A massive light hung from the ceiling with what appeared to be candles, but Balladyn was obsessive about his books. He’d never let fire anywhere near them.
There were standing candelabras all around the room. They brightened as Balladyn walked past, alighting the chamber in a warm glow.
Balladyn strode to a large table where books were stacked and others lay open. There was a tablet of paper with his writing on it.
“This is everything I found,” he said. “And I looked through every book I have.”
Rhi took another look around the room and the mind-boggling number of books. It must have taken him days to go through each one while continuing his duties as Taraeth’s right hand.
She came to stand beside him. “Take me through what you found.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Kinsey was never happier to see the sun setting behind the mountains than she was then. Another day passed without any answers. She and Ryder weren’t the only ones frustrated.
Even Thorn and Dmitri were agitated since they were in the room and learned whenever they got close—then found nothing.
Although Ryder never discarded anything. Whatever they found—however inconsequential—he kept, tucked away in case they needed it later.
There were dozens of those kinds of finds. Anything that caught Ryder’s eye was put into a file. Kinsey tried to discern what he was seeing that she wasn’t, but she had yet to figure it out.
Ryder was gifted with all things electrical and even mechanical. She was still awed by the fact he’d built every camera used on Dreagan. They were so small and obscure, hidden so that no one ever saw them, and yet showed the most amazingly detailed pictures on the screens.
Kinsey looked around the computer room. Everything in there Ryder had built. Did any of the other Kings even realize how astonishingly gifted he was? Did they have a clue how fortunate they were that he was able to do all he did?
Ryder kept Dreagan ahead of even the prototypes coming out of big corporations without stealing from or spying on them. This was all in his head.
How the hell had Kinsey not seen this when they were together?
The answer to that was easy—she’d been in love. She’d been too engrossed in her feelings and being with him. She hadn’t looked for secrets or anything.
As if realizing she was staring at him, Ryder shifted his head toward her. “We’ve done enough for the day.”
Which meant he was sending her off while he kept working. Not this time. “I’m fine. I just need a little break.”
“As do I,” Dmitri said. “Dinner is nearly ready.”
Kinsey glanced at Dmitri as both he and Thorn stood and walked from the room. They were leaving as if everyone was gathering together. For the past few nights, she and Ryder had taken their meals in the computer room.
“It’s fine,” Ryder said. “I keep a recording of the cameras and will go back over it later.”
She nodded, listening with half an ear.
“You ready to go down?”
Her eyes jerked to him. Go down? That’s what he’d just asked, right? Surely he didn’t mean that they were going to sit around a table like one big happy family.
Right?
Ryder chuckled as he leaned an elbow on the arm of his chair and scratched his chin. “It’s no’ as bad as it sounds.”
“Which part? I’m assuming everyone will be there.”
“No’ all of us. Some are still patrolling, just no longer from the air. Concessions needed to be made with MI5 here.”
“You have the cameras though.”
He shrugged and motioned to the monitors Dmitri had been staring at. “Cameras and our magic only do so much. Our barrier of magic keeps out nearly all humans as well as causing the Dark considerable pain if they pass through it. Anyone or anything that ventures onto our land through the magic and we’re alerted.”
“I gather you don’t chase after every rabbit?” she asked with a smile.
Ryder laughed as he pushed back his chair and got to his feet. “Our magic lets us know when it’s an animal or not.”
“Are the Dark able to shift into animal form?”
“Thankfully, no,” he said as he held out his hand for her.
Kinsey took it and let him pull her to her feet. They walked slowly around the monitors to the door. “That’s a plus. Now, you said nearly all humans.”
“There are rare instances, like with Grace. She saw right through our magic and entered Arian’s mountain unaware of where she was. Though we have no’ found anything, I suspect she has enough magic from an ancestor that gave her the ability to look past ours.”
“Was she interrogated?” Kinsey asked with a side look.
Ryder’s face lost his smile. “At length.”
Wow. Well, she had asked. Perhaps Kinsey was lucky in getting to search for those responsible for putting her at Dreagan. Or maybe she should really be thanking her stars that she knew Ryder, otherwise she might be questioned like Grace or Esther. Which reminded her …
“Where’s Esther?”