Chapter 82. - Where is my mate?

HADRIAN

The wind blows through the trees and leaves dance in the air. Birds chirp above my head as they jump from branch to branch. The sun burns bright above my head and it reflects in the stream of water flowing down the river

My surroundings are serene, but I feel anything but peaceful right now. The misery burns at my chest and twists deep in my core.

“We need to get her out of there,” I growl at the woman perched on a rock near the edge of the river.

Time is ticking away. Several people at once found out that Emma has blue eyes and my father was quick to act. Six guards held me down and hauled Emma away. The guards brought her to the dungeons, but they had orders not to let me through. My father's rule still overpowers my command.

Lela tried to calm me down and I nearly ripped her head off. The purple marks on her throat prove how close things got. When Morana finds out I’ll be a dead man myself.

“She won’t get hurt.” Lela says again and the sigh she expels is a testament to her boredom.

It only makes me angrier. “She’s locked in the dungeon waiting for her execution.” My knuckles are white as every muscle is tensed.

I want to tear every brick of the dungeon down until I get to my mate. I don’t care about the lives I’ll have to kill to get to her, but Lela pursued me to calm down and get some fresh air.

That was last night and I’m still not calm.

“You have to trust me on this.” She says again. Lela has supernatural insight, but it would be nice if it was more specific.

Her words grate on my soul. “I can’t do that.” Adrenaline pumps through my body in a non-stop flow. The muscles in my body are swollen, and ready to attack. I take hard breaths to prevent myself from shifting.

Nero is going feral in my head. It has been like that since we recognized our mate and the guards came in.

“Think about your position.” Lela tries to get my attention by grabbing my arm. “What do you think people will think when they find out your mate has blue eyes?” Her sharp nails dig into my arms.

“I don’t care,” I growl at her and pull my arm away. Her nails leave scratches on my skin.

“You’ll lose your place as heir.”

Why would she care? If I lose my place next in line, then Morana will take my place. My sister can have my position. In a perfect world, it would make her Luna.

“Like I said,” I say and bare my teeth at her. “I. Don’t. Care.”

Lela growls in frustration. “This is what your father wants.” She swings an arm in the direction of the palace down the river. “He’ll just see it as an opportunity to execute you and nobody will ask questions.”

The amount of emotion she throws at me is something I’ve never seen before. Her black eyes burn with sincerity. Lela is always collected and stoic. Like my sister, she keeps her emotions in check. Sometimes I wonder if she doesn’t have any emotions at all. Nothing seems to ever bother her.

Just like my sister, there has been a subtle change. Like she has been holding herself back and I wonder if I ever really knew her.

“Then I‘ll kill him.” History will repeat itself and I will follow in the footsteps of my forefathers.

“How are you going to do that?” Lela steps up to me and bares her teeth. “You can’t fight a hundred guards when you’re chained in silver.”

I growl at her. She paints a picture that my rational mind knows is true, but I don’t want to hear it. It’s the part in my brain that followed her out to the forest instead of tearing down the palace.

“Do you think your father is going to fight fair?” She throws more oil on the fire she is building. It burns bright until I cannot deny its existence. “Face it, Hadrian.”

“How can you ask me to do nothing?” I know she has a point, it could very well mean my own execution if I intervene.

“Just trust me.” Lela pleads.

I trusted her once, but then she disappeared for years. She left me to bleed on my own. I thought we were friends, but she ripped the trust I had away. And right now I have to trust her with the fate of my mate?

“I cannot do that.”

I sprint back into the palace. Time is ticking. I’ll get her out myself.

I go to my bedroom and get some black loose-fitted clothes. The fabric falls soft over my skin. I pack a bag, fill it with some spare clothes and strap it around my chest. If I want to get her out, then I’ll have to do it with stealth.

I move to my office and open the top drawer of my desk for the key to the save. The faint scent of vanilla hits me and catches me off guard. The scent is faint, but recent. It lingers in the air and swirls around me like a warm blanket.

A piece of paper on my desk catches my attention. Black ink stamps the paper in familiar handwriting.

*I wish I could’ve met you in a different world. I wish I could’ve loved you unconditionally. I wish you could feel the same.*

I read the three sentences over and over. My knuckles crack under the pressure of my weight as I sink into the desk. The drops of tears are like daggers to my heart. I hate knowing that she was crying.

*She was here.*

—————-

I move towards the dungeons and the palace is crawling with guards. They swarm through the halls like bees.

“What is going on?” I growl the command to a passing guard.

The guard trembles with fearful eyes. “P-princess Emma escaped.”

The scent in my office was recent and the note wasn’t there this morning. Emma must’ve visited my office after I left. If I just stayed in the palace…

“How?”

“She bent the silver bars.” The guard explains and there is a hint of bewilderment in their eyes. This has never happened before.

I close my eyes as I take in all the scents around me. The scent of silver coming from the dungeons is overwhelming, but I peel it away until different scents appear. I search for the small trace of vanilla. I follow it out of the hall and away from the dungeon.

I follow the trail until I come face to face with her guards. They freeze and bow when I approach them. The scent lingers on their chests and fury roils from me. Callum is stoic, but Miles cannot hide the guilt marking his features.

“Get up,” I growl and my chest expands with the angry breath I take. “Where. Is. My. Mate?”

Callum places his hands behind his back and swallows when my aura hits him. “We vowed to protect her.” The resolve in his eyes is wavering when I approach him. His duty has always been to the crown, but now he’s purposefully opposing it.

“We couldn’t let her die,” Miles adds in a brave moment. His eyes widen a little at his own words.

I grumble when I look them over and analyze their sincerity. Their loyalty to Emma overpowers their duty to the crown. I’m surprised, to say the least. “I share that sentiment, but it doesn’t answer my question.”

I don’t care about their duty to their crown. I was two steps behind them with the same plan. I’m just surprised and annoyed at myself that they came into action before me.

“We don’t know,” Callum says and there is a fair amount of shared indignation. “She asked us to bring her to your office and we did.”

“We haven’t seen her since,” Miles adds.

Their confusion is evident in different ways. Miles is an open book that shows every emotion in raw honesty. Callum shows his confusion in anger. It boils beneath the surface and I can see the disappointment in himself.

My search brings me back to where I started. Her scent still hangs around the space of my office. She spent long enough here for it to stay.

I search around the room and her scent lingers at the handle of the lantern. I pull at the lantern to open the wall and follow the trail through the hidden door. The trail continues into the darkness.

A growl emanates from my chest. She went into the tunnels alone.

I follow her trail and wonder where her thoughts are leading her too. *Why would she go this way?*

I find a glass lantern at the end of the tunnel. The fire is out and the lantern is cold. It burnt out hours ago. I climb the same rung ladder as she did and open the same lever.

It brings me to the third ring of the city. There is nothing particularly special about this place, not that I know of. Her scent lingers at a spot near the city wall.

Then it disappears.

I search around the area and guards eye me with confusion. She wasn’t caught. I would be able to follow her trail to the guards. She just disappeared.

I knock the wall with my fist as I feel the distance rip in my chest. I need to find her.