“Wait,” Silene calls. “Of course we’ll help. Just, take a minute. Let’s go over what we know. We need a plan.” I reluctantly stalk back to the table and sit down, putting my head in my hands.

“You’re not yourself, Thorne,” Fionn says suspiciously. “Are you sure…” he hesitates, like even he doesn’t want to say his next words. “Are you sure this isn’t some magic by Laurel?” He whispers, like he’s afraid of the very idea.

Ire builds in me, and I erupt. “How dare you! After all we’ve seen from Laurel, you still believe her capable of witchcraft?” Light curls in my palms, and I’m about to launch myself at Fionn when there’s a faint scratching noise coming from my room. We all turn toward the sound.

Realization washes over me as I remember my previous visitor, and I run into my room and open the door for the black feline, who rushes into the sitting room. Silene shrieks and Fionn hisses. I wave them back, then look at the creature. Her eyes convey fear, and she’s agitated. She paces back and forth, and if I wasn’t sure that Laurel is in trouble before, I am now.

“How do I help her?” I ask the beast, searching her golden eyes. She stalks toward Silene, then stands at her side, looking back and forth between us. “I don’t understand,” I tell the feline.

“I do!” Silene yells excitedly. “She means me. I can aerstep you to her. We just need to sneak into Laurel’s room and snatch more elixir.”

“But I don’t know where she is!” I huff out in a frustrated grunt, desperation threatening to take over. Silene’s brows furrow for a moment in thought.

“You said you can feel that something is wrong. That she’s in danger. Can you feel where she is? Would you be able to point to it on a map?” She’s so clever, and I want to wrap her in a bear hug.

I close my eyes, then seek out the bright light that is the core of my power. I can feel the way it’s changed since the mating bond. Where once it was static, an immovable and steady orb of light, it now pulses like a beating heart. It expands and shrinks, moving erratically. I hone every bit of myself onto that vibrating orb.

First, I feel Laurel’s pain. Her grief. It nearly knocks me to my knees, and I ache in ways I can’t explain knowing that she’s feeling such deep emotion and I’m not there to share her burden. But then I feel the creeping cold that surrounds her, threatening to wink out her aether-force. Where are you? There’s a tugging on that bright orb, like a thread pulling me to her.