I couldn’t finish, but the sadness in Lissa’s jade-green eyes told me she knew. Thanks to a law she was trying to change, Lissa’s throne required her to have one living relative. Anyone wanting to remove Lissa would have simply had to kill Jill and show proof. The fact that it hadn’t happened yet was a blessing but also deepened the mystery around this. Why else would someone have taken Jill?

“Go home, Adrian,” said Lissa gently. “We’ll talk more later—in private—if you want. Maybe we’ll come up with some other options.”

“Maybe,” I agreed. But I didn’t really believe it.

I left Lissa to her admirers and slipped back out through the gawking crowd, as a dark and all-too-familiar mood began to settle on me. Going to Lissa had been an impulse, one that had given me momentary hope. When Sydney and I had sought sanctuary, we’d had no idea what was about to happen to Jill. It was true that Lissa had good people looking for Jill—and even the reluctant help of Sydney’s old organization, the Alchemists. Still, I couldn’t shake the guilt-ridden feeling that if Sydney and I were out there, instead of hiding away, we’d find Jill. There was something going on that we didn’t understand yet. Otherwise, Jill’s abductors would have—

“Well, well, well. Look who decided to show his cowardly face.”

I came to a halt and blinked, barely aware of where I was. My thoughts had been churning so furiously that I’d made it halfway home and now stood on a stone path that cut between two buildings—a quiet, out-of-the-way path that was perfect for an ambush. Wesley Drozdov, a royal Moroi who’d become a nemesis of mine recently, stood blocking my way, with several cronies around him.

“That’s more than you usually travel with, Wes,” I said mildly. “Dig up a few more, and maybe you’ll finally have a fair fight to—”

A fist struck me from behind, in my lower back, knocking the wind out of me and causing me to stumble forward. Wesley surged toward me and caught me with a right hook before I could respond. I realized dimly, through my pain, that the comment I’d been about to make to him was actually spot-on: Wesley was traveling with a group because it was the only way he could combat my spirit magic. As someone’s foot struck my knee, forcing me to the ground, I realized I had, in fact, been an idiot to reveal myself so publicly. Wesley had been waiting for a chance to get back at me for past grievances, and now he had it.

“What’s the matter?” Wesley asked, kicking me hard in the stomach as I lay on the ground, struggling to get up. “Your feeder wife not here to save you?”