Page 33 of Guarding the Princess
I go straight to his room, which does happen to be the farthest guest room from my own suite. Mother certainly has a mean streak and she’s not afraid to widen it when it comes to me and my future. The door is unlocked so I knock and enter, seeing nothing but darkness.
“Ryker?”
Silence greets me so I know he’s not there. I close the door and try to think. Where would he have gone? Maybe he wanted privacy for his phone call. I wouldn’t put it past Mother to have cameras or wiretaps, quite frankly. I go all the way back to my room to change out of my dress and heels. I pull on jeans, a sweater, and a jacket and grab my cell phone. No messages or texts from Ryker. I shove the phone in my back pocket and head outside to the gardens. I make it all the way out to the bench we sat on the day before without seeing his tall form.
“Where are you?” I whisper to the darkness. The snow seems to muffle my voice, the moon the only witness to my one-sided conversation. An owl hoots nearby and I feel the first shiver of apprehension run up my spine.
I sprint as fast as I can on the snow-covered walkways, going back inside, my heart ready to beat right out of my chest. Something is very wrong, I can feel it.
“Charlotta? What are you doing?” Father stands in the great hall, a drink in hand, mid-conversation with one of my uncles who traveled to the palace for my welcome-home dinner. I bet it’s one he’ll never forget. He walks over to stand in front of me, smoothing his tie repeatedly. “Are you okay, sweet child?”
His concern melts the brave face I automatically put on in times of stress. Mother definitely taught me something. “No, I’m not. I can’t find Ryker.”
He steps closer to put his arm around my shoulder and steer me out of the room, away from my uncle’s inquisitive stare. “I’ll help you then. Let’s find him together.”
My eyes burn from his kindness. My father may not have stuck up for me and my brother very often growing up, but he was always there in the background with unlimited kindness. He let Mother run the family and the country, but I knew in their own way, they both loved me.
“Thank you.” I sniffle and take a shaky breath, trying to calm myself. “He’s not in his room, or outside in the gardens where we were yesterday, so I have no idea where he would have gone. It’s not like him to venture far away. Especially when he said we’d talk right after dinner.”
“I’m sure he just got lost. We’ll just go room to room until we find him. Come.” We walk down the halls together, opening doors and sticking our head in. His presence makes me feel like a little girl again where anything is possible and all will turn out well simply because my daddy said so.
“Are we playing an after-dinner game of hide-and-seek?”
Magnus’s annoying voice stops us as we start in on the rooms on the second floor. I turn to see him in the hallway, his jacket and tie gone, sleeves rolled up while he jams his hands in his pants pockets. That little smile of his face is back, like he practices it in the mirror to use whenever he sees me.
“I don’t have time for you right now, Magnus. I’m looking for Ryker.” I turn away from him and continue down the hallway, opening doors. My father, bless him, keeps looking as well.
“Ah, I see. Well, I hate to be stepping into the middle of yet another lover’s spat, but I saw Ryker leave the palace in a hurry about a little over an hour ago. I went to the restroom during dinner and saw him rushing out, bag in hand. I figured he must have called you.”
My heart freezes, my lungs spasming with the news. I’ve never been a violent person, but I really wish to hurt Magnus for being the bearer of this news and gleaning so much joy from it. A fierce ache takes up in my stomach, like the real me is clawing its way out, trying to get to Ryker, despite what logic tells me.
He left.
Without one word to me.
He just told me this morning he loved me, and within the same day, he’s left me.
“Are you sure about that, Magnus?” My father asks him the question from down a tunnel. His voice is echoing inside my head, pinging around without a home. I can’t even form coherent thoughts because nothing makes sense.
Magnus shrugs like he didn’t just destroy my heart a second ago. “Yeah, I asked the butler and he said Ryker asked for a ride to the airport. Guess he needed to get back home.”
My father looks at me, the sympathy clear on his face. Magnus attempts the same expression but I can see the wicked gleam in his eyes. I can feel his glee at my pain.
I don’t think, I react. I lift my head and walk away from them, down the stairs, and to my room as fast as my feet will carry me. My father calls out after me, but I can’t stop. If I stop now, I’ll burst into tears and I refuse to give Magnus that added satisfaction. Reaching my room, I slam the door and lock it, breathing hard and blinking fast. The tears start flowing before I hit the bed where I flop facedown and allow the facade to crumble away.
Ryker promised not to be like the other boys who tried to capture my heart and then turned on me the next day. He told me he loved me. I told my whole family about him.
And this is what he does in return.
When will I learn?
* * *
It’s just too much. The pressure of stepping into my role in the royal family. The memories of my brother flooding me here at the palace. The control over my life I thought I had being ripped away. And now Ryker.
The tears come until I’m all cried out. A type of numbness settles instead, allowing me renewed energy to get off my bed and splash water on my face in the bathroom. My reflection in the mirror is pathetic. Red-rimmed eyes, streaked cheeks, and hair a tangled mess. All from a man who claimed to love me and then disappeared without a word. I shake my head to dislodge the thoughts. I don’t want to think about that any longer tonight.
The walls of the palace threaten to close in on me. I need out of this place. Just a few hours of fresh air, the kind that doesn’t come with expectations and stress. Only home two days and I felt like Ryker was my place to rest. When the stress of the palace became too much, I knew I had Ryker to escape to. And now that he’s gone, this palace offers me no solace.
