Page 65 of Dragon King’s Duty Bride

They ran to the barn door. Lightning forked across the far edge of the pasture and lit up the world in stark white for a heartbeat. In that brief flare, Sia thought she saw something darting beyond the lower fence.

Then darkness swallowed it again.

Sia turned so quickly her shoulder struck a beam. “I’m going to check the lower pastures.”

“We. We will check.” Lucas took a stride forward, but a guard burst into the barn, soaked to the bone. “Your Majesty. The east wall gate has come loose and collapsed. The whole area is flooding.”

For a fraction of a second, Sia saw the war inside him. The crown demanded him in one direction while his heart pulled him in another. Two more guards ran in.

Lightning flashed again and she blinked. His eyes looked golden.

“Gather the guards.” Lucas ordered, his voice low and edged with something beyond urgent. “My daughter is missing in this storm. She is our main priority. Post guards all along the perimeter of the grounds, especially the river path and the falls. Have someone search the castle to make sure she didn’t go back inside. If you see any movement, alert me immediately.”

The guards scattered without hesitation.

She grabbed Lucas’s arm and pointed. “I’m pretty sure Luna went toward the lower pastures.”

His gaze snapped to hers and she saw the gold again. Was it a trick of the lightning?

“I know,” he said. “But we need to make sure we do this right. We’re only going to get one chance. We need to start at the house just in case before we go chasing shadows in this storm.”

She started to say they needed to separate, but he cut her off. “We stay together. We can’t have everyone scattered everywhere, and you don’t know the area well enough.”

And she believed him. He knew the terrain well enough to know every hollow and dip where a small goat and a stubborn girl might seek shelter.

Celeste and Stella sat at the table in the main hall, their earlier laughter gone and replaced with wide-eyed fear that trembled at every crack of thunder.

Sia forced her breath to steady as she crossed to them and knelt in front of Celeste. Stella threw herself into Lucas’s arms. Celeste wrapped her arms around Sia’s neck and ignored the rain that soaked her from the wet hoodie.

“Luna was going to bring Spirit inside so she wasn’t scared. I told her not to go, but she waited until I was in the bathroom and snuck out.”

Luna had planned to use the feed bucket to lure the goat to the goat.

“It’s not your fault.” Sia hugged her back. “Storms make goats dramatic,” she said gently and tried to inject warmth she didn’t feel. “Spirit probably decided she’s braver than the weather and is feeling very proud of herself somewhere dry.”

“What about Luna?” Celeste cried.

Sia’s chest tightened painfully.

“Luna knows these grounds well enough,” she said, willing certainty into her tone. “She just went to find the stubborn goat. I’m sure she’s not far. We’re going to find her now.”

Another thunderclap rattled the windows behind them.

They gave the girls firm instructions that no one was to leave the room until they returned with Luna. Sia gave one last hug and stepped back into the storm just as Lucas finished dispatching the last search party.

Rain ran in rivulets down his face and his dark hair clung to his brow, but the gold in his eyes shone bright. Something shimmered beneath the surface of his skin like banked fire.

“Let’s go,” she said with a raised voice over the wind.

“Sia....” He turned back to her.

And for one unguarded moment, she did not see the king or the commander. She saw Lucas, the father.

“I should have secured the latch better,” he said, low enough that the wind nearly stole it.

Sia closed the space between them, rain cooling her overheated skin. “This is not your fault. She’s Spirit. She could escape a locked treasury if she put her mind to it.”

“I need to go alone. I can move faster on my own.”