I sat down and tucked in with gusto. Once I'd demolished everything on my plate, I grabbed my Coke, sat back, and asked the one question that had been quietly bugging me. "Why weren't you able to rescue me?"
"Because, as you have already guessed, he used magic to not only snatch you, but to disguise your whereabouts."
"And Jak?"
"Unharmed." His voice was as neutral as his expression. "I will admit to a somewhat angry response to his part in your abduction, but I controlled it the minute I realized he was an unwilling participant."
"Meaning you beat him up, then healed him?"
"Something like that." He returned my gaze evenly. "He does not now remember the event."
Meaning the event, as he put it, had been pretty bad. "I told you Jak wouldn't willingly betray me, Azriel."
"He has before, so that is an illogical statement."
Perhaps it was, but I nevertheless believed it. "What, exactly, did Lucian do to him?"
"Nothing more than luring him to the warehouse with the promise of a story, then capturing his mind."
Which was why Jak hadn't really sounded himself. They had been Lucian's words, not Jak's. I drank some Coke, enjoying the fuzzy goodness for several seconds before saying, "We need to find Ilianna. Until she's free, we're stuck doing whatever Lucian wants us to do."
"I would suspect that he has her position well hidden by his magic."
I frowned. "Does it take much magic to do that sort of thing?"
He shrugged, the movement brief but somehow elegant. "I am not knowledgeable when it comes to magic, but I would suspect so."
"So perhaps what we need is someone who is not only knowledgeable in all matters magic, but who is able to detect such things."