Chapter 121

Chapter 121
Raven;

The walls were closing in.

Not literally, though the arched hallway to the council chambers had always felt too narrow for my liking, but in the way power itself constricts when secrets begin to stack too high. 

Princess Ellie had been missing for hours now, and with each tick of the water clock in the antechamber, the knot between my ribs pulled tighter.

I’d sent the maids away under the guise of “re-inventorying the princess’s travel trunks.” Lucy had taken my message to the king like I asked, quietly. Too quietly, I hoped. If the wrong ears caught wind of this, we wouldn’t just have a diplomatic problem, we’d have an uncontainable political explosion.

Belgravia had always been a snake pit wrapped in silk, and their princess, well, careless, pampered, naive. But she was still their golden symbol. If word reached the Belgravian walls that she’d vanished inside our palace walls, they wouldn’t ask questions before acting. They’d assume the worst: treachery, abduction, assassination. They’d even assume that this was a revenge move by me.

War would follow, and Lady Joanna would paint herself as the kingdom’s only salvation.

And I was not about to hand her that weapon.

I paced the small reception room off my quarters, the late-morning light pouring through the tall windows doing nothing to thaw the cold threading its way up my spine.

The door creaked open.

Liam stepped in, boots muffled against the carpet, his expression taut. He shut the door behind him before speaking. “Lucy told me.” His voice was low, as if the walls might have ears. They probably did.

“How much?” I asked.

“That she’s missing. That you want it contained.”

I exhaled sharply. “Yes. It’s better we keep it to ourselves. The maids and guards have been kept quiet. We don’t want this going out or reaching lady Joanna. You know what’s going to happen.”

“I know,” he said, moving closer. “But what I really do need to know is how long we’ve got before the Belgravians start asking questions.”

I hesitated. “Three days. She’s supposed to leave for home in two days. If we haven’t found her by then…” My words trailed off, but the implication hung between us like smoke.

Liam rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You realize how impossible this will be if she’s…”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” I cut in. “We find her. Alive. We don’t give Joanna the satisfaction.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Dorian can help. He has his… networks. Quiet ones.”

I nodded. “Tell him to start immediately. Discreetly. No more than two men, and no one in the palace guard. We can’t risk the story leaking,” I let out a deep sigh. “You weren’t at the council meeting this morning.”

He glanced at me for a while and then shook his head. “Are you accusing me right now?”

“No!” I shook my head. “No, I know you didn’t kidnap her or something. I was just…worried.” I was shocked at his outburst, but for some reasons, I knew that saying that would even worsen everything and I already didn’t like the way we were.

He was already halfway to the door before he stopped. “Raven…” His gaze searched mine, sharp but troubled. “If she was taken, you know it won’t just be about ransom or leverage. Someone will use her to fracture the council entirely.”

“I know,” I said, my voice colder than I meant. “Which is why we’re not giving them the chance.”

The moment he left, I locked the door and crossed to my desk. The polished surface reflected my face back at me, a little paler, a little harder than I remembered. I pulled a small map from the bottom drawer and spread it out, tracing my finger across the city’s outer districts.

If Ellie had slipped away willingly, she wouldn’t last an hour beyond the palace without attracting attention. Her fine silks and jeweled hairpins were beacons for cutpurses and worse. But if she’d been taken… gods, there were a hundred alleys in the merchant quarter alone where a body could vanish forever.

And then there was the other possibility, the one I didn’t want to name out loud. The one where “removal” didn’t just apply to old lords and political rivals, but to inconvenient foreign princesses too or convenient ones as the case may be.

The memory of the council aides’ whispers clawed at my thoughts. 

Was Ellie on that list? And if she was, had the “first wave” already started?

The bell tower tolled in the distance, and the sound snapped me out of my spiral. I needed to move, to act. Sitting here with my thoughts was as useful as throwing stones at the tide.

I called for Lucy. She slipped in quietly, closing the door behind her.

“Has any letter from Belgravia arrived for her?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Not yet. I don’t think she receives anything from them.”

I scoffed. “King Alaric wouldn’t send her here if he wasn’t communicating with her frequently. There had to be a reason he sent her here and if he was communicating with her, you wouldn’t know it,” I sighed, remembering the time I spent pretending to be his daughter.

“I need you to do something else,” I said. “Find out if anyone saw her leave the palace. Vendors, stablehands, kitchen boys. Pay them if you have to. And check the servants’ gate logs.”

Lucy nodded, already halfway to the door before I added, “And Lucy, keep your own head down. If Joanna catches wind of this, she’ll know exactly how to use it.”

When she was gone, I stood at the window overlooking the courtyard. People were laughing, going about their day , blissfully unaware that the wrong whisper could turn this city into a bloodbath.

A knock broke my focus.

It was Liam again, this time with Dorian in tow. He looked grimmer than usual, his dark eyes unreadable.

“I’ll keep this simple,” Dorian said without preamble. “If she’s still in the city, I’ll find her. But if she’s already been taken beyond the walls…” He let the rest hang.

“Then find the trail,” I said. “I don’t care how faint it is. We can’t have her disappearance traced back here.”

Dorian’s gaze sharpened. “You think this is Joanna’s doing?”

“I think Joanna would happily take credit for it if it benefits her,” I replied. “Whether she arranged it or not.”

“Then I’ll start in the east quarter,” he said. “Too many of her allies own property there.”

“Be careful,” Liam warned him.

When Dorian left, Liam lingered, his voice low. “This is dangerous, Raven. If this comes out…”

“It won’t,” I said, though my certainty felt thin in my mouth.