A gentle kiss is pressed against my cheek. “Once Zthane brought in a team to extract us from where we were trapped—”
“Are you okay?” I interrupt, searching his face for any kind of trauma from his imprisonment. “Did they hurt you?”
“I’m fine,” he insists, and I can’t help but kiss him in relief. “I’d gotten the details of what went down from Kellan and shared them with the team once we got back to Annar. We knew pretty much where you two were, but since you hadn’t built the portal yet, Rushfire had to do it for you.”
Huh. I can’t even get a hello out of the ancient Faerie, let alone get him to help me with a project. “He did that?”
“He wasn’t really given a choice. So yes, he built it with the help of a Mover, because the nearest portal was a hundred miles away and I wasn’t willing to travel that distance.”
“Tell me you did not threaten Kleeshawnell Rushfire into building that portal.”
“Whether or not I did,” he says, “it’s done now, and was completed in record time. Which was good, because we were already handicapped by time constraints.”
“And the Elders?”
“There was a fight,” he admits. “But we managed to chase them off. Our team was bigger than theirs.”
The image of Earle being tossed like a doll flashes through my mind. “What about my team? Are they here, too?”
His face is guarded. “We can’t find any traces of them.”
I shudder as a slew of awful scenarios flood my mind. Earle, Nividita, and Harou all missing, and on my watch no less. I throw the covers back. “We need to go find them!”
He yanks the sheets back up. “You need to stay right here and rest. There’s a team out there looking as we speak. The Guard is committed to finding them.”
Please, for the love of everything that’s good in all the worlds, let them be found.
Jonah tucks a blanket around me. “It was awful when Kellan wasn’t able to talk to me anymore. I mean, I was able to access his mind, but I couldn’t hear him. I just knew he couldn’t hear me. We’ve never had that problem before, so it was just . . .” He wipes at his face. “There came the point where I knew he was struggling to even remain coherent. It was like his mind became a series of fragments—nothing made sense anymore. What I saw were clearly hallucinations. I couldn’t tell if you were still alive, or even with him. I have never been so terrified in my entire life.”
And he’d been scared, for me and his brother, and I’d gone and kissed Kellan. I can’t help it—guilt crashes over me, fast and hard, a hammer smashing through the calmness Jonah gifted me earlier. But before I can apologize or grovel at his feet or even begin to rationalize my actions, he says, “This isn’t the time to talk about what happened in that cave.”
He knows. Caleb is smart enough not to issue an I told you so. “Jonah—”
“Chloe,” he says, closing his eyes, “I can only deal with so much at one time. Please. I need to make sure that you and my brother are okay first before we have that discussion.”
It’s like someone set off a siren in my body: PANIC. PANIC! PANIC!!!
“I love you,” I whisper, pushing so much adoration in those three words that he won’t have any other choice than to believe it.
His head falls until his forehead rests against the side of my head. “I know. I love you, too.” His next words are clinical, all traces of vulnerability gone. “As for the Elders, they all got away. We had the opportunity on the Gnomish plane to capture two, but abandoned the plan so we could get to you before it was too late.”
Determination fills me up. “We’ll get them.” We have to. I made a promise, and I intend to keep it.
Sometime before dinner, Karl stops by. He’s smiling, but it’s not his normal, easy-going smile, the one that reaches his eyes. “I’m glad to see you awake. You had us all worried, especially with that bullet-proof wall you barricaded yourself behind.” Even his quiet laugh is off. “Took me a long time to break it open. Sort of wounded my ego, you know?”
Jonah positions himself next to me, so he’s slightly in front of Karl. I have to crane my neck around just to see our friend. “Sorry about that.” I grin. “But thanks for coming to get me.”
“I may not be your personal guard anymore,” Karl says, the smile even fainter, “but I will always try my best to make sure you’re okay.”
Jonah grips my hand and gives Karl a long, pointed stare. It’s almost as if he’s daring Karl to do something. Exactly what, I’m not so sure. And then, in a low, tense voice, “Chloe needs her rest.”
I attempt to assure everyone I’m fine, but Jonah cuts me off. He practically seethes, “She’s been through a lot over the last week. A good friend would understand that.”
“You know I do.” Karl sounds oddly resigned.
This is beyond bizarre. “What’s happening right now?”
“Nothing is happening,” Jonah insists, and I swear, his eyes are iced over in anger.