My smile grew. “He’s heir to the throne. I’m in no danger of anything more than sexual satisfaction. What do you know about the Eye? Was it you who found it and sent Beira its location?”

She nodded. “Via your father, of course. He’d been searching for it since your mother’s disappearance, from what I could gather.”

“Did he say where he found it?”

“No, he did not.”

Of course not. “Then what was the message he sent you here to deliver?”

“Ah, yes, I almost forgot.” She cleared her throat, closed her eyes, and reached. Not physically, but rather magically. And though my knives didn’t react, it was an action that blew through me oddly, and it somehow felt as if my second sight was being activated without my consent. The air began to stir, and the sharp electricity of a distant storm spun around me, sending sparks dancing across my skin. Then, in a voice that deeper and more ethereal—of this world and yet not—Castell said, “What was your mother’s is now yours. What comes cannot be avoided. You are the weapon but have not yet been primed. Seek she who stands with her head in the clouds at the junction of earth and sky as a matter of urgency.”

A shudder ran through Castell’s body, then she sucked in a deep breath and somehow looked... less. As if the otherworldly presence that had briefly swept through her had drained all her strength and power, leaving her shriveled and shrunken.

Even her eyes looked faded. Gray.

“You heard?” she croaked.

I nodded. “Understanding is another matter.”

Her laugh was little more than a faint echo of its former self. “The old ones do like their puzzles.”

And so did old elves, I’d wager. I repeated the last line in the message and then said, “I don’t suppose you know of a place resembling that description, do you?”

She shook her head, then raised her glass and downed the whisky. “And now, I must be going.”

I rose with her and half reached out as she wobbled unsteadily on her feet. “Do you need help to your car?”

She shook her head. “The lovely Tyree is about to walk in the door.”

Said door opened on cue, and a big man stepped inside. Aside from being tall, he was thickset, with wild brown hair and a beard that was long enough to be plaited.

A bear shifter, I suspected.

He moved down the steps with surprising grace and tsked in concern. “Looks to me like you’ve been overdoing it again, Ms. Castell.”

“Aye,” she said, and held out her hand. “Home, dearest Tyree.”

“At once, Ms. Castell.”

He swept her up into his arms, and she snugged into his massive chest. I suspected sleep wouldn’t be too far away.

The big man looked at me. “If you’d be holding the door open for us, it’d be appreciated.”

I nodded and quickly moved back to the tavern’s entrance. “Will she be okay?”