Chapter 4

“A photo? They were shown a photo, but didn’t have one with them? Do they even know her name?” He wanted a damn photo and her name.  “What about in their phones?”  Bastian caught the look from his lifelong friend, who was also his personal guard, Tor. “She’s in danger, we need to find her.” Tor’s expression told him that he wasn’t buying the excuse. He turned away and looked at Ulric, “why her? Did they say?” His brother’s guard shook his head offering nothing inciteful.

Glancing at Trendan, Bastian pulled out his phone. “I don’t see why we can’t torture it out of them.” He only half meant that.

“We are a peaceful people.” His brother offered with no sign of emotion on his face.

Bastian snorted. “No one is peaceful anymore—just living between the lulls of violence.” He hit the call button beside King Troy’s name. It rang twice.

“Prince Bastian.”

“King Troy.” He smirked knowing now that the man wasn’t as stiff as he let on. Bastian had been included in their banter pre-battle and it was very entertaining. “I have an issue I was wondering if you could help with.”

“What sort of issue?” He could hear a female voice in the background, likely his queen, the Huntress.

“Are you able to see inside all minds or just certain races?”

There was a pause. “I’ve never really tried all races. My own, human mixed…”

“What about the little princess with the arrows?”

“Kara?”

“Yes. Can she hear any race’s thoughts?”

“Whose thoughts are you so desperate to hear, Bastian?”

He was desperate and hated feeling this way. Bastian looked at the three men watching him and then turned his back to them. “A few from the lawless faction, and I for one, would really like to know what they know.”

“Were they working with Arwan and that insanity?”

He frowned; he hadn’t even thought of that. How had he not thought of the plan to take over the realms? “Unknown.”

“Mmm, I see. We’ll help. We need to find all those who were involved. As you know, the mage said, 'You will never find all I have done.' So, we have to look in every corner of each realm to clean this mess up.”

He hadn’t known the mage said that. It had been a little distracting with Royals bleeding out all over the icy floors. “He said that?” Knowing that gave him one of those give-me-something-to-stab moments. Bastian glanced at Trendan and couldn’t help grinning. He was definitely not a peaceful person. “How soon can you come over?”

“Is tomorrow soon enough?”

No, I need to find her now. “That works.” He smirked. “Can we expect the whole entourage or just a few?”

Troy chuckled softly. “I’ll try to keep the numbers down. I’ll have Michael set it up with the transport team.”

“Lovely. I’ll see you then.” Bastian hung up and turned to tell Trendan when their older brother, Elyas walked in. The best way to describe their eldest brother was uptight. He honestly didn’t think he had the first clue how to relax. His dark hair, Bastian was sure was glued in place on his head because, in all the years of his life, he had never seen one hair out of place. Elyas’ eyes were expressionless, all the time, how was that even possible? Bastian was thankful for their long existence the main reason being that their father had a long reign left because when his eldest brother was king, the first thing he’d change would be the right to smile and feel and they’d all have to wear a suit. Did he own a pair of jeans? “Big brother.” He gave him a beaming smile as he stuffed his phone back into his jacket.

Elyas looked from Bastian to Trendan and then slowly to their guards. He had a personal guard as well, who was not in the slightest friends with him. The guard never smiled either. “I just read on the log that two from the faction were brought in.”

Bastian looked to Trendan to answer. He didn’t antagonize their brother, whereas Bastian’s very existence seemed to make Elyas growl.

“They were tracking a specific soul.” Trendan stood up from the desk he’d been leaning on.

“For what purpose?” He looked from Trendan to him, with just his eyes.

Maybe he’d suffered a neck injury during his time in service with the guard. Was that why he didn’t look around like a normal being? Or, maybe his tie and collar were too tight and he couldn’t turn his head without risking strangulation?

“We don’t know yet.” Trendan walked around the desk and shuffled through papers on it, like this was routine and nothing noteworthy. Bastian had to hand it to him, if he ever wanted to buck the system as he preferred to, he was a very good actor.

“Send them to holding,” Elyas’ cold gaze appraised him slowly. Someday Bastian would ask him what he had against him breathing because he’d never seen anything that could be labeled as affection in his eyes when he looked at him.

“Actually...” He sent Trendan a quick, ‘sorry’ look. “Our new guests are going to be interviewed by one of the Alterealm Kings. We believe they may have something to do with the insane mage and his—” Bastian made quote marks in the air. “—'take over the realms' plot.”

Elyas didn’t even blink. “You think they’ll talk to him when they wouldn’t tell you anything?”

Bastian smirked. “Talk, no. Absolutely not.” He tilted his head to the side. “King Troy can get inside heads.” He gave him a full tooth smile, “he can look and see what they’ve been up to.”

He wished he had his phone out and camera ready because Elyas actually looked surprised for a brief second before cracking down on the possibility of having emotions and replacing the look with his blank face, as Bastian liked to think of it. “That’s interesting.” He spun back toward the door. “Send me the report when he’s done.”

All four of them watched the door close behind him. “And the strangeness that is our brother continues.” Bastian looked at Trendan, he shrugged, having no idea why Elyas had bolted out the door.

Trendan glanced at the closed door and then down at the desk for a moment. When he lifted his chin, he looked at Ulric. “I want you to camp out by their cells.” He flicked his eyes to Bastian for a second. “No one sees them or goes in.”

Ulric nodded. “Are you expecting trouble?”

Trendan rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. “I don’t know, I’m just feeling uneasy.”

Ulric nodded and turned on his heel and left the room silently.

“Do you want me to help?” Tor glanced at Bastian’s brother.

Trendan shook his head. “Maybe check in later and give him a break.” He picked up his phone and headed toward the door. “I believe Bast has some fun planned for you right now.”

Bastian grinned. He knew him too well.

After he left, Tor crossed his arms over his chest and stared at him. “Why do you have that look?”

“What look?”

He lifted one eyebrow slightly. “The one that means one or both of us are going to get into trouble.” He frowned. “Usually me.”

Bastian grinned. “I saw it, well, her.”

“Her?” Tor sat on the edge of the desk; arms still crossed over his chest.

“The soul that haunts me.”

His eyebrows shot up. “It was reborn?”

Bastian nodded. “Yes, and is residing in a lovely body this time.” Not that any time he’d seen it in his life it had been housed in an ugly package.

“It’s the one they were after.”

He liked that it wasn’t a question. “Yes.”

“So now you need to find her?”

Bastian nodded, then frowned. “You’re sure neither of them had acquired a fresh soul?”

Tor nodded. “Checked myself, they hadn’t had any in a long while.”

“Good. Good. That means she’s still out there and breathing.”

“How do you plan on finding her?”

Bastian blew out a breath and looked around the room like it was going to offer up some sort of answer. “I have no idea. I wanted to kiss her like no other time in my life.”

“I’m glad you didn’t—look at what happened the last time you grabbed a woman and kissed her.”

Bastian put his hand over his side where the scar from a knife was. “That was different, I was possessed with the soul I’d just retrieved.” He needed to get on connecting Liri with the Seer. “Right now, we need to sneak my cousin to Alterealm.”

“Why is Aliria going to Alterealm?”

It wasn’t surprising he didn’t have to ask which cousin. “I’ll explain on the way.” Bastian turned and held the door open.

“At least you’re not the boring one to watch.” Tor walked out the door ahead of him.

“Oh, who is?”

Tor smirked down at him. “Who do you think?”

Bastian shrugged. “Obviously one of my brothers.”

“Trendan.”

That surprised him. “I would have thought Elyas.”

“Oh no, he’s a mystery, that one. His guard has more time off than any of us.”

They turned the corner and headed to the elevator that would take them back up to the control room. “How is that possible? I don’t think Elyas has slept in the last century. He’s always lurking around every damn corner I turn.”

Tor held the elevator door for him. “That may be, but he does a lot without his guard.”

Bastian grinned. “Now I’m intrigued. My uptight bro has secrets.” He glanced at him. “You know we’re going to have to find out what they are.”

Tor sighed. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

He chuckled. “You love that I’m the fun brother.”

“I do.” He gave him an amused look. “Even though someday it’s going to land me in some faraway deserted corner to serve out for the rest of my life—or dead. Probably dead.”

Bastian shrugged. “Could be worse. You could be me and be expected to shack up with some female and spawn a brood of babies.”

Tor watched the numbers on the panel. “Just having female companionship would be fine by me.”

“You and every other male in the realm, Tor, which is why we’re going to solve that problem too.”

The doors opened. “Gods hear you and grant you that wish,” Tor whispered.

“If the gods could hear me, I’d have been dead when I learned how to speak.” Bastian gave him a cheeky smile and headed through the control room. He had no idea how they were getting Liri ported over to Alterealm without half this realm knowing.