Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Julian walks out, closing the door behind him. “Ian has been working on the problem. According to his sources, Kinsey Palgrave went to the Refugee plane and didn’t come back. He received a message from someone. We managed to find a record of the call. I have excellent government contacts. They’ll tell you they’re all about privacy, but there’s little on this plane that doesn’t get recorded somehow. It’s fuzzy. I can only make out a blonde woman telling him to come pick up a consort. Kinsey left shortly after receiving the call. Am I correct in saying there was a hag stalking the kings?”
Julian’s sources are utterly impeccable. I bite back a surge of bile. I can still see that hag. “You’re right. She’s dead now.” I had a hand in killing her. “And she was blonde. Her name was Liadan. She was sent by Torin to kill the twins. When she couldn’t manage that, she caused trouble.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the hag was responsible,” Julian says. “She would be strong enough to kill a vampire. It doesn’t matter now. I doubt Chalen will listen to anything I say. You need to get your consort and return to the Dellacorp building. Let Roan handle Palgrave while Ian figures out where to stash the kings until I can get them to the Unseelie plane. I’m in contact with King Fergus. He’s offering them asylum.”
“In exchange for what?” I’m not stupid. The last thing I want is to walk my cousins into an ambush.
Julian’s lips turn up. “He’s my uncle, you know. King Fergus married my mother’s sister.”
No. I didn’t know that. The Unseelie are secretive. “Are the twins part vampire?”
Now Julian is full-on smiling, but the fangs he shows off give it a menacing feel. “Worse. They’re half-Unseelie-royal, half-royal-vampire, and all symbiotic twins. Lachlan and Shim are more dangerous than you can imagine. And they’ve matured past an age where they must bond. I could smuggle a mate off the Seelie plane, but they insist on only one.”
“That’s insane. They can bond with any bondmate.” I think about how fast Beck and Ci would have taken a mate if they could have found one. They wouldn’t love her the way they did Meg, but they would have done it.
Julian shakes his head. “They’ve dreamed about this one for years. Don’t you think my uncle has offered up any female who could bond? He’s promised the Planeswalkers a multitude of riches if they bring him a bondmate his sons will accept. But they want the princess in the tower. That’s what they call her. They insist that Beck and Cian Finn hold the key to finding her and bringing them into their true power.”
As Meg brought Beck and Ci into theirs. I don’t want to think about what kind of powers the Unseelie princes will gain from bonding with the perfect mate.
Julian stares at me. “Please trust me when I tell you my uncle will do anything to save his sons. The Seelie kings are in no danger.”
It’s almost too much to take in. I nod at Julian. My mind isn’t made up, but it does no good to argue now. I’ll discuss it with my cousins.
I know Julian is right, but it rankles. I want to wrap my claws around Palgrave’s throat and not stop until the fucker’s head pops off. But Kaja has to be my first concern. I have to get her home to the safety of my family’s building. Once she’s back in the penthouse I’ll set security on her ass. At least six guards. A full unit. Then I can take care of Palgrave and decide what to do about my cousins.
A worried-looking young man strides up to Julian and speaks in hushed tones. He has to go up on his toes to reach his master’s ears. Julian’s face goes stone-cold, his eyes darkening with every word the young man speaks.
“Show me,” Julian says.
The younger man holds up a tablet, and within minutes, Julian is cursing a blue streak.
“What?” If there’s going to be trouble in The Club, I want to get Kaja out as soon as possible.
Roan is on high alert, his every muscle rigid. “What’s going on?”
“Your consort is gone,” Julian says flatly, every word a knife to my gut. He holds out the tablet, showing me a still picture of Kaja sitting at the bar next to a familiar face. “Do you know this woman?”
Amanda. Fuck. I sent her a nice note and a large check, but it looks like she didn’t appreciate being given her walking papers. “She was my mistress until I got married.”
Roan clears his throat. “I think you’ll find she has ties to Chalen Palgrave. I saw a picture of her in his office.”
A fucking spy and now a kidnapper. I never had the best taste in women until I met my Kaja. “Where would he have taken her?”