She purred. He’d swear to his last days that in the second, she purred. “You’re in my heart. In my soul.” He had to make her understand. Just in case he didn’t return.
Chapter Forty-Two
Promise paced back and forth in the research room, mumbling to herself and shaking her head. This wasn’t good. Not only was it terrible, it was unfixable. Was that even a word? When was the last time she’d slept? She took a cookie from the tray at the end of the computer table and ate it. Perhaps the sugar rush would help. Demon headquarters was abuzz with everyone working hard to prepare for morning.
Ivar and Adare walked inside and sat down, both wearing comfortable-looking jeans and shirts.
“We thought we’d ask for an update,” Ivar said, fixing her with that intense gaze.
The look shot straight through her body to land in her heart. Hard. She swallowed and pointed to the equations on her newest board. Her stomach cramped, and her throat felt scratchy. “The instruments are interesting but not useful until you get new readings we can compare.” But he’d already reported a change in Quade’s world, so the world was changing. It was simply disintigrating.
“And?” he asked, his gaze intense.
The male was certainly getting to know her well.
She rubbed her temple. “Based on your last experience jumping from Quade’s world, I extrapolated the time left in the wormhole or whatever it is.” She shook her head. “You can’t rescue him. The wormhole is closing, and there won’t be room for two of you. No way.”
He straightened up in the chair, looking like a tiger about to pounce. “No, it isn’t. I have to at least try to save him.”
“Yes.” She swept out her hand, ignoring the blue marker in it. “I think you have time to jump there, but it’s closing, and you know it. You can’t bring him back through.” No matter how she worked the problem, the solution was the same. “And from what Quade said about balance, you both can’t be on his world. I don’t know why, but you have to believe what he said.” Her heart hurt as if she’d taken a punch in the chest. “It’s a suicide mission. The path, or wormhole, or whatever it is might not hold even one person for a return trip. It’s closing.”
Her words hung in the air.
Ivar sighed. “I don’t want to leave you, but I have to save him. I can’t let him die.”
Grace stepped into the room, a bandage on her arm. She took a seat next to Adare.
He looked down at her. “You did not give blood.”
She met his gaze evenly. “Sure, I did. Why not?”
The Highlander’s eyes flashed a hot black. “You’ve only been out of a coma for a short time. For the love of all that is holy, do I need to lock you up?”
Grace rolled her eyes. “No. In fact, once we’re finished with this mission, I’m out of here. Ronan said he can get me a new identity, and I can start living my life. There’s no reason for me to stay here.” She looked pale but determined.
Adare’s jaw firmed, making him look like one of those ancient warriors.
Ivar kept his focus on Promise. “Forgetting the wormhole for the moment, tell me about the magnets.”
She needed more time for the math. Like a century or two. “From what I understand, the magnets polarize the worlds somehow, keeping Ulric’s in place. Or at least they did.” She needed a better description. “Like poles repel each other, and unlike poles attract. Imagine using magnets with gravity and possibly time.” There wasn’t time to diagram it. “When Ronan’s bubble burst, the destruction may have created a demagnetizing field.”
“Shit,” Adare said. “This is all theory, right?”
She nodded. “Based on what Ivar reported from his last visit, but yes.” She looked at the diagrams. “My theory is that the magnets on Quade’s world were permanent, or what we call rare earth magnets.”
“Can we remagnetize them?” Grace asked, looking at the formulas on the boards.
“Of course,” Promise said. That was the easy part. “You’d want to use lodestone, which isn’t made of metal and can be teleported.” She swallowed and set the marker down. “But this is irrelevant. You’re not going, Ivar. This is most likely a one way trip. Nobody will come home.”
Adare looked at Ivar and then pushed his chair back, taking Grace with him. “I’ll go see how fast we can hunt up lodestone.” With a nod at Promise,