Chapter 83

Nicole woke and headed to Daphne’s suite. She knocked but heard nothing inside. That was strange since Daphne tended to wake up early.

She called through the door, “Your Highness? Are you awake?”

There was no response. She didn't even hear her heart beating, nor the sound of her breathing. She opened the door and stepped in, finding the room empty. Trepidation filled her as she searched the room. There wasn’t much missing. Most of the things she’d brought with her hadn’t even been moved from their places. Perhaps she was off on a walk or in the library.

A piece of paper called her attention from the small table in her parlor. She crossed the room and picked up reading the note before setting it back down. She cast a spell over the note and it revealed that Daphne had written the night before.

If she’d intended to return by morning, she would have already been back.

So where was she? What path did she take? Had something happened to her on the way?

She left the room and went next door to check the other rooms down the hall. They were all empty, and as she expected all of their personal effects had been taken.

“Kayley,” she called, marching down the corridor.

“Yes, general? Is this about Her Highness?:

“What do you know?”

“She left sometime in the night by my estimation with the three women using a hidden passageway. I’m not sure which secret passageway though.

“And no sign of her return?”

“No. Not yet. I have people out searching for her, but it gets stranger.”

“How strange?”

“Preliminary search says they made it out of the castle on the side headed towards the canyon and into the forest before being stopped. Two dead bodies, but several sets of tracks. Then, horse and carriage tracks lead toward Lord Whitcomb’s territory. There was the scent and tracks of a werewolf there, but it didn’t linger long.”

It made sense. The best path back to the werewolf kingdom was through the canyons as it was closest to the werewolf’s castle and the village that John had attacked. However, knowing John’s personality, he was definitely involved in the delay of them returning.

She blamed herself. She should have broached the subject of an earlier visit back to the werewolf kingdom earlier, then at least, she would know that Daphne had made it safely. It was a careless and thoughtless mistake, but she couldn’t focus on that now.

John had Daphne, but he was banking on making her and the rest of the court think that he didn’t. She needed to figure out where he could be hiding her and what his ultimate goal was. It would cause a disturbance, of course, to have Daphne go missing. It might even incite war if she was not returned before the allotted time.

“General?” Kayley said, “What would you have me do?”

She swallowed. The first step would be to figure out if he knew about the note. That would mean he’d spoken to Daphne. He was likely unaware that she and Daphne met early in the morning, nearly every morning, before the noble’s breakfast, so he was banking on her appearing and someone else telling her that Daphne was gone.

“For now, pretend as though nothing is wrong. Keep searching for her. Check all known paths between the castle and Lord Whitcomb’s estate. Especially that manor he thinks no one knows about.”

Kayley rolled her eyes, “Of course. I’ll report back as soon as I know something.”

She darted down the hallway in a flash of movement as Nicole looked out the window. She took a deep breath to calm herself. Daphne had entered the queen’s office. It was a good thing, lending some truth to Daphne’s note, but why then hadn’t Daphne simply asked? It wasn't as if they didn't have a good relationship. At least, Nicole thought they did.

Nicole walked toward the noble’s breakfast parlor and entered the room silently.

“Good morning, general,” another general greeted. “No chance that Her Highness will be joining us today?”

She gave him a pleasant smile, “No. I thought it best not to wake her so early. She's still adjusting to vampire time.”

“Shame!” She said with a chuckle, “One day.”

“One day, indeed.”

She took a seat and let her gaze drift over the group, stopping on no one in particular. The duchess, John, and some of his other associates were chatting as they usually did, but the duchess seemed oddly smug. Nicole had never liked her, but she respected her and her husband’s contributions to the nation. She thought the duchess was above falling in with John and his ilk, but apparently she was wrong.

Breakfast continued as normal, but Nicole kept tabs on everyone's reactions. His associates seem to be troubled. John seemed to be in a jovial mood the way he usually was when he thought he had the upper hand. He certainly had Daphne somewhere he didn't think Nicole would find her. He might have gone undetected longer if he had a bit more cunning.

A knock sounded on the door. The door opened to reveal a servant she didn't readily recognize, and Nicole realized what the plot was. She bet Kayley fifty silver that the note Daphne had left for her was no longer in her room. Her second-in-command would never take the wager, but the points did.

“Her Majesty wasn't in her room this morning,” the servant said. “The rooms the werewolves were using are also empty.”

“Did you check the library?” Another noble asked. “It is well-known that she has been spending quite a bit of time in the various libraries.”

“I have, my lord, but she's not there either.”

“Perhaps they're taking a walk around the grounds?”

“The guards have all said that they haven't seen them.”

“Seems a great deal like Her Highness takes after her mother….” the duchess said with a little smile.

The room turned to look at Nicole as Nicole observed John and his associates out of her peripheral vision. John’s face was placed in its mock shock. His eyes twinkled with glee.

Caught. Yet she still could not give the game away. Not yet. Without proof, the council would call her prejudiced and he may still have Daphne held hostage somewhere.

Nicole stood, “Call Kayley to me.”

The servant left quickly as she turned to John and his associates.

“The closest border to the werewolf kingdom is against your lands. I expect you still have patrols?”

“Yes, of course.” John stated, “They have reported nothing out of the ordinary to my knowledge.”

“Should that change. Inform the council. For now, I will have the city searched for her and the servants questioned.”

“If you should need any assistance, General Steward,” John said with his eyes twinkling. “Please simply ask. No good would come of having Her Highness gone missing.”

One day, she would drive her sword straight through his chest and burn his body. Her hand twitched. For now, she needed him alive and inundated with a sense of security.

Kayley sent a small force out each direction. The group that headed towards the canyon made it halfway through the forest before they picked up on Daphne’s scent, as sweet as ever but slightly changed somehow. There was a spiciness to it that hadn’t been there before.

“Up ahead,” one of them said, nodding towards the canyon. It was odd considering it was coming from the canyon instead of inside the vampire lands but they followed it. The canyon twisted and turned in different directions, but she was on the path leading towards the werewolf kingdom, the same way they’d come.

It was strange since there had been no tracks to follow and the scent of the forest was too faint to follow through the canyon.

A figure lay in the middle of the path, unnervingly still and silent. It was Daphne.

The lead of the unit darted forward to check her vitals. They were faint, slower than they had been before, but she was alive and seemingly uninjured. He picked her up carefully and they made their way back to the castle through hidden pathways.

When they arrived, he handed her off to Kayley before going to speak with Nicole. She was in her office, throwing daggers at a target on the far wall the way she usually did when she was furious and couldn’t kill the object of her anger.

He closed the door behind her. She glanced at him.

“Well?”

“We found her.”

“Where?”

“In the canyon on the same path we took here.”

“And her escort?”

“No signs of them,” he said. “No trail as expected, not even leading into the canyon from the forest.”

Nicole scoffed, throwing another dagger, “That sniveling conniving idiot!”

The canyon’s roads never left trails longer than a few hours due to the nature of the winds, but could he at least have been smart enough to make it plausible?

Still, calling him out would do nothing for her. She needed to speak with Daphne and send word to Arthur as soon as possible to get ahead of the nonsense John was brewing.

“You've done well. Find Valon and send him to meet me in the queen’s wing. Take your troop and take over the guard rotation of her wing. Question every servant you see and keep track of them.”

“Of course, general.”

He left and Nicole followed after fantasizing about John and his associate’s blood, screaming deaths at her hands.