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Fuck.
The clock read a quarter to one.
Fuck, fuck, shit, damn, fuck.
Maybe she was still awake.
I jumped out of my chair, sending it rolling into the wooden bookshelves behind me. I had to get to her. I had to explain. Tell her I was sorry.
My office door was slightly ajar. Had she come looking for me?
Running down the hallway, I came to our bedroom, and I slowed my pace on my approach. I didn’t want to barge in, cracking the frame and scaring her. It wasn’t the tone I wanted to set. Tilting my head side to side, I cracked my neck, then opened the door.
Our bed was empty and undisturbed, the covers pulled up neatly the way it had been all day. Embers glowed in the fireplace, but the fire hadn’t been tended to for some time. Glassware, plates, and food littered the ground by the two chairs that sat in front of the hearth. Guilt ate at me. She’d had a dinner set up for us, and I’d never showed. Walking to the bathroom, I saw the door was cracked. I knocked, but there was no answer, so I went in.
Empty.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and exited, heading toward the chair. I’d messed up so badly, and I had no way of knowing how I could make it up to her. I didn’t even know where she was sleeping tonight, but I didn’t blame her for not wanting it to be here.
Dropping into the chair, something crunched beneath me. Reaching under, I pulled out a piece of paper and opened it. Her handwriting covered it. This was different from her previous notes. It was longer, and it looked rushed. Messy.
As I began reading it, my stomach roiled.
All I wanted was to tell you I love you. That I chose you—because we can do that, right? Make those choices for ourselves and refuse to let fate decide for us? At least I thought we could. I didn’t want this to be fake. It became real to me. Maybe fate knows better. I don’t know anymore. What I do know is that I can’t spend a lifetime while you pretend to love me in public when I’m nothing more than a means to an end.
I won’t do that to myself.
Tell them I rejected you because I’m cursed. It’s a believable story.
Time froze. I read the words again. And again. The paper shook in my hands. I jumped up, running to her dresser. No bag. Drawers partially empty.
The howl was real. It had been Nova. They were leaving.
Bursting through our door, I ran down the hallway, flying down the stairs. I bellowed for Ysa, projecting my voice to get everyone on this godsforsaken estate in front of me.
Soldiers appeared from nowhere, at the ready. I saw my second arrive, her eyes wide and filled with confusion as she took me in.
“Danni is gone,” I said, my jaw tight, holding up the note. I didn’t care who saw it. I needed her back.
Ysa’s expression turned hard. Turning, she shouted, “Search for her. Send word to close down borders. You—search the falls. Close off the gates, put a post at every exit. Now.” Guards took the orders, disappearing from the room as they sped down hallways and up other stairwells. Looking at Ysa, she read my face. “You didn’t go to her? What happened?”
“I fell asleep at my desk.” I shook my head, cursing myself for not just going to her the moment Ysa had handed me her note. “I was trying to think . . . I shouldn’t have waited."
She shook her head, twisting her mouth. “This doesn’t make sense. She left because you were late?”
“I don’t know,” I muttered. “Maybe she came to me? Thought I’d chosen to stay in my office for the night instead of coming to her?”
“Why would you think that?” Ysa looked at me in disbelief.
“My door was open when I woke up . . . Nova howled, but I thought it was just a dream?—”
My dream. My eyes widened and my heart dropped.
“What?” she asked, her brows furrowing.
“Markus.”
Ysa immediately understood, and we took off to his room. She’d placed him on the lowest level, housed with the staff and soldiers. As far away from our room as you could get, but somewhere we could keep an eye on him. Letting him live elsewhere in our territory wasn’t going to happen. I banged on his door, but there was no answer. I had no intention of waiting. Leaning back, I kicked the door in, planting my foot near the handle and breaking it off its hinges, busting the frame.
