Caulder’s jaw. “And why couldn’t you trace the source?”

“The message was sent by pigeon, Your Majesty. One of my men was able to catch the bird and read the note before the recipient received it. After reading the message, he went ahead and allowed the pigeon to finish its delivery. Then he was able to follow it back to the castle. But as you know, anyone inside the iron walls could’ve been up to the coop and sent the message, plus there was no return reply from the Lowden woman of magic, which made it even more impossible to trace.”

“Dammit,” Caulder muttered, banging his fist against the arm of his chair. “From now on, I want a guard posted at the pigeon coop at all times, recording everyone who sends and receives messages.”

As I nodded my understanding and agreement, Soren asked, “I want to know why the hell you went ahead and allowed the message to reach its recipient? My God, it’s as if you want the dark magic to defeat us.”

I rolled my eyes. “Since we couldn’t track the magic woman’s castle contact, we thought it best to know exactly where this contact was going to be and when, which is what the message told us when we intercepted it.”

“Brilliant,” Caulder said, catching on, his eyes sparkling with eagerness. “Set a trap to catch the bastard when he goes to meet the Lowden woman. That’s perfect.”

I nodded my thanks. “We don’t have much time, though. I’d like to position a team into place outside the Lowden woman’s cottage as soon as possible. I’ll need at least a dozen. Capturing anyone containing dark magic may prove difficult, depending on just how powerful he is, and he must be to have hidden his abilities from us.”

“A team is granted, of course,” Caulder said, splaying out his hand. “I want this issue tied up and fixed as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” I started, only for Soren to butt in.

“I want in on this team, too.”

I opened my mouth to protest. He’d only get in the way. But Caulder fluttered out his hand again. “So be it.”

I scowled. I didn’t want to have to work with the dick. But it appeared I would be, because I didn’t have the time to protest. The meeting would be upon us before we knew it.

“Well, come on,” I muttered, waving Soren forward. “We have a traitor to catch.”

Soren scurried to follow as I marched from the Throne Room.

Three hours later, he, twelve other guards, and I—dressed as common folk—loitered inconspicuously outside the home of the Lowden woman of magic who planned to meet her secret source from the castle anytime now. Around us, other villagers filled the area, unaware of our status, while Soren remained plastered to my side, micromanaging every move I made as I pretended to dig a rock out of the hoof of the horse I’d brought with me.

I swear, if he nit-picked one more thing I did, I’d backhand the asshole.

“How much more time?” he grumbled, glancing around as he shifted impatiently from one foot to the other. “And why don’t you have that damn rock out of its hoof yet?”

I ground my teeth together, declined to tell him there was no fucking rock, and kept my gaze on the entrance of the cottage door. “I just told you twenty seconds ago… Anytime now.”

“Well, then where the hell is he? Why isn’t anyone—”

“Shh,” I hissed, slapping him quiet when a cloaked figure strode cautiously along the path through villagers, winding his way toward the Lowden woman’s cottage. Though many people were milling about, this one stood out. “I think that may be him.”

But no sooner than I spoke the words than my mark started to buzz with awareness.

What the hell? Why was Vienne suddenly so close? I glanced around for her, forgetting about the cloaked figure and wondering how she’d gotten within range before I’d noticed her—probably because of Soren’s moaning and complaining in my ear, distracting me the entire time.

But I couldn’t spot her anywhere.

Damn, this couldn’t be good. I didn’t want her here when we captured the bearer of dark magic. It would no doubt turn dangerous. She could get hurt.

But where the fuck was she?

Closing my eyes momentarily, I tracked her until I could pinpoint a better location. But when I opened my lashes, all I saw was the slightly stooped shoulders of the hooded figure who was still stealthily making his way toward the—

“Son of a bitch!” I hissed in realization as I gaped, unable to believe my eyes.

She’d disguised herself well. I never would’ve known it was her—or even a woman—under that cloak from the way she carried herself.

“What?” Soren demanded next to me. “What’s wrong? Why aren’t we apprehending him already?”

I shook my head, thinking fast, my brain spinning and then sputtering short. “I just want to make sure it’s him first,” I muttered, needing to save her from the clutches of the men around me who were determined to catch the bearer of dark magic.

“Of course it’s him!” Soren blustered. “He’s headed straight for the cottage, and there! He just looked right at the door. That’s definitely our man. Are we waiting until he goes inside first, so we’ll have him surrounded? That’s actually a good idea. Trap him in a small space.”

Fuck, no. I didn’t want her surrounded and trapped so it’d be impossible for her to escape. The safest bet for her to get away was now, out here in the open.

Moving quickly, I leaped from my spot near a bakery where I’d been fiddling with the horse.

“Halt!” I yelled, unsheathing my sword and holding it up in the air, pointed in her direction. “In the name of the king, we apprehend you for questioning.”

Women screamed, villagers scattered, and chaos reigned. Loaves of bread and other baked goods went flying.

“What the hell?” Soren muttered from behind me as he scrambled to unsheathe his own sword but fumbled in his haste as pastries beaned him in the head. All the other men waiting nearby were similarly surprised by my unexpected move. No one could immediately jump in to catch her, giving Vienne just enough time to escape, which she took, immediately springing away and darting through scrambling people before she disappeared between two cottages.

“You, you, and you four,” I ordered, pointing my sword at the quickest, most agile men on my team along with Soren. “Apprehend the Lowden woman and keep her detained for questioning. The rest of you, help me catch that cloak.”

Nodding, everyone took off to fulfill their assigned duties without question, and I dove headlong after Vienne, following the pull from my mark. When I realized a couple of my men were following me, I pointed them off in different directions than I was going, saying we needed to split up, until soon, I was the only one on her trail.

She was slick, I’ll give her that. I barely kept a portion of her cloak in sight, and if I hadn’t had my mark telling me where to go, I would’ve lost her long ago between all the mayhem, people, and buildings. She took a zigzagging path which impressed me. I would’ve been proud of her ability to escape if I weren’t so damned confused about what she was doing out here in the first place, meeting with people of magic in secret like this.

When she entered the woods to the west of the castle, I frowned, wondering where the hell she was going. The drawbridge to let her back inside was clear on the other side of—what the hell?

I’d stayed far enough back to ensure that she didn’t know she was being followed, but I’d still been able to keep the barest of visuals. Once she passed between two trees and around a thick shrub into a small clearing, however, she disappeared completely.

I frowned once I reached the glade, stopping to turn in a circle. She’d been here. Right. Here. With this break in the trees, I should’ve been able to see whichever direction she’d gone from here.

Closing my eyes, I focused, feeling for her. She was still close, to my…left. I turned that way, hurrying forward as a slight scraping sound filled my ears. But when I reached the shrubbery where the sound had originated… Nothing. She was gone. She’d been here. I swear, she—

Wait. I could feel her moving again, but now she was…

No, that wasn’t possible. It felt as if she were under the earth. I pursued the sensation, staring at the ground, until I reached the moat. Squinting at the water, I saw nothing in the liquid depths, but I felt her under there until…holy shit, her presence seemed to reach the castle and then was lost to me as she moved out of range.

“What the actual fuck,” I murmured in awe. There must be a secret passage into the Iron Castle from somewhere out here in the forest.

Incredible.

I turned around and stalked back to the city to meet up with my men again.

“You!” Soren charged as soon as he saw me approaching. “What the hell was that shoddy kind of fuckery? If he got away, it was all your fault for springing out like that, catching us all unaware without any notice. And he did, didn’t he? The dark magic bastard got away?”

“I don’t know,” I lied, wiping sweat off my face so I wouldn’t have to keep eye contact while I spoke. Then I turned to the others. “The trail I was following went cold. What about you men? Did you find him?”

When everyone else shook their heads miserably, I hissed out a curse to make it look as if I were pissed.

“Where’s the Lowden woman of magic?” I asked. “I want to question her myself.” And preferably alone. If she ratted Vienne out, I didn’t want anyone else to hear it.

“Gone,” Soren growled. “She wasn’t in the cottage when we stormed it.”

“Shit,” I said, when honestly I heaved out a sigh of relief.

Vienne was safe. And her identity would remain concealed. Thank God.

“This is all your fault,” Soren went on. “You shouldn’t have led this mission. You ruined everything. Now the bastard is onto us and aware how close we got to him. You lost us the only advantage we had.”

Ignoring him, I turned to the others. “Keep looking for clues. I’m going back to the castle to report to the king.”

“And I’m going with you to report to the fucking king.” Soren strode after me, dogging my heels. “I’m telling him exactly what happened and how this disaster was your fault. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if you wanted the magic bastard to get away today because of how horribly you just handled everything.”

Growling, I spun to face him. “And why the hell would I do that? This entire fucking mission was my idea and plan in the first place.”

“Probably to throw us off track and distract us with this fiasco of a wild goose chase you just sent us on.”

“Okay,” I said, listening to him because his argument actually had some validity. If I were protecting the dark magic, this would be a good way to divert attention. “But to what extent?” I asked. “What the hell am I supposed to be distracting you from?”

Other than my one true love who’d snuck from the castle through a secret tunnel in a clever disguise to meet with a sketchy magical individual from fucking Lowden.

Dammit. What had she been thinking? What the hell had she been doing?

I adamantly refused to believe she had any dark magic in her, but…fuck. What if she did? Would I still protect her then?

A part of me screamed, yes. I’d follow her to hell and back. She was my one true love. She was Vienne. But…this…none of this boded well with me.

I needed answers.

When Soren scowled and mumbled, “I don’t know yet,” I snorted and spun away to continue my voyage back to the castle, ignoring his ranting while he blamed everything to ever go wrong in all the realms on me.