Chapter 35 Chasing Ghosts
Chapter 35
Jax's POV.
The maid walked slowly in front of me, glancing around like she was scared. I followed her carefully, not too far from her and not too close so that no one would suspect anything.
A few palace workers just walked by, while others who could recognize me paid homage. I didn't have business of wearing my crown, or putting on my royal robes, or being followed by royal guards.
This was what I exactly envisaged and it's fine that it's all playing out this way.
My eyes stayed locked on the maid's back. “Please, Moon Goddess,” I prayed silently.
“Let me find Kubra. Let him be in his quarters.”
I had to comfort myself a bit. He had to be there. He didn't know we were coming. He didn't know his secret was out.
The maid had been scared when she confessed everything to me. Her hands had shaken. Her voice trembled. But I believed her, not completely but mostly. She seemed too terrified to lie. Still, a small part of me wondered if she would betray me at the last moment.
Click. Click. Click.
My pair of sandals hit the stone floor quickly. The maid glanced back at me. Once. Twice. Making sure I was still following. I nodded slightly each time, and she kept walking.
I looked down at my simple clothes. No jewels. No gold trim. No royal scepter in my hand. People walked right past me without bowing. It felt strange. Wrong, somehow. But necessary.
I need to hurry up. I still have to visit Alpha Vexhood today. Time was running fast. I just would still be at home by this time of the day or have time in the world to attend to me. I hope so. I just hope.
We turned down another corridor. More servants passed. None of them recognized me. Good. I love it that way.
Then I saw one who eventually recognized me. His eyes went wide when he looked at my face. He dropped to one knee immediately.
"My lord!" he said loudly.
"No, no, no!" I wanted to shout. Instead, I squeezed my face into a frustrated expression. “This is the last thing I need right now.”
"Please, my lord, I must speak with you," the guard begged.
I glanced ahead. The maid was getting farther away. Her small figure was almost at the end of the hallway now.
"Come closer," I whispered harshly. "Quickly!"
Thankfully, no one else was nearby. If they were, they would wonder why a guard was kneeling in front of a simply-dressed man. They would stare. They would ask questions.
The guard stepped close. "My lord, we woke up this week and discovered the milk supply in the main kitchen has been cut off."
I kept one eye on the maid as she turned a corner. “Don't lose her. Don't lose her.”But I slowed my walking to hear what the guard was saying.
"Why?" I asked, turning to look at him properly. "Our farmers are struggling, yes, but I never ordered anyone to stop food deliveries."
"You're right, my lord." The guard's voice dropped even lower. "We were told by the queen herself. She instructed the royal purveyor to cut the food supply to the kitchen. She said the cost was too high. The milk was too expensive."
My hands clenched into fists. "You're telling me Rosa ordered this? The queen told the purveyor to stop the milk supply?"
"Yes, my lord."
I looked up. The hallway ahead was empty.
The maid was gone.
"Fuck!" The word escaped my mouth before I could stop it.
"My lord?"
"I have to go." I quickly cut him shut, before he delayed me further. “Remind me to deal with this later!" I started walking fast, then faster, almost running.
My heart beat against my chest. Asking numerous questions? Where did she go? Which direction did she take? I spun in a circle, looking down on every corner and passageway.
Nothing. She vanished. Like a smoke in the night. Did she trick me? Was she waiting for that slightest moment for someone to stop me for her to disappear from sight?
I didn't even know where Kubra's quarters were. Not exactly. Not the specific door or room number. How could I have been so foolish?
A she-wolf servant walked past me, carrying a basket of linens.
"You!" I called out. "Please, can you take me to Kubra's quarters?"
The servant stopped and bowed. Why would a whole king want to visit an ordinary palace guard?
But she answered anyway. “Yes, your highness."
Thank the goddess she recognized me, I didn't want to waste time, introducing myself or doing anything close to that.
Another reality hit there, that those servants passing by me earlier recognized my identity, but just didn't want to pay homage .
I followed him quickly. My legs moved faster than they had in months. We rushed through corridors that twisted like snakes. We passed through passageways I had never seen before. We went down hallways that linked to the guards' living quarters.
We turned left. We turned right. Walked straight in a few steps.
Then we finally found ourselves in front of a wooden door.
The servant looked into my eyes. "Here is Kubra's room, my lord."
I nodded my head for her to push the door opened.
Then she did.
Empty.
The room was completely empty.
No Kubra. No maid. No one.
Just an unmade bed, a small table, and a chair lying on its side. The window was wide open. The curtain flapped in the breeze. It looks like Kubra had packed all his things leaving behind irrelevants.
They were gone. Both of them. Kubra had escaped, and the maid had helped him, or maybe she had run away too.
I felt like screaming. Like punching the wall. Like breaking everything in sight.
Kubra played me. That maid played me too. Both of them played me.
The most stupid thing is that, despite the time I spent discussing with the maid, I didn't even for a moment ask for her name.
How stupid can that be? Her name would have helped things a lot?
I whirled around to face the servant who had brought me here. Before I stopped you, did you see a young she-wolf? She was wearing a palace maid uniform…”
I paused a bit, maybe she had gotten my description.
“Probably working in the kitchen. She was walking ahead of us."
The servant thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No, my lord. I saw no one like that."
My mind raced. They couldn't have gotten far. Not yet. There was still time.
"Run to the main gate!" I commanded. "Tell the guards there not to let anyone leave the palace.
“I mean a single fly should not leave the palace. No one steps outside those gates until I say so!"
"Yes, my lord!" The servant took off running, his footsteps echoing down the hallway.
I stood in that empty room, staring at the open window. The curtain kept flapping. Like it was mocking me.
Some
where in this palace, Kubra and that maid were hiding. Or maybe they were already outside. Maybe they were already gone.
But I would find them.
I had to.