“We were trying to help,” she said, a pleading note in her voice. “We didn’t want anything to happen to either of you. When we heard about the first two attacks, and the plans for a third one, we asked to come along. We were hoping to get to both of you and make sure you were out of harm’s way. My son is just the same age as her, and if anything happened to him, I would—”
I leaned forward, suppressing the tension that made me want to leap at her and shake her until she told me everything.
“You abducted my sister!”
Dara winced. “We invited her to visit us, yes. Just like I’m here to invite you.”
I gaped at her. “You think I’d just walk off with you after you took my sister!”
“If you come with me, you can be with her again. And we can help you, Cadence. Our settlement is full of those who share your affinity, like I do. We can teach you how to use it.”
I gaped at her. A whole settlement of people with power abilities? How was that possible? For the briefest moment, I was tempted. But the thought of what Airlie would say if I turned up there with Dara made me stiffen.
“Airlie was tricked, but I’m not walking into your trap with my eyes open. How do I even know my sister is still alive? What have you done with her? Is she safe, at least?”
Dara drew herself up. “Of course she’s safe. We wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.”
I looked her up and down coolly, raising an eyebrow. I didn’t have to say anything to convey my doubt that she possessed such protective capacity. Just my expression was enough to bring some color back to her pallid cheeks.
“She was angry and upset from the dance,” Dara said with a little more spirit. “She came out to get some fresh air and was delighted to see a familiar face and to reconnect with old friends who would listen to her troubles. I think she relished the chance to get away.”
I stiffened, pulling myself up to my full height. I’d never been tall, but I felt substantial beside Dara’s withered frame.
“Don’t you dare,” I said with fire. “Don’t you dare try to say it was my fault she left! Airlie would never abandon me.”
“Your fault?” Dara looked genuinely surprised. “No, of course not. I didn’t mean to suggest…She didn’t like being pushed into activating the prince and princess when she’d only just been activated herself. She was worried, I think, and weighed down with too much responsibility for someone so young.” She shook her head, looking motherly.
I deflated somewhat. Did that mean Airlie hadn’t told them about our fight? Guilt clawed its way up my throat. She might have been too loyal to mention it, but would she have trusted them so quickly and gone with them so readily if she hadn’t been upset at my words? If I hadn’t driven her away, she would have been safe inside the ball.
“You say Airlie is safe with the raiders,” I said, steering myself back onto firmer ground. “But don’t pretend she’s there by choice. My sister would never stay away for so long—and without even sending word.”
A faint click sounded behind me, and I eased my position slightly so that I blocked more of Dara’s view of the door. She seemed far too absorbed in the conversation to even notice our surroundings as she clasped her hands together, closing her eyes and gripping until her fingers whitened. When she opened them, all the remaining animation had left her face.
“Yes, it’s true,” she said quietly. “Airlie is a prisoner of the raiders. They’ve bound her ability with a neutralizer to keep her from escaping. But I swear she hasn’t been harmed.”
“That is extremely fortunate for you,” an icy voice said from behind me, making Dara start violently. Evermund stepped around me to confront the frail woman. “I don’t take kindly to having my apprentice abducted.”
Dara shrank back from him, her eyes widening.
“I…I don’t…”
I stepped forward and placed a restraining hand on Evermund’s arm. I didn’t want him frightening her into insensibility.
“Her name is Dara, and she’s an old friend of my parents.”
“Your parents were part of the raiders?” Sutton asked, pushing around to stand on Evermund’s other side.
Evermund’s arm muscles tensed, and I pulled back, looking toward Dara in shock. I hadn’t even considered that aspect of the situation.
But she was shaking her head vigorously. “No, they had no interest. Quirin and I tried to convince them, but…”
“And now the General is trying to convince Airlie?” Evermund asked in a dangerous tone.
“Of course he is. She’s one of us.”
I looked sideways at Evermund’s face, but he showed no reaction.
Sutton, however, spoke. “Calistan, you mean?” He looked from Dara to me. “Airlie and Cadence are Calistan?”
“No.” Evermund said the word with a note of finality. “They’re Tartoran. May I remind you that Airlie is apprentice to the Tartoran Royal Mage?” He looked sternly at Sutton, something passing between the two men that I couldn’t read.
“You can’t claim them,” Dara said defiantly. “Not when Cadence is—”
“Where have you been all this time?” I asked loudly, cutting her off. I tried to keep my expression calm, despite my racing heart rate. “You said you helped Lawson sneak into the Guild, but that was days ago. Where have you been hiding?”
With the two men present, I couldn’t mention the times I’d felt a hint of her presence, but I wanted to know how she’d slipped away from me on every occasion. And I wanted even more to stop her blurting out any hint of my affinity.
Dara blinked several times, as if struggling to absorb the change of topic.
“Lawson is a plants mage,” she said at last. “He opened the ground so I had access to the underground tunnels. The ones that you hid in during the attack.”
“You’ve been hiding here for days?” Sutton asked in outraged tones.
I tuned him out, considering her words. No wonder I had felt her most often while crossing the courtyard, and no wonder my subsequent searches of the buildings had turned up nothing. I had never even thought of the tunnels, given their entrance had been collapsed during the attack on the night of the ball.
“So you confirm that Airlie was abducted by the raiders and is being held by them against her will,” Evermund said in a hard tone.
Reluctantly Dara nodded.
Evermund turned to Sutton. “You witnessed the confession.”
His eyes traveled to me, and a grin spread across his face, although it carried more danger than humor.
“Now we have proof,” he said. “No one can deny the truth after this.”
A rush of emotions threatened to overwhelm me, piling on top of the confused swirl already muddying my mind. We could conduct a proper search now, with resources and official support. I glanced out the window, but it was already getting dark. Was it too late to leave today?
“We have more than that,” Sutton said, nothing in his satisfied tone indicating the skepticism with which he had previously viewed Airlie’s disappearance. “This woman must know where the raiders are based.”
Dara took an alarmed step backward, looking to me as if she thought I might shield her. I didn’t budge. I wanted to know where they were more than anyone.