AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Immediately, the guards obeyed, leaving me with the enchantress.
“Why are you being so smugly contrary?” I demanded. “Disappearance, departure—is this really the time to be arguing semantics, Aradia?”
“I am only reminding you that Zephyrine asked not to be followed in her letter,” the enchantress told me. “Perhaps it is best that you leave her be—at least for now.”
I scoffed and leaned forward, hands splayed over the mahogany wood, my skin a pale contrast to the sheen, several shades lighter than its usual olive tone in my current state. I was sick with worry.
“A few weeks ago, you were the one pushing me into this union.”
“A few weeks ago, Zephyrine had not adamantly told you to leave her alone,” she shot back bluntly.
I felt as if I’d been slapped in the face. “She doesn’t really want that!”
“That’s what the letter said.”
“I know what the letter said!” I yelled. “I read it first.”
“Then perhaps you should honor her wishes.”
My mouth gaped open, a dozen protests vying to fall from them as Aradia stared at me expectantly.
“What?”
“I can’t,” I sputtered.
“Why not?”
“Because I love her.”
To my surprise, Aradia’s face melted into an uncharacteristic smile. “Oh, that’s the correct response, my dear.” She threw her arms around me, embracing me in the most uncomfortable hug I’d ever endured.
“What are you doing?” I growled, shrugging out of her arms. “Stop it!”
She tittered. “I thought you might say something foolish like you needed to find her for the benefit of the kingdom or to claim your throne, but if you truly care for her, then yes, I will bring in a warlock, and we will enact a locator spell.”
I shuddered again, grinding my teeth. “I don’t like dealing with them. Owing a warlock is making a terrible bargain every time.”
“I don’t particularly like dealing with them, either,” Aradia sighed. “But assuming that Zephyrine is out of normal range and has a shroud over herself, we need someone who is more in touch with the earth.”
Slowly, I stood and wandered toward one of the stained-glass windows, peering at nothingness through the frosted glass. There was always a steep price to pay when dealing with warlocks, hidden costs that resurfaced later on. They were a sly, crafty lot, which was why my father and grandfather had worked diligently to make the kingdom a distinctly uncomfortable place for them to live.
But I was at my wits’ end here and running out of options.
“Let me go out again tonight in my wolf form,” I said, turning back to Aradia. “I’ll send every available guard out to every nearby city in a fifty-mile radius. If we still have nothing, we’ll call in a warlock.”
“You’ve already done that,” Aradia grumbled, and her lack of confidence should have convinced me, but I didn’t trust the warlocks.
Again, she was right.
“Find the most reliable warlock you can think of,” I told her, striding toward the door, determined to find Zephy before I was forced to use the warlock’s services.
I ignored Aradia’s snort when I made my way into the hallway, summoning the Royal Guards along with me.
Where are you, Zephy? Why did you go?
* * *
My snout pressedto the dry ground, the eastern skies pitch black now as my paws padded over the tiny town of Caranova. I had already been through the streets with Ryland at my side, knocking on doors, asking about Zephy, but the residents were clueless—their expressions didn’t lie. No one had seen her. She hadn’t been in the little village—or any of the pueblos we’d visited before.
