When Darkness Ends (Guardians of Eternity #12)(36)

“She created a breach,” she explained, wrenching her thoughts back to the vision that filled the bowl.

“Isn’t that the same as a portal?”

“No.” Fallon shook her head. “A portal is creating a passageway through dimensions that is controlled by a fey’s magic. This is a temporary rip in the space that will collapse within an hour.”

He sent her a wry glance. A silent reminder of his opinion of magic. Then he asked the obvious question.

“So why would she have created a breach and then returned to the caves?”

“If she didn’t intend to travel then she must have let something through.”

He shifted his attention back to the bowl. “Can you search the area?”

“Yes.”

Releasing the magic from its stasis, the images flickered until she and Cyn were seeing the area in real time. Fallon gave a wave of her hand. Slowly she began a thorough sweep of the area. At first there was nothing to see but trees. And rocks. And an abandoned farmhouse.

It was Cyn who abruptly pointed at the cloaked form that was disappearing into a shallow cave that had been hidden by the undergrowth.

“There,” he muttered. “Can you follow him?”

“Aye, aye, sir,” she muttered, locking her magic on the cloaked form.

Without warning she felt his fingers lightly grasp her chin, tugging her face to meet his teasing gaze.

“Do you deliberately taunt me?”

Fallon sent him a chiding frown, only to ruin it when she shivered at the delicious feel of his fingers stroking along the line of her jaw.

“I don’t like being given orders,” she informed him.

The teasing faded from his eyes, his gaze lowering to her lips. “Then why are you even considering returning to your father?”

Her heart missed a beat as she hastily lowered her gaze. She didn’t want anyone to know just how the mere thought of returning home made her heart squeeze with panic.

It was just so . . . disloyal to her family.

“Because I understand my duty,” she forced herself to say.

His humorless laugh echoed through the room. “A martyr to appease your father’s arrogance?”

The fact that he was right only pissed her off. “What does it matter to you?”

He leaned down, filling her vision with the savage beauty of his face. “You know why.”

She did. He wanted her.

And the goddess knew that she wanted him. Desperately.

But sating her lust with a man who made a habit of seducing women was hardly a legitimate reason to betray her family and perhaps ruin her life forever.

Was it?

With a muttered curse, Fallon jerked her gaze back to the bowl. No more distractions.

Thankfully Cyn seemed equally determined to concentrate on the reason they were kneeling on the hard floor, and careful not to touch, they watched in silence as the shadowed form squeezed through a narrow crevice at the back of the cave.

Her brows lifted in surprise as she realized he was entering a tunnel that led to the lair of the Commission.

“What the hell?” Cyn leaned forward. “Why would a cloaked human male be creeping through the tunnels that have been claimed by the Commission?”

She glanced at him in surprise. “How do you know it’s a human male?”

His gaze remained trained on the shadowed form as it weaved its way from one tunnel to the next, occasionally halting and brushing his hand over the wall.

“The way he walks,” Cyn said in absent tones.

“You can barely see how he walks beneath that cloak.”

“I’m a predator. I’ve devoted centuries to studying my prey.” He nodded toward the bowl. “That’s a human male.”

She rolled her eyes. “Arrogant.”

He shrugged aside her insult. “I know what he is, not who he is or why he’s in the tunnels.”

“Maybe I can focus on his face.”

Fallon held her hand over the bowl, a trickle of sweat inching down her spine as she concentrated her magic on the hood that covered his head. It was one thing to set the bowls and leave them locked on a specific place. The pull of power was a steady drain that she could offset with the proper nutrition and rest. It was another to manipulate the scrying. Such a blast of energy couldn’t be compensated for.

The image of the man narrowed to the shadowed opening of his hood, giving a hint of unremarkable features.

“He’s looking for something. Or someone,” Cyn murmured as the stranger turned in a slow circle, his head tilted back. Then without warning, he came to a halt, seeming to peer directly at them through the bowl. A low growl rumbled deep in his throat. “Can he sense you?”

“No, it’s impossible,” she assured him, even as a cold chill inched down her spine.

“Impossible is a dangerous word, princess,” he warned.

“But—”

On the point of explaining the numerous reasons that there was no way the man could detect her scrying, Fallon had the breath knocked from her as Cyn shoved her to the side. At the same time a visible bolt of magic shot out of the water and slammed into the vampire.

With a small cry Fallon watched as Cyn fell backward, his body crashing onto the floor with enough force to tumble a vase off a nearby table.

Ignoring the shattered porcelain, Fallon crawled toward the unconscious vampire, dread clenching her stomach.