Chapter 46

Several hours before Lola’s encounter with Nora, Russel woke up from a dead sleep. His body was stiff and there were a myriad of muscles all throughout that didn’t want to work correctly at first. He groaned as he moved when a bunch of parts of himself all protested in very painful ways. The fight with his father had taken its toll and although he felt whole and healed up again, there were still some lingering aftereffects.

The room was dark, the fire in the fireplace had long since gone out. He couldn’t see that well but despite that, it felt empty. He turned his head to search out Lola but found that side of the bed completely empty.

“Lola?” he asked, his voice sounding weirdly thin to him. “Lola!” he shouted again when she didn’t respond.

He jerked himself out of bed, ignoring all the various aches and pains still assaulting him, and ran to the bathroom to see if maybe she was in there. His eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly, his natural werewolf senses allowing him to see much better than an ordinary person.

All he kept seeing, however, was more of the empty room. Lola was nowhere to be found.

Maybe the main room, he thought to himself. The bedroom was just one part of his father’s apartments. There was a large living space as well. Maybe she had gone there to sit, not wanting to wake him up after waking up herself. It seemed plausible.

He hurried to the bedroom door and yanked it open. The main part of the apartment was also deserted. He ran around in a blind panic, looking everywhere for her but when he didn’t find her, the only logical assumption he could make was that she had left the room.

He ran back to the bedroom and hurriedly threw on some clothes he happened to find. Since they originally belonged to his father, they were somewhat roomier than he normally wore. He didn’t care though. Lola was the priority. He had to make sure she was okay. If something happened to her…

He didn’t want to think about that. The thought of her getting injured or killed hurt too much. To make himself feel a little better as he hurried to the apartment’s front door, he told himself that she was in Oclan now. His kingdom. She should be safe here now. While he had been too exhausted and battered to issue a formal proclamation that she be guarded at all times, he was sure word would have spread fast that the human girl was important to the new king. He had, after all, issued the Blood Challenge and defeated the prior king just to ensure she lived.

And everyone in the kingdom knew of Carter Polver’s power.

Despite all those things that should have reassured him, he still felt a nagging pinprick of doubt stabbing at the back of his mind. Something that he couldn’t ignore no matter how much he wanted to. The feeling was a strong one and while he had never been one to put much stock in something like intuition, he still couldn’t shake it.

Something bad was going to happen to Lola. Or something bad had already happened.

He opened the door to the apartment and nearly collided with the guard posted outside.

“The woman,” he snapped. “Where did the woman go?”

The guard jerked as if he’d just been slapped.

“Your Majesty,” he said. “Uh…woman?”

Russel’s eyes narrowed and flashed with anger.

“Ah. Right. The woman,” he said, remembering the concubine that had exited the king’s chambers an hour or two ago. He was confused, however, as to why the king would be reacting so strangely over a whore. “She mentioned needing some fresh air. I believe she left the castle. She headed toward the front door, Sire. If I had known that the concubine…”

“Concubine!” Russel roared, his panic and fear swirling into a sudden hot rage. “She is not a whore. Watch your tongue or I’ll remove it from your head!”

The guard blinked and felt nervous sweat starting to pop out all along his body. The pure, unfiltered fury he saw in Russel was eerily similar to that of Carter Polver and he wanted nothing to do with that. Everyone said the fifth-born was mild and kindhearted but this guard was not seeing that side. Not at all.

He bowed his head stiffly and murmured a string of apologies.

“I would not have let her leave, Sire, if I had known her importance. I beg forgiveness. My life is forfeit and yours to take.”

He continued his ramblings but Russel just let out a frustrated growl. The fear dwindled a little bit. Lola was okay. She’d gone out for a walk, probably to clear her head and take stock of all the terrible things that had happened to her recently. Nobody took her. She probably didn’t want to wake him because he still needed to heal from his fight.

“Go find the castle guards and have them search the grounds for a human woman named Lola Tarnvol.”

The guard stiffened and saluted, his face set with determination.

“As you wish, Your Majesty.”

He turned to go, to follow his orders but Russel stopped him.

“If Lola has been hurt, taken, or worse, killed, nowhere within this kingdom will save you from my wrath. No hole will be big enough. No shadowed space dark enough. I will find you and I will rip your head from your shoulders.”

“A-aye, Your M-Majesty.” The guard saluted once more and then left to carry out his orders.

Russel watched him leave, a mix of emotions still troubling him. He felt a little bad about snapping at the guard. And then threatening his life. But the fear had been so overpowering, he hadn’t been thinking straight. Now that he knew she hadn’t been taken from him and had gone out on her own, he felt somewhat better. He still wanted to find her though, just to see with his own eyes that she truly was safe.

Bartholomew, however, found him first.

As soon as Russel made his way into the main part of the castle, the servant found him and stopped him.

“It is good fortune that I found you, Your Majesty.” He bowed respectfully.

“What is it, Bartholomew? I am currently in the middle of something,” Russel said, keeping his tone even despite the frustration he felt at being interrupted from his mission to find Lola.

“I was on my way to your apartment to let you know that a runner from the outer lands, near the border with Alcroft and Harvenk has just arrived bearing a missive. Some soldiers were ordered to come and retrieve you as the runner has been commanded by his superior to give the missive directly to you but your brother, Roland, has…intervened. I thought it prudent to find you regardless.”

That frustration built up even more, making him want to punch something just to find some sort of release. He took a breath and forced himself to relax.

You’re a king now, he told himself. Act like it.

Being in full view and letting himself break down in a fit of rage would only show his people that when faced with a challenge, his first reaction was to throw a tantrum. Like a child. Despite wanting nothing more than to reassure himself that Lola was okay, he had to be a king first. The runner probably had important intelligence he needed to see. And if Roland was intervening, it would only be as a way to instigate trouble for him.

“Take me to the runner,” Russel said.