The Steele Wolf (Iron Butterfly #2)(68)

“What? No! We need her to find my sister,” Joss argued.

“Then get rid of her,” Hemi snapped.

“Where can we bring her that she won’t be able to hurt anyone else?”

“I know where.” And I did.

I gave instructions to Hemi and Darren and they re-gagged Mona and walked her out. They were taking her to Fanny’s to place her deep within her underground shield, but first they were going to drug Mona using the same techniques she used on us. She would be drugged and unable to reach any power within the shield, but the shield would also block her from reaching those outside of it.

A few minutes later later I saw the dark thread of power that was linked to Gloria vanish instantly, a sign that they had entered Fanny’s underground workroom. Gloria’s color returned and her breathing became more even. Now all we had to do was wait for the drug to work its way out of her system and the others that were in the main room.

Slowly, one by one, they regained control and every one of the guests affected wanted answers to what had happened. I promised Berry and Avina answers later and I left Joss and Nero to explain what they felt was appropriate to share to tell to the affronted guests.

Blindly, I made my way to my bedroom and crawled into bed and felt my eyes, heavy with fatigue, close as the first rays of morning sunshine entered my room. I was falling deep into sleep when a stray thought floated into my head before disappearing with the morning rays. Kael hadn’t returned.





Chapter 27



“Well, he has to be somewhere,” I yelled, cutting Joss short. It had been hours since I had last seen Kael.

“Thalia, he’ll come back. He’s probably following Talbot, er, uh, the Raven back to his stronghold. He’s a SwordBrother. He will be fine.

“No, he won’t. Joss, he needs me.” Joss’ beautiful face scowled in disagreement. We hadn’t had the chance to talk alone about what had happened between him and Mona or the fact that we could officially drop the charade of our engagement.

“I highly doubt that he needs you,” Joss grumbled.

“No, he does. It’s something they did to him, to us. It’s really complicated. But believe me when I say that if we can’t find him soon, he could die.”

Joss’ head jerked up in surprise. “And when were you going to tell me about this?” he asked accusingly.

“Hopefully never.” It was the truth. We had hoped to find a cure or fix for the bond. “But if you won’t help me find him, then I will go on my own.” I grabbed my pack and set off down the stairs to start my own search party for Kael. Joss grabbed my arm and turned me to look at him.

“Does he mean that much to you that you would go back onto the street where Talbot and Xiven are running free and try to find him? When you could end up captured or even killed?” Joss searched deeply into my hurt blue eyes.

I stared at Joss and raised my chin in defiance, showing him that I wasn’t afraid. “He would do the same for me.” I shook off Joss’ arm and ran down the steps out onto the street. Louder thuds behind me attested to the fact that Joss was following me.

We took to the north tower and checked with the skycage operator to see if anyone matching Kael or Talbot’s description had left any time last night or early morning. He hadn’t. Joss led me at a fast pace as we followed a less worn path and cut through the city using back alleys to the skitesmith.

Skyfell’s skitesmith was very much like Haven’s blacksmith. Since there weren’t any horses or tack on Skyfell, his main line of work was repairing the city’s skycages and skites.

Bartus looked to be in his eighties, with wiry limbs, long scraggly white hair on his head and bottle-lens spectacles covered his eyes, giving him a bug-like appearance.

“Why, Joss. Bless my soul. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” Bartus chuckled while standing to give Joss a warm hug. He was so thin that I thought for sure he would break if a strong wind blew in.

“I’m sad to say this isn’t a pleasure visit, Bartus. We are looking for a friend who went missing late last night.” Joss was about to say more when I cleared my throat and held up two fingers. “Well actually, one young man and an older went missing and I’m wondering if they made it off of Skyfell without using the skycages.”

Bartus stared at Joss as if he were reading his lips and then shook his head in silent understanding. “Well, now, I didn’t hear anything but one of the skites I was to repair for the Quints family went missing sometime last night. The tarp’s stitching needed repair so I feel sorry for the poor fool who took it for a joy ride. Most people are smart and know not to mess with them if they are hanging outside my shop, because those are the ones waiting to be fixed.”

Visions of Kael falling through the misty veils the first time flew through my head and I felt myself go weak. I grasped Joss’s arm to steady me. The first time Kael had been saved by Joss since he controlled the wind to catch him.

“Joss, I think I’m going to be sick,” I whispered and ran outside of Bartus’ skitesmith shop.

A few moments later Joss followed me and came to give me a reassuring hug. “It will be okay. We know that someone left Skyfell with a broken skite. Now we can send out search parties along Skydown and the riverbeds.”

“Joss, if the skite malfunctioned, what are the odds of someone surviving the fall?”