“No, you gave Lakewood a reprieve until tomorrow. I want to get as far as we can on the way to Jubaldar before dark and be ready to explore those mountains surrounding it by tomorrow morning. Gilroy should definitely be there in the castle by that time, and I want him to have whatever support we can give him.” She glanced at him over her shoulder. “I’ll leave you to think about what an ass Lakewood is turning out to be and what we can do about it to keep Sasha alive, while I go tell Margaret it’s time we got busy. Screw these maps. By tomorrow afternoon I want to be looking at Jubaldar. I want to see where that bastard is keeping her.”

*  *  *

They didn’t make it to Jubaldar by afternoon the next day. By the time they did the initial exploration and discovered a place high in the cliffs above the castle that both Margaret and Korgan considered a safe observation site, the sun was going down.

“Satisfied?” Korgan asked Alisa curtly as he caught up with her at a stand of tall boulders overlooking the canyons below. “Too bad if you’re not. We should have forced you to stop two hours ago to rest. This is where we set up camp.”

“No, I’m not satisfied. It’s not close enough. I can barely see the castle. We should get farther down. From here I can’t see the stables, and I know that’s where she’d be.”

“If you could see the stables, you’d be right on top of the castle. You might be able to see them, but they’d also see us. From here we can see all activity around the exterior. See arrivals and departures. Be available to receive signals if Gilroy needs to send any. We have a cave and a stream a mile away, and these boulders block any vision from below. It’s as good as we’re going to get.”

“It’s not close enough.” She couldn’t take her gaze from the castle. “We could keep searching and we might—”

“No.” His voice was no longer curt but gentle. “This is what we need. You’ll be safe here. I know that it must seem like a mirage to you that you could be this close and not reach out and touch Sasha. But the closer you get, the greater will be the temptation. And you’re not thinking straight. You know we have to take it slow.”

“Do we?” Her gaze was still focused on that mesmerizing streak of sunlight illuminating the tall windows of the castle. It seemed to be calling her. “You saw how good I am with locks and security systems. I’d have no problem getting in that damn place. All I need is a plan to get her out.”