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“You’re supposed to be the most powerful fae in the kingdom, Aradia! That’s why you’re here.”
“I still am the most powerful fae in the kingdom, Alpha,” she bit back, irked by my words. “But if Zephyrine is adamant about being gone, there’s very little we can do about it. She’s probably out of my range by now, anyway.”
“What if something has happened to her?” I rasped, sinking into my chair, the wind knocking out of me. “Why hasn’t anyone seen her? There hasn’t been a single verified sighting of her since she left!”
Aradia placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and shook her head, the crimson of her hair falling over my cheek. “She is a fully trained fae, just like you. She can take care of herself.”
I thought of all the sparring sessions we’d had together, rolling around in the gardens, Zephyrine’s laughter flooding my ears.
It was all too much.
“She doesn’t know these lands, Aradia,” I insisted. “She’s been sheltered her entire life, and I don’t know how she will survive on her own. Gods only know what direction she went. If she ended up in the mountains…”
I trailed off to think of what kind of creatures she might have encountered on her travels. I knew now that she had taken off with one of the smaller, unused convertibles, a car that didn’t have a tracker on it. I used the little vehicle so infrequently, it didn’t seem important to put one in, although how she had managed to make off with it without anyone noticing still bothered me.
Everyone had been so preoccupied with the rehearsal dinner and their posted stations, no one had been manning their usual spots, leaving Zephy ample opportunity to leave with the car. The garage hadn’t had a single guard on it, and Zephy had been granted her pick of autos.
I had barely eaten or slept as I replayed the events of that day over and over in my mind, trying to understand what had gone wrong and why she had left. I still had no answers.
“She could be anywhere by now, injured, starving, dehydrated. How much money could she possibly have on her?”
She had taken nothing but the overnight bag she’d packed to spend the night away from me, and there was nothing else missing but the vehicle. How was she surviving out there?
Every day, I had gone out in my wolf form, sniffing the ground for her scent, hoping my enhanced senses would lead me in the right direction, but given the way she had left, I was no closer to finding her than any of my guards.
“I don’t believe she’s dead,” Aradia said flatly, echoing my most horrific inner thought as if I’d spoken it aloud. “But… we could call on a warlock.”
I balked at the suggestion, and she shrugged. “It might be our only hope of finding her at this point, as you say. It’s been days now, and if she’s still on the move, she’s only gaining more distance by the hour.”
“To where?!” I cried, anguished by the idea. “Even if she had decided to return to Carrottrove, she would have been there by now!”
“Her father hasn’t sent an email or called?” Aradia asked, and I glared at her.
“Don’t you think I would have mentioned it if Nikkoli had sent word?”
Aradia rolled her crystalline eyes.
“What about Maywin?” she pressed. “Are you certain she knows nothing?”
I grunted and sat back, rubbing my fingers against my throbbing temples.
I looked toward one of the nearby servants. “Get me a glass of water.”
“Yes, Alpha,” she agreed, curtseying quickly and making her way toward the doorway.
Jasper opened the door for her, and I whipped my head toward him.
“You’re close with the maid still, aren’t you?”
Jasper paled and visibly swallowed the lump in his throat. “Yes, Alpha.”
“Do you get the sense that she’s hiding anything?”
“No! No, absolutely not, Alpha. She’s just as distraught by Miss Zephyrine’s disappearance as everyone else.”
“Departure, not disappearance,” Aradia corrected him, and my scowl deepened.
“Get out. Everyone but Aradia,” I instructed them.
