Page 103 of Twist of Fate

Connal did not need to understand the machine to understand what that meant.

His first thought was of King Silenus. The Queen had sent Connal and his brothers across realms to protect him, yet the system could reveal the king’s location whenever he used magic within its reach. It could also find the warriors moving in his defense.

Any portal opened within the system’s reach and any use of their power could tell an unseen enemy exactly where they stood. No one would need to search an entire city for them. Hunters could arrive before Connal and his brothers knew they had been detected.

And because Luke now stood beside him, anyone hunting Connal’s magic could find his mate as well.

The warehouse trap had required someone to know in advance where magical beings would appear. Whoever controlled this system would no longer need that knowledge. The first flare of magic could provide the location.

Connal’s hand closed around the hilt of his sword, though there was nothing within reach for him to fight.

Koios remained before the screens, his hands motionless on the controls.

“Ben treats magical beings every day,” he said quietly. “If his clinic fell within this system’s reach, it could mark the building every time one of them entered. Anyone watching it could find him, his patients, and the families who trusted him to keep them hidden.”

Asterius’s fury had cracked the wall. The cold precision in Koios’s voice carried even more threat.

Luke stood motionless beside Connal, his gaze fixed on the maps.

“Hale sent me to deliver this drive.”

Asterius turned toward him. His fury remained, but Luke was not its target.

“Did Hale know what it contained?” Tyson asked.

“I don’t know. Patrick gave it to me on Hale’s orders.” Luke’s hand tightened around the strap of his backpack.

“So either Hale knew what he was sending, or someone inside his operation gave you the assignment without his knowledge,” Tyson said.

Luke looked at Koios. “Is there anything on the drive capable of doing the tracking?”

“No. The files contain only the measurements we have examined.”

“Then why encrypt the results and send them without the program or equipment that produced them?” Luke asked.

Koios considered the question. “To demonstrate what the system could do without giving the recipient the means to reproduce it.”

Understanding hardened Luke’s expression. “A proof of concept.”

“That would be my conclusion. The intended recipient wanted proof that the system worked before making a deal.”

Luke looked back at the locations pulsing across the screens. “Which means a working version exists somewhere.”

“These results had to be collected by one,” Koios said.

“Do the files identify who built it?”

“No.”

Luke stared at the screens in silence.

Connal studied his mate. Luke did not appear frightened by the threat pulsing across them. He looked furious. His jaw was set, his eyes cold, and Connal knew battle readiness when he saw it.

Luke would fight beside him.

Luke had been sent carrying proof of a weapon that could expose the king, Connal’s brothers, and every magical being living in the human realm. He had known nothing of its purpose or the people prepared to kill for it.

Whether Hale had arranged that knowingly—or someone close enough to control his operation had done so in his name—remained unanswered.