“Tala is my great-grandniece and will do as I ask, as she—like most of my family—is aware of both what has happened to Penny and of the dangers we now face.”
“Ah. Good.” I glanced down at Raela. I hated the thought of parting with her, but at least it was only temporary and for the best. “Promise me, Jonas, that if I die, you’ll find her a good home. Someone who will love rather than study her.”
“I promise.” He reached out and caught my hand again. “But nothing will. You and I made an agreement, remember, and I will not let you out of it so easily.”
I grinned, as he’d no doubt intended. “Nor I you.” I once again disentangled my fingers from his. Until the situation was settled with Dream, I could not allow myself to linger on the promise in his touch. The man’s presence was distraction enough. “Was the geo-locator still in my pocket when you found me?”
He nodded as he moved around to the other side of the bed and sat down. “Central has sent a squad of rangers out to investigate the sand base, but Nuri has ordered no action be taken against whatever stands at the Longborne coordinates as yet.”
My eyebrows rose. “Why? I would have thought it best to mount an attack ASAP, otherwise we’re merely giving Dream time to mobilize her defenses.”
“Yes, but she’d rather that than sending people in without knowledge of what they might be facing.”
Confusion stirred. “Why would it be Nuri’s decision rather than the House of Lords councilors?”
“They cannot decide on what she does not tell them,” he said. “Remember, Dream is inhabiting the life of someone either in the government or on that council.”
I frowned again. “Yes, but she’s obviously given them the sand base’s coordinates if the council has ordered a
ranger squadron in to investigate.”
“Because Dream would be well aware of that attack by now, so there is no harm in passing on such information. We both rather suspect that anything relating to Dream’s plans or her experiments at that place would well and truly have disappeared by now.”
“Only if those who didn’t get out survived the mess I made of it.” I hesitated. “That RTX is rather deadly when you use a few of them in close proximity.”
“I did warn you they were powerful,” he said, amused.
“Yes, but I hadn’t expected them to be strong enough to practically destroy a base.”
“I take it, then, that it was bad enough for an evacuation order to be given?”
“Yes, and if Dream follows the procedure of every other military base I’ve been in, then the rangers definitely won’t find anything of note.”
“We still have to investigate.” He hesitated. “Nuri wants the two of us to check out the Longborne base.”
“I figured that the minute you said she hadn’t given the coords to anyone.” My tone was dry. “I am surprised, however, that she’s risking your presence on such a mission.”
His expression hardened. “She had no other choice, given it might be a case of third time unlucky when it comes to you going into a base alone.”
There was an undercurrent in his voice that had the ridiculously attracted part of me tripping along quite happily. “Meaning she had no choice because you gave her none?”
“Indeed. A good general does not take unnecessary risks with the people under his or her command unless there is no other option,” he said. “And that is not the case here.”
It hadn’t been the case before, either, so what had changed? I doubted it was the tremulous threads of attraction, if only because he—like me—was determined to save this place and his people from Dream’s mad machinations no matter what the personal cost.
Perhaps it was simply a matter of him still believing Nuri’s earlier decree that if I didn’t rescue the missing children, no one would. And those missing children were now intricately entwined in the greater mission to stop the vampires and the wraiths from gaining sunlight immunity.
“In that case, why is she only sending the two of us?”
A smile twisted his lips. “Because I can put my foot down, but only so far.”
“Which surprises me given she gave way to your desire to keep Penny near despite her own—decidedly fierce—reservations.”
“Reservations that ultimately proved correct.” His expression was a mix of regret and anger—the latter aimed at himself more than anyone else. “If she is not in Longborne, I will hold you to your promise to investigate the rift into which she was taken.”
“I know.” And I couldn’t help but hope that we’d find her at Longborne. I had a bad, bad feeling that going into that rift would be nothing short of stepping into a trap. “Has Nuri been able to uncover anything about Longborne itself?”
He shook his head. “She hasn’t dared ask. Dream would be alert for any search or question regarding that place.”