She trembled in my embrace, but I didn’t let go. Caia was my source of energy, and I needed every ounce of it to prepare for what was to come.
He won’t keep us here forever.
All I need is a good window of opportunity.
Serena
It was well after lunch, on the second day since my sister’s team had deployed for Neraka. According to our conversations via Telluris, there was definitely something strange going on there regarding all the disappearances, but they were still investigating.
Draven and I were in the Druid Archives looking through travel logs from thousands of years back, trying to find any reference to the delegation that had crash landed on Neraka. So far, unfortunately, there was nothing, but we still had about twenty volumes’ worth of logs to go over.
Derek and Sofia had convened another meeting back on Mount Zur to catch up with the rest of the GASP council on the Tenebris team’s progress. Apparently, the incubi insurgents were losing ground fast, and our envoy had already been effective in helping the locals drive the extremists into a corner, so to speak.
Draven was going to be briefed on talking points after the meeting, as he was determined to dig through the Druid archives first. There was something bothering him about Neraka—I could feel it, but neither of us could figure out what it was exactly.
A bell rang outside the hall, announcing the passage of another hour. Draven and I looked at each other. He gave me a brief nod, then closed his eyes. It was time to reach out to our Neraka team again.
“Telluris Harper!” he called out.
Several seconds went by, and I could see his brows furrow, though he tried to keep it from me. I found that cute, especially since our souls were in such perfect sync. I felt everything that he felt, after all.
“Telluris Harper!” he chanted again, and then his forehead smoothed. “Are you okay?”
I could tell, from the look on his face, that he’d made contact.
“What are you doing now?” he asked, then listened for a few seconds. “Is it safe? …Okay, we’ll talk again tonight. Be careful.”
He sighed, then opened his eyes, his gaze settling on my face. I was on the edge of my seat, naturally worried for Harper and the others. Sure, they could handle themselves and whatnot, but I still couldn’t help but be concerned.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, a feeling of uneasiness taking over.
“Nothing.” He shook his head. “She couldn’t say much, but we’ll catch up again tonight. The investigation is going ahead, and they’re exploring the gorges in the Valley of Screams. She couldn’t risk focusing on Telluris while down there, so we’ll get a full report later tonight instead. They’re all okay.”
I nodded slowly, then flipped through another page of the thirteenth log I’d been studying. My gaze wandered across the page, and I bit the inside of my cheek.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” I muttered, unable to let go of that strange sliver of doubt that had nestled in the back of my head.
“No, it’s not that, my love,” Draven replied, then gave me a weak smile. “Whatever you’re feeling, just get it out of your head. It’s a residue of my own concerns, and, until we finish checking these logs, I can’t validate any of my suspicions. There’s just no point in getting worried over a hunch of mine…”
“So you do have suspicions about Neraka.” I raised an eyebrow at him, then resumed reading a short line that had caught my attention a couple of seconds earlier.
“I do, yes, but nothing to warrant concern,” he said, then watched me quietly. “What is it?”
There it was. The listing I’d been looking for. I moved my index finger along the line of text, recognizing the names and dates.
“I found something,” I murmured. “There’s a list of Druid delegations here, from the period that Rewa mentioned. There are eight of them, to be precise. But only six came back.”
Draven got up and moved around the large round table, pulling up a chair to sit next to me. He checked the page as well, then scoffed as he drew an unfortunate conclusion.
“The delegation that went missing included a swamp witch, ten fae from a neighboring galaxy, seven Druids, two Maras, and twenty incubi and succubi. It was a peaceful, exploratory mission headed toward the Yaris constellation,” he said, then pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes for a moment.
“The Yaris constellation?” I asked, my wariness weighing heavier on my shoulders.
“It’s in the direction of Neraka.” He shook his head slowly. “The delegation vanished, communications completely cut off…”
“Rewa said the Exiled Maras bid the Druid delegation goodbye,” I replied, my stomach churning. “Do you think it’s a different delegation?”
“I doubt it,” he sighed, pointing at the noted coordinates on the side. He then pulled out a map of neighboring galaxies, and showed me Neraka’s cluster. “The coordinates from which the vanished delegation last communicated are eerily close to those of Neraka’s galaxy. It’s definitely odd.”
“So, what, do you think the Exiled Maras lied? That the Druid delegation never left Neraka?”
Angst took over, and Draven instinctively took my hand in his, squeezing gently in an attempt to soothe me. He had this incredible way of immediately reacting to my emotions—and it only made me love him more.
“I’m not saying that. Not yet, anyway. I just think it warrants some investigation,” he replied, inching closer, then followed it up with a reassuring smile. “I’ll talk to Jax again tonight, and tell him about this, okay? He’ll know what to do, since he’s there.”
“It seems as though the Exiled Maras were the last to see that delegation,” I muttered. “He’s bound to have some good questions about that, and they’d better come up with good answers…”
I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned into my chair. Draven put his arm around me, pulling me closer and dropping a flurry of short, sweet kisses on the side of my face.
“It’ll be okay, Serena,” he said. “They’re fully grown adults, and they are more than well trained for whatever might come at them. They will reach out if they need us.”
“You still feel… uneasy,” I replied, resting my head in the warm place between his neck and shoulder.
“It’s in my nature, my love.”
While that was true—Draven wasn’t the poster boy of optimism, in general—I couldn’t help but wonder how much of his concern was just a manifestation of his character, and how much was worthy of special attention.
His instincts rarely betrayed him, after all. If he caught a whiff of something, it was because there was something there to begin with.
Either way, we had to wait for the evening to come so he could speak to Jax.
In the meantime, all I could do was keep my head clear and try not to worry about Harper and her team.
Ready for the next part of the Shadians’ story?
Dear Shaddict,
Thank you for reading A Den of Tricks.
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Read more by Bella Forrest
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A Castle of Sand (Book 3)
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A Shade of Doubt (Book 12)
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A Soldier of Shadows (Book 19)
A Hero of Realms (Book 20)
A Vial of Life (Book 21)
A Fork of Paths (Book 22)
A Flight of Souls (Book 23)
A Bridge of Stars (Book 24)
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A Rip of Realms (Book 39)
A Throne of Fire (Book 40)
A Tide of War (Book 41)
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A Shield of Glass (Book 49)
A Clash of Storms (Book 50)
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For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net
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Bella Forrest, A Den of Tricks
(Series: A Shade of Vampire # 54)
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