"In the bedroom I just... I don't know ... traveled to Duskoff International. I wanted to see if I could locate Annie. I ran into the warding, but after spending some time exploring the seams, I found a little chink and worked my disembodied awareness through it.”

Thomas shared a look with a male witch standing behind the couch. The guy was about six three, blond, and built like a tank. Mira thought his name was Brandon or Brian or something.

"She's powerful," said Brandon or Brian.

"First, it's incredible that you managed to do that." Thomas shook his head in disbelief, sending his loose hair sliding over his shoulders. "But it's because you have the magick of air. It needs only the tiniest of cracks to squeeze through. Getting in physically is something altogether different.”

Mira closed her eyes for a moment in frustration. "Stop telling me what can't be done, Thomas. If I can give the wardbreakers the exact location of the imperfection, can't they worry away at it until it rips?”

Thomas pushed a hand through his hair. "Andrea?”

A sleek redhead who was leaning against the foyer wall with her arms crossed spoke up. "Maybe.”

"Mira, this is Andrea, our best wardweaver and breaker.”

The redhead smiled. Mira let a ghost of a smile pass over her lips in return. She didn't have time to make new friends at the moment.

"Try it," said Thomas.

Jack strode down the corridor toward the office of the one person who would know where both Mira and Thomas had gone. He'd woken to a cold, empty bed and the knowledge that Thomas, Mira, and the top fifteen most powerful witches—except him—in the Coven were gone.

Anger made his magick restless, made sparks jump from finger to finger when he wasn't actively suppressing them.

Last night, Mira had kissed him, curled up against him to fall asleep ... and then left him sometime this morning to put herself in Crane's way. He was sure of it.

He'd believed her yesterday when she'd told him that her meeting in Thomas's office had been of a personal nature. She'd told him that it had been about her family. She'd seemed depressed and subdued all evening, but he'd equated it to her nightmare. Now Jack suspected that for unknown reasons, Thomas had whisked Mira away from him.

Fear flicked through him. Was Thomas in league with Crane? No. He gave his head a sharp shake to rid himself of the notion. Impossible. But what other reason would cause Thomas to take Mira and leave him behind when he'd been the one tasked with keeping Mira safe?

He reached Ingrid's office and stood in the doorway, watching her shuffle papers on her desk.

She looked up, caught sight of him, and sighed.

"Tell me.”

She shook her head. "I can't. I'm sorry.”

He stalked to her. “Tell me.”

"I can't tell you anything. You're wasting your time.”

"Ingrid, I love her.”