“Somehow, she got out before the Veil was warded.”
“You being here,” Heelean starts. “Does that mean it’s fixed? It’s open?”
Ridley nods. “When Sheelin died, the magic sealing it came to an end.”
Heelean sniffles and wipes her eyes. “Where is my Fearghas?”
“I’ll take you to him,” Ridley offers. “It’ll be easier than you trying to find him on your own now that he’s human.”
“You can get back to that world?”
Ridley nods.
Heelean turns to me, her eyes widening. “You can find her.”
Once again, hope flares to life, though I try to focus on the understanding that it is highly unlikely I will find her alive—not with her being forced to battle Conary and the disease alone.
“Find who?” Ridley questions, looking between us.
I hesitate. “My—”
“His mate,” Heelan interjects.
Ridley’s mouth actually falls open now, and if hearing Heelean refer to Ember as my mate hadn’t shocked me too, the horrified look on his face might have been enough to bring me a slice of humor. “I’m sorry,what?I thought she was sealed in the Veil? Did she get out when it was closed on our side?”
“Not Ailis,” Heelean replies. “Ember. She’s a human woman who was trapped here. She was being held by Taranus because he believed wedding her would make him the true king.”
“The prophecy,” Ridley whispers, turning to me, his eyes widening. “You found her.”
“I believe so,” I reply. “But Conary kidnapped her and took her through the portal before it sealed us over here.” Grief, pain—they battle for prominence in my mind. “I need to find her.”
“Then we’ll find her.”
“Taranus began the bonding ceremony with her, but we managed to get her out before he finalized it with the second blood transfer.”
“Fucking-a, brother. That means the bond is killing him.”
“Yes.”
“And her.”
“Yes,” I repeat. “But she’s also plagued with a disease that was killing her before she ended up here. She won’t survive long on that side.”
“Then we’re running out of time. We need to leave.”
I turn to Heelean. “Get me Tommy and Fin. They will need to run things while we’re gone.”
With a curt nod, she leaves the room quickly.
Turning back to Ridley, I study him. On the outside, he looks the same. Tall, dark hair, golden eyes—but it’s what’s in those eyes that has changed. Being mated looks good on him.
“I cannot tell you how grateful I am that you’re alive, brother,” he says.
Reaching out, I clasp a hand on Ridley’s arm. “You as well. I never thought I’d see you again.”
“When Candice told me what he did to you—” Ridley trails off, his eyes brightening in his anger as magic permeates the air around us, proof of his leashed control. Which is going to make what I must tell him next even worse.
“There is something else you need to know.”