The two incidents were hours away from each other, in completely different demesnes. There was no reason to make a connection between them, other than to note how similar the images were. No reason at all, and yet…

He considered it anyway.

Justine had been cultivating a relationship with Tatiana, and had made many friendly overtures to Melly. Julian had seen all of it as part of her political maneuvering – staying on friendly terms with the monarch of the neighboring demesne kept Justine in a strong position to create mischief. Also, it might garner Justine some outside support if she ever made a move against him in a way that would win Tatiana’s sympathy and approval.

Could Justine have had anything to do with Melly’s disappearance? Would she really destroy the friendly relationship with the Light Fae that she had worked so hard to cultivate? Tatiana made a deadly enemy.

Turning away from the others, he rubbed his eyes as he tried to put himself in Justine’s shoes.

She had failed to kill Xavier, and she knew very well that Julian was actively hunting her down. And she had already shown how far she was willing to go when she had slaughtered her entire household.

Now, because the Nightkind demesne lay under martial law, not only were her movements hampered by the need to remain undetected, but those of her allies were as well. And while their hostilities had not yet become public knowledge, Julian was under no illusion. His demesne was caught in the middle of a civil war.

Justine would realize it too. She had to know that her life was at stake. She was a creature who only pretended to have a conscience. If she were threatened, she would sacrifice any relationship, any potential political advantage, in the fight for survival.

Tatiana turned to Graydon. “As soon as I realized Melly was missing, I had the area around her front door cordoned off. I wanted to keep it as clean as possible from too many contaminating —” Her voice broke, but almost immediately, she picked up her sentence and carried on. “From too many contaminating scents. There have been only two people inside the house, the original guard from the security company, and my own captain, Shane Mac Carthaigh. He’s there now, making sure the perimeter is maintained. From the dust on Melly’s car, it clearly hasn’t been touched in a couple of days, which makes sense since she was just returning home from a skiing trip. Her luggage was stacked just inside the house. She hadn’t unpacked yet.”

Graydon said quietly, “Shane’s a good man. You did all the right things. If Soren will take me, I can start investigating immediately.”

She looked at the Djinn. “Would you do that?”

“Absolutely,” Soren said. Julian noted the conspicuous lack of bargaining in the exchange. Djinn were notorious for striking bargains for an exchange of favors – which was their currency of choice – but clearly Soren had some affection for Tatiana, and perhaps even for Melly as well. “I also want to talk to the guard who was on duty at the gate yesterday evening. Did he notice anything unusual?”

Tatiana rubbed her forehead. “When Shane questioned him, the guard said it had been a perfectly normal evening. Shane said he was telling the truth.”

Julian shook his head. “You said the community is gated, yet Melly still disappeared. I know captain Shane is an experienced magic user, but I would examine the guard a lot more closely if I were you. Eyewitnesses are unreliable at the best of times, and memories can be tampered with. He could have been glamored or coerced. A strong Vampyre could do it, or a Powerful witch – even Dragos, so I’m told.”

A silence fell, as everyone in the room considered him.

Soren said, “I’ll be sure to examine him, myself.”

Graydon pointed out, “There are also other ways a gated community can be breached. I could do it easily, and so could Soren.”

“Shane said he hasn’t sensed any residual magic,” Tatiana said. “But he hasn’t had time to comb the whole area.”

Soren looked at Tatiana. “We have a lot to do, and we need to move fast, so we’d better leave now.”

“Thank you so much.”

Soren put his hand on Graydon’s shoulder. In a whirlwind of Power, the two men disappeared.

As soon as they had left, Tatiana turned to Julian. With a restraint made painful by the amount of emotion behind her words, she said, “It was good of you to come.”

It was the most genuine warmth Tatiana had shown him since he had cut things off with Melly.

Briefly, he considered mentioning his suspicions about Justine. However, he was under no illusions about his relationship with Tatiana either. She had reached out to him out of desperation, not from any newfound sense of affection or friendship. She wouldn’t believe a word he said about Justine, not without proof, and he didn’t have any. The only thing he had was a train of thought based on what could very well be a coincidence.

Gesturing with one hand, he said, “Of course.”

“I was hoping you might help with increased patrols at the Nightkind border.” She paused, rubbing her forehead. “I know your resources must be strained at present.”

That was her way of referencing the trouble in his own demesne. “Yes,” he told her. “But I can still put out increased border patrols. I’ll also issue a confidential demesne-wide alert for the Nightkind police to keep an eye out for any sign of Melly.”

Her raw gaze dampened. “Thank you. Could you also make a list of places you think should be searched? Bailey and I have been writing down every place we can think of – if you could just take a look at the list and let us know if there’s any place else you think we should add to it.”

“Of course,” he said again.

Bailey approached him, holding the notebook in one outstretched hand. From her rigid features, and tight mouth, he was willing to bet she hadn’t agreed with her mother’s decision to call him for help.

Ignoring her hostility, he took the pad of paper and turned away again as he scanned the places they had jotted down. It looked comprehensive to him. In fact, there were several places on the list he wouldn’t have known to suggest, but then he and Melly hadn’t been together in twenty years.

Had she taken lovers to these places? How many lovers had she had since Ferion? His mouth tightened at the thought, and the old resentful anger tried to resurface.

His skin prickled as a whirlwind of Power swept into the room again. A moment later, Soren reappeared. While the Djinn and the two women began to talk about search strategies, Julian jotted two places down on the paper.