King Alric blinked. “You can do that?”
“Technically, no.” Sora pulled out his phone and made a call to his mother, putting it on speaker so King Alric could listen in. She answered with a sleepy, worried greeting that he cut off without hesitation. “Kaa-san. Ravi was taken by the Jaeggi.”
His mother swore immediately in Japanese. “SHIMATTA.”
“I’m issuing a call to quarters.”
“Done. Tell King Alric.”
“I’m listening in,” King Alric informed her. “I can get a rescue party together and airborne in thirty minutes.”
His mother was in complete agreement. “We’ll meet in the courtyard. And breathe, my son. We’ll get your mate back.”
“We will,” Sora agreed, as if there were no doubt. There couldn’t be any kernel of doubt. His heart wouldn’t be able to take it. Sora wouldn’t be able to breathe or process any of this until he had Ravi safely in his arms once more. He hung up, then paused, not sure what to do next.
King Alric, fortunately, had no such hesitation. He caught the back of Sora’s arm, urging him into the castle.
“We need a Noh seeking spell, I think. Cameron and Cassie both excel at them. If we have a direction, we’ll be far more effective.” King Alric pulled out his phone and called, his feet eating up the ground as he jogged into the castle. “Liebling? Ravi was taken. We don’t know where. Good, we’ll meet you there.”
“His workroom?” Sora guessed.
“Ja.” Alric eyed him sideways as they moved.
The worry was clear on the man’s face, anger etching into lines around his mouth and eyes. He moved like he was ready to go to battle this very second, and only needed a viable target before unleashing a furious attack. And still, he watched Sora cautiously.
“You’re taking this calmly?”
“No,” Sora said, the word rasping from his throat. “No, I’m anything but calm. Do I seem that way to you?”
“You look like a volcano that hasn’t decided to go off yet.”
“Ah. An apt description.”
Sora wanted to tell him that it was imperative they get Ravi back safely. That it wasn’t only the dragon’s life, but Sora’s sanity at stake. But he felt that King Alric already knew this. From personal experience, having lived through the same with Cameron’s abduction. He bit the words back, focusing instead on what could be done.
They reached Cameron’s workroom, the door wide open. The twins were already hard at work pulling out the right ingredients for a seeking spell, a map of Europe spread out over the stainless-steel table. Ravi’s toothbrush lay on the table nearby, and Sora applauded the quick thinking. Adding saliva to the spell was an easy way to trace a person.
Cameron’s eyes left the map, found Sora’s, and gave him a reassuring nod. “Odds are, they took Ravi as bait. They did the same with me. I don’t think they’ll hurt him.”
That information was a much-needed balm to Sora’s soul. This man, after all, would know. “Thank you. Let’s find him.”
“Yup, you betcha. Cassie, ready?”
“I was born ready.” Rubbing her hands together, she oriented herself closer to the center of the table, squarely in front of the map. “Alright. Let’s try this. Ziik dracon!”
Nothing. The toothbrush didn’t so much as rattle.
Sora’s hands clenched into fists as he stared at the toothbrush, willing it to move. If they didn’t have a direction, how could they possibly go after Ravi? How could they find him?
“The Jaeggi might have put a ward around him,” Cameron muttered, brows drawing together in a dark frown. “Bastards. Okay, let’s see if we can override this. Alric, I need a kiss.”
“With pleasure, Liebling.” Alric stepped around the table and leaned in to kiss Cameron, quick and light.
Sora almost objected. Adding dragon’s breath in with the other elements would put the seeking spell dangerously close to anti-spell territory. But Cameron clearly already knew and understood this. He was willing to take the chance, and he wasn’t alone in that. Everyone in this room was willing.
And frankly, Sora would sacrifice anything in order to have Ravi back.
Cameron enacted the spell this time, voice firm and confident. “Ziik dracon!”
The toothbrush once again did not budge.
“Damn. They really do have a ward over him.”
Sora’s nails bit into his palms as rage and panic threatened to batter down his rational mindset. No. No! If this didn’t work, how would they find Ravi?
King Alric looked between them. “What other option do we have? Is there another way to search for him?”
Multiple people came through the door, one of them Sora’s mother, her voice strong as she demanded, “Do we have a location yet?”
Sora turned to greet her, throat so constricted it was hard to get a word out. “No. The seeking spell isn’t working.”
Her expression, already tense, went murderous. She demanded of Cameron, “A ward?”
“Looks that way. The toothbrush won’t even rattle. Ravi’s completely cut off from us, magically speaking.” Cameron rubbed at his chin, giving his twin an evaluating look. “I’m not sure what else to try.”
“I mean, I can get on the web and see if anyone caught something, but that’s kind of a needle-in-a-haystack approach. Plus, at this early hour, there are very few potential witnesses.”
She was right. Sora had no faith in that idea.
His mother caught his face with both hands, looking him dead in the eyes. Her outrage was only matched by her concern. “Breathe, my son. We’ll find him.”
“I’m breathing,” he assured her quietly.
“I know that look. You’re about to head to Prague and tear the city apart with your bare hands.”
How well she knew him. Sora was ready to do just that. “You say that as if it won’t grant me results.”
King Chalo cleared his throat. “Before we start tearing apart important landmarks, let’s try a different approach. Consort Cameron, you say Ravi is under a ward, that’s why your seeking spell isn’t working. You sure of that?”
“It’s just a guess, but it’s a reasonable one.” Cameron shot Sora an apologetic look before tacking on, “Even if Ravi were dead, the spell would still work. It would behave differently, but it would still take us to his body. The spell is acting now as if the target doesn’t exist at all. It can’t seek what we’re targeting. It’s flat not working. I can’t think of anything but a ward that would interfere with the spell.”
Lisette stepped forward for the first time, clearing her throat to catch their attention. “I agree with this assessment. I had them do the search as it’s a Noh spell. There’s certainly not a better seeking spell.”
Ah, true. A Noh’s seeking spell had always been superior. But that meant they’d already used the very best method, only for it to fail. Sora felt nauseated at that realization.
The Earth Dragon King once again interjected. “But that won’t stop us from searching for him.”
Everyone looked at him blankly.
With some asperity, he asked, “You lot do remember that we have our own methods of speaking to the earth? As long as Ravi’s touching the ground, and we’re within a certain range of him, we’ll be able to detect him.”