Page 105 of Claimed By Shadow and Blood
"Thisisn'ther," Thalen said again.
“Then who is it?” I gritted my teeth.
He shook his head grimly. “I don't know, but this doesn’t even sound like her. She’d never say you were a lie and to not come look for her once, let alone twice. Maybe someone got to her and threatened her?”
“How?” I demanded, shifting my weight back. My shadows boiled, and I ached to explode in a maddening display of rage and terror. “No one could enter her room if they weren’t family, and she has no family here. Elara wouldn’t have told her anything remotely like the contents of that letter. If the entire palace fell down, an orb of protection would remain around that room, so long as the sigil remained. Even if the earthquake damaged the door, how wouldanyonehave gotten in there in time to convince her to go away?”
I pressed a hand to my head, everything inside me shattering. I could barely think through the splitting headache that now swept over me and the way my body felt as if I’d lost a part of myself.
“Let’s go to her room,” I commanded, grabbing his hand and portaling us both there.
We landed in the center of the room, which had been torn apart by either the earthquake or someone who had gotten to her. A sour taste filled my mouth as my worst fear turned true.
She wasn’t here.
My gaze went to the sigil I’d made to protect her.
I stumbled, and my breath caught. Someonehadaltered it… or had I drawn it wrong? My head spun, and I inhaled deeply. There was no other distinctive scent in the room.
No. I knew I’d drawn it correctly, and Briar wouldn’t know how to change it. Even if she’d agreed to go home, she wouldn’t have left without talking to me. She wasn’t a coward. Someone had forced her to leave.
I wanted to search for her, but everyone would notice, especially with diplomats and dignitaries arriving.
That didn't matter. The tug in my chest intensified, urging me to rip the palace apart to find her.
Thalen moved around the room...and froze. “She hasn’t been gone long, Vad. The trail is fresh.”
The floor tilted under my feet, and I stumbled toward the door as more nausea rolled through me. Blood pounded in my ears. I had to get to her. If she was leaving, I had to see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears, and if someone had taken her, I was going to rip them apart.
Thalen grabbed my arm. "Hey! Where are you going? You've got to go down and be the prince, soon to be the king."
"Get out of my way!" I shook free and shoved him back.
He struck the wall and leaped back up, wings flaring out as he cut in front of me. He flung his hands up, and a blast of icy wind slammed into my face.
I staggered back, grunting and swearing as my boots slid across shattered glass and ceramics. My shadows flared up andhooked toward him. "Feck you, Thalen! I’m going to find her and get her back."
"No, listen!" He kept his hands up, and his wings blocked the door entirely. "You have to calm downfor Briar."
My blistering rage quieted, and a pang of awareness struck me. But I lunged for Thalen anyway.
He shoved me back again, the wind knocking the mannequin over. "You're not thinking straight! Everyone will know something is going on because the coronation will be happening without a prince to become king! No matter whether Briar left on her own or someone kidnapped her, you'll be offering them a huge gaping weakness. And if they kill you or take you down, you know they'll go after Briar next just as a matter of principle. Not to mention, everyone will see you if you go searching for her now, and if someonehastaken her, they’ll be informed. Let me go get her."
His words cut into me. My wings flexed as I clenched my fists, struggling to form thoughts through the maelstrom. If going after Briar would make her situation more precarious, then I couldn't. Somehow, I had to pull myself together.
Thalen’s jaw set. “If you go looking for her, you’ll lose her.”
Fear strangled me. “Fine." I dragged a hand through my hair, hollowness gaping within me. I couldn't lose control, but my restraint hung by a thread. "Go look for her. Check the tunnels that used to lead to the old portaling doors. The ones where we were supposed to meet Bryn Lugh. If she's been abducted, kill the abductors. If she's leaving, tell her—tell her that this is her choice. If what the letter said is true, I will accept it. I will love her no matter what happens. But…ask her to come back just so that I can crown her queen. She can leave after that. I…” I struggled to force out the words, but I meant them as much as they ached and stung. “I won’t stop her. But there is no other queen for me, and I won’t crown another.
“However, if she’s been taken against her will, there’s no body count too large.”
Thalen’s brow tweaked and he lowered his hands. “If she's been abducted, don't you want us to take prisoners to interrogate?—"
"No. Kill them. Kill them all. I'm tired of people taking her and thinking they can get away with it," I snarled. "We aren't wasting time with prisoners."
"You know she didn't leave you. Shelovesyou.”
My mind twisted as I agonized over the possibilities. Loving me didn’t mean she hadn’t wanted to go back home. Hadn’t I been prepared to let her go because I loved her? Or...perhaps what she would have to sacrifice to be with me was too much. Maybe this person had said something to her that made her see things differently... or maybe she’d been taken against her will. “Do it. Don’t argue with her about her decision if it’s what she says she wants.” I’d talk with her anyway. I’d beg her to stay. And if, even after I pleaded, she wanted to go, I’d let her.
