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“What do you mean she’s gone?” I shout.
She flinches. “She went for a walk and never came back and—”
“She’s not gone,” I snap.
“I’ve looked everywhere—”
“Dammit, Orlena! This is why I shouldn’t have left. I asked you all to do one thing: keep Daisy safe.” Harsh words that aren’t entirely fair but there’s no reasoning with my mind or the bond. I asked them to keep her safe. I never should have left.
Her hand braces over her heart. “Brother, please. You can be mad at me later, but right now, we need to try and find her.”
Scowling, I push past her and into the hallway. I run toward our wing, and Orlena and my father follow me. The walls of the castle shake, but I don’t give a damn. I’ll bring this whole place down if it means finding her.
Mom is sitting on the bed, trembling fingers pressed to her mouth. Oretta is hugging her and Oraya and Orana are sitting on the bed, wide-eyed and scared. I check behind the dressing wall, in the bathing pit, in every crack and crevice. I seek her emotions through the bond, but her presence is faint, almost like she’s underwater and I can’t quite reach her.
Terror seizes the air in my lungs, and I slam my palm against the door to the bathroom, splintering it. “Where is she?” I rake my hands through my hair, destroying the careful way I styled the strands.
“Orcus,” my mother croaks, but I don’t spare her a look.
“I told you I looked—” Orlena begins.
Growling, I glare at her. “You didn’t look hard enough. She’s not gone.” She can’t be.
“Maybe she realized marrying a monster wasn’t what she truly wanted,” my father drawls from near the door.
My head swings in his direction. He shrugs and his stupid smug look has my fists clenching once more. He didn’t like that I stopped his plan. He said Daisy was putting thoughts in my head. Maybe he did something.
Taking three quick steps, I put myself in front of him, chest heaving and eyes jumping over every inch of his face. “What did you do?”
The king leans toward me. “I didn’tdoanything.”
“Liar.” I grab his shoulders and slam him against the wall. “What did you do?”
“Orcus!” someone calls but I’m too blinded by anger to heed their cries.
My father sucks in a pained breath. “I didn’t touch your little flower!”
Fuck him for using that name. I punch him in the ribs and someone gasps behind me. “You didn’t like the idea of pulling back, you wanted to continue with the fight,” I punch him again and again but he simply takes it with a hard grunt. He doesn’t even try to defend himself. Why won’t he fight back?
“What did you do with her?” I snarl, landing another hit.
“I told you, I didn’t do anything.” He groans.
“Well I don’t believe you.” I pull my fist back for another punch.
“Vampires!” Andrew, a minotaur guard, bursts into the room, clutching a bloodied scrap of Daisy’s dress. “It was the vampires.”
“Where did you find that?” I demand.
Andrew’s gaze slips to the death grip I have on my father and my fist aimed at the king’s face. His posture shifts. To the untrained eye, it would look innocent. To me, it’s a soldier preparing for battle. He’s loyal to the king. “Your Majesty?”
“Everything is fine. Answer my son’s question.”
I release my father and scowl in his direction.
“In the south wing,” Andrew says. “Her dress—”
“Show me,” I snap, pulling my attention from my father.
