Chapter 44 CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
MAX’S POV
I stared at my ceiling, thinking about Zaria. What if she were already dead? What if she were being maltreated?
I felt pissed at myself, for bringing her into the royal life, she doesn't deserve this, I do.
It has been three stressful days of her search, yet she has not found a single clue, not even a strand of her hair.
I made sure to put three guards at the secluded corridor, the prisoner in there would know something about her kidnapping, as it is related to the prisoner.
Raymond and I planned to torture the prisoner today, which would give us some heads up on the search for Zaria.
“Your Grace” I heard Elara’s voice, I had barely noticed her presence all along.
She was standing by the door, holding a tray of food, her eyes darted to the plates of untouched food she had dropped for the past three days.
“I'm not hungry Elara” I groaned. “Get all these food out of my sight”
Elara inhaled deeply, she walked towards me and placed the tray of food with the others.
“Your Grace, Zaria would hate that you are starving yourself, all because of her,” she said, sitting beside me on my bed.
I sat up and turned to her, she looked worried and sad, Zaria's absence must have affected her more than me, they were really close.
I recalled when my father ordered the banishment of her sister, and didn't bother to find justice for her daughter’s death, who was poisoned, yet she had served the palace diligently, she is like a mother to me.
“Elara, stop worrying about me” I whispered. “I hate seeing you like this”
Her lips curved into a weak smile, making the wrinkles on her face evident, her eyes were teary but she held back her tears.
“It would mean a lot to me, if Zaria is found” She sobbed. “But if you starve to death, I wouldn't be able to bear it”
With a deep breath, I took the tray of food, containing fried okra, which smelled good, but I had no appetite, and I felt lost without Zaria.
I forced a spoonful into my mouth, while looking at Elara, whose smile never faded.
“Happy now” I shrugged, with a mouthful.
She nodded. “You need to be careful, your trusted ones are the enemies” She said, making me confused.
“What do you mean by that?” I huffed, pushing the tray of food away from me.
“What I mean is that, whatever demon is in the secluded room, is known by only two people in the entire pack, you and…”
“Raymond?” I questioned and she nodded her head. “Are you saying Raymond has something to do with Zaria’s kidnapping?” I asked.
“All I'm saying is you should be careful, don't trust everyone” she said in a hushed tone. “Not even me”
I was still trying to comprehend what she said, when Raymond barged into my room, with a grin on his face.
“I will take my leave now” Elara got up to leave.
“Wait!” I yelled, she turned to look at me with questions in her eyes. “Make sure to tell the maids to get rid of these”
I gestured to the trays of spoiled food, and she nodded in response.
“What the hell happened?” Raymond asked, as Elara closed the door behind us. “What did she tell you?”
Raymond and I have been best friends since I knew right from wrong, he would never want to hurt me, yet I feel he is hiding something from me, something important.
“Where have you been?” I asked, ignoring his question and he shrugged.
“I have been at home, with my wife and kids” he said, but I knew it was a lie.
Raymond is hard to read, he didn't look me in the eyes while responding, and only liars do that, fuck, I hate secondthinkng my best friend.
“Whatever! Give me a minute, I need to get into something so we can meet our prisoner” I said, shoving my doubts of Raymond away, for now.
He nodded and walked out the door.
I quickly changed into a black shirt and pants and headed out.
“Do you think she would crack?” Raymond asked.
“No, she hasn't cracked in years” I replied to his question.
The prisoner had refused to say anything about herself, we think she has just lost her memories due to the accident, in which she killed my sister.
I suspect she is keeping things, we don't torture women with domestic violence, we just try to make them crack with threats but it has been fruitless for the past years.
Soon we got to the secluded corridor.
“Go guard somewhere else” I said to the guards, who immediately acted on my command.
I twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open.
She was sitting on her bed, with her hair covering her face. She had grown older over the past few years, although we barely saw her face, the wrinkles around her neck told her age.
“Did you come to tell me more threats?” she asked, slowly raising her head, her hair scattered around her face, but her eyes found a way to catch mine. “I told you already, I don't know who I am”
She had gotten bored of our threats, but we couldn't torture her, or bring a female to do so, she is our little secret, the pack members don't know about my prisoner.
“No, I am here to know why you kidnapped my Luna, and how the fuck you did it!” I growled, holding her eyes.
“Can you listen to yourself, I have been locked for a year, how would I be able to kidnap your Luna, I don't even know her” She said, with her voice low.
She was telling the truth but I found it hard to believe.
“Fuck!” I groaned, punching the wall hard.
“Calm the fuck down” Raymond snapped at me, trying to hold me, but I pushed him off.
I was out of control already. “Why would I calm down, she isn't telling us anything meaningful”
“She probably doesn't know anything about Zaria!” He yelled.
“Zaria?” the prisoner repeated, looking at us slowly. “I know that name”
Raymond and I stared at each other with shock in our eyes.