The War of Two Queens (Blood and Ash 4)

“We know,” the wolven repeated. “We’ve talked about capturing a high-ranking Ascended, and even Handmaidens, and getting them to talk. One of them would have to know where Cas is being held.”

We’d also talked about the fact that the Handmaidens rarely strayed far from the Blood Queen. And we also discussed that we’d have to find a high-ranking Ascended who was completely on board with everything the Blood Queen did, which also meant they’d probably be more afraid of disobeying their Queen than the threat of death.

We had ideas regarding what to do, but nothing we came up with was a magical fix for how to find him in a city of millions—

Magical.

I launched to my feet, startling both Valyn and Kieran. “Magic.”

“Magic?” Valyn repeated, brows lifting.

“Primal magic.” I spun toward Hisa. “Do you know where Sven is?”

“I believe he’s visiting with his son in one of the chambers down the hall.”

“What are you thinking?” Kieran set his drink aside.

“Perry said his father knows a lot about Primal magic, remember?” I said, relieved when understanding flickered across his features. “And that almost anything is possible with it. Why wouldn’t there be some sort of magic that could help us locate Casteel?”

As Sven sat in the chair across from his son, I wanted to smack myself. How had I not thought of Primal magic until now?

“I remember reading about old spells used to locate missing items,” Sven said after I’d burst into the chamber and asked if he knew of a spell that could be used to locate a person. He rubbed at the beard on his chin. “Let me think about this for a moment. Missing items like a cherished ring are vastly different than a person. But I just need to think for a bit. I’ve read a lot of books. A lot of journals. And those old spells were scattered throughout them.”

“Yes.” I nodded, pacing once more. But this time, I was doing it between Kieran and Valyn, who’d followed me to the chamber that Hisa had led us to. “Think for as long as you need.”

Sven nodded as he continued fiddling with the growth on his chin. Seconds turned into minutes as the Atlantian Lord murmured under his breath, eyes squinted. I had no idea what he was saying.

His son rose, going to a serving table and a bottle of amber liquid. Pouring a glass, he moved as if he hadn’t taken an arrow to the shoulder the day before. He brought it to where his father sat. “Here. This usually helps.”

Sven grinned as he took the short, crystal glass. He glanced at me, noticing that I’d stopped pacing. “Whiskey warms the stomach and the brain,” he said, taking a deep drink that caused his lips to pull back over his fangs. “Yeah, that’s definitely going to do some warming.”

Perry chuckled as he dropped back into the chair next to Delano.

I wasn’t sure if warming the brain was a good idea. I started to pace again, but Kieran dropped his hand on my shoulder, stopping me. Shooting him an arch look, I folded an arm across my waist and began rocking back on the heels of my boots.

“See, I keep thinking of the location spell,” Sven spoke, and I stopped rocking. “I remember it because I almost used it once to find some old cufflinks I misplaced. I didn’t, though.” He glanced up. “Primal magic is forbidden. It can change the threads of fate for a person. Not all Primal magic does, but some can, and you don’t want to mess with the Arae—not even for a pair of cufflinks. Never did find them.”

I had no problem potentially messing with the Fates—if they actually existed. The Unseen and the Blood Queen had used Primal magic and hadn’t seemed to incur their wrath.

“What about that spell, Father?” Perry asked with a wink in my direction. “Why do you keep thinking about it? Can’t just be the cufflinks.”

“It’s not.” One side of his mouth curled up. “It’s the language of the spell. It’s old Atlantian, and that means the language of the gods. But it was written something like…” His fingers stilled. “To find what was once cherished—to locate what is needed.” His gaze lifted to his son. “It doesn’t specify that it only refers to an object.”

“A set of cufflinks and a person could both be cherished and needed,” Perry agreed, and I willed myself to stay quiet. There seemed to be a process to Sven recalling these things, and his son knew it well. “Do you remember what that spell called for?”

Sven didn’t answer for a long moment. “Yeah, it was a fairly simple one. Only a few items needed. A piece of parchment to write upon. The blood the item belonged to—or in our case, the person—and another cherished item belonging to the same person.”