by Linda Kage
“And until then.” Urban winked. “We still have—”
“The dreams,” we said in unison.
When a resounding wail of a horn echoed across the land, we both frowned at each other until our eyes sprang open wide with panic.
“Is that…?” I started.
Only for Urban to finish, “The royal alarm.”
Oh, no. There was trouble at the castle.
“Shit,” he hissed, grasping my hand. “This can’t be good.”
“Do you think the bearer of dark magic has struck again?” I asked, my limbs trembling with sudden anxiety.
Anniston, Nicolette, Yasmin, all the men were still up there, inside the iron walls.
Urban shot me a worried glance. “I don’t know, but we need to get back. Right now.”
We ran the entire way, out of breath and panting by the time we reached the secret door in the woods. Through the dark of the tunnel under the moat, we rushed until we were able to hear the muffled long, wailing moan of the warning horn as soon as Urban rolled the door open into the wine cellar. He helped me out of the tunnel in the dark and closed the door behind us. It didn’t even occur to me to hide the fact we’d been together as we raced toward the Throne Room side by side to find out what had happened.
“What’s going on?” Urban demanded as we sailed past the guards there, without waiting to be announced, and burst through the doorway together.
Everyone was already present: the king, queen, Soren, Allera, Brentley, Nicolette, everyone. They turned to us, their expressions more worried than suspicious. Not even Soren seemed to care that I’d arrived with Urban.
“We received a pigeon message from the kingdom of Far Shore,” Caulder announced solemnly, holding up a tiny rolled piece of paper. “They’ve stolen from us.”
“Far Shore?” Urban repeated, shaking his head over such a random place.
I looked up at him, only to glance back at Caulder. “What did they take?”
No one answered at first. When they all looked away, dread coiled in my stomach. “What did they take?” I asked more insistently.
Immediately, I catalogued what was most important to me. Everyone in the room, grandfather, Elliott. I knew they were all safe, everyone except for—
Oh God.
“They took our daughter,” Soren grated out.
I blinked, staring at him, and then shook my head. Because… “What?” I rasped. “No. She… She’s…” She was fine. Anniston was fine. I’d left her with all that protection just this morning, just before I went to meet with Nanny Wynter. She’d cooed and smiled at me and gripped my fingers as I kissed her cheek and told her I’d be home soon.
But that had been hours ago. Probably too long. The longest I’d ever been away from her. My breasts were heavy and full of milk because of how long I’d been gone. I needed to go up to my room and feed her. She had to be up there, safe and sound, waiting. She couldn’t be…
I shook my head again, my equilibrium making my vision go light and faint.
“Vienne,” Urban said, reaching for me as his eyes widened in horror.
Except he never caught me. He only seemed to tip sideways, slipping away, before the world went dark.
When I next opened my lashes, I was still in the Throne Room, draped across a settee, where Caulder was pacing not far away and Yasmin sat in her chair, biting her fingernails.
“Anniston,” I said, trying to sit up.
“Vienne.” Nicolette grasped my hand, making me realize she’d been sitting beside me, watching over me the entire time.
I took her fingers urgently. “My baby,” I demanded. “Where’s my baby?”
She shook her head, tears filling her eyes. “Everyone’s looking for her. They’re all out there, looking.”
“But she’s not out there,” I spat, pushing to my feet. “She… I left her in my bedchamber. That’s where she is.”
Ignoring everyone who urged me to remain, I raced from the room and ran all the way up to my bedchamber, determined to retrieve my baby. I’d left her with two maids and three guards, after all. How could anything wicked possibly reach her?
But when I burst inside, the room was empty. No maids. No guards. No Anniston. I could feel her absence like an anvil on my chest.
Shaking my head and chanting, “No, no, no, no,” I tore the room apart, searching the place, in the crib, on my bed, under chairs, everywhere.
But Anniston wasn’t there.
“Where’s my baby?” I screamed.
I raced back down to the Throne Room. Caulder turned when I entered, and regret shimmered in his gaze. “Vienne,” he started, but I held up a hand.
“Tell me everything you know. Who took her? Why? How?”
“We don’t know how or why; we just know who.” He held up the small rolled piece of paper in between his fingers that he’d showed us earlier. “Far Shore.”
I grabbed the miniature scroll and unrolled it.
You have stolen from us, so we shall steal from you. The blood of this royal child is on YOUR hands.
“What?” I growled, shaking my head. “What the fuck does this even mean?”
Caulder shrugged. “I have no idea. I sent a message back but haven’t received a reply yet.”
“Well, send another, dammit! I want my daughter back. Right now.”
“Vienne,” the king started logically, but I held up a hand.
“No. Do not look at me with pity in your eyes. Like I’ve lost something. I didn’t lose her. She’s not gone. She’s not…”
Tears filled my eyes.
Nicolette tried to approach, comfort clearly her intent, but I screamed at her to stay away. Hugging myself, I bent at the waist.
My baby was gone. I’d been off, kissing a man who wasn’t my husband, and someone had taken my child. A sob rose up my throat as I fell to my knees, unable to see through the tears as agony coiled in the pit of my soul and sprang loose until I was flooded with it, drowning in it.
“Vienne?” a low, familiar voice said.
I looked up, blinking Urban into focus as he strode into the Throne Room, his blue eyes filled with worry.
“Did you find her?” I asked, scrambling to him and clutching the front of his tunic. I knew he must’ve been out looking with the others. He had always tried to get me what I wanted, and right now, all I wanted was my baby.
Regret shimmered in his expression as he took my hands and squeezed. “Not yet.”
A gasp of denial left me. I shook my head before pushing him back and snarling, “Then why are you here and not out there, still looking?”
Startled by the venom in my voice, his eyes flared wide and his mouth opened to speak. “I…”
A new thought struck me. Wait. Why wasn’t I out there, looking?
I started for the door, but he reached for me. “Vienne. Where do you think you’re—”
“No, don’t,” I warned, then screamed when he latched his hand around my arm, capturing me. “Let me go!” I pounded both fists against his chest with a vengeance. “How dare you stand there and have nothing when you looked my baby in the eye and promised her… You swore an oath you would never let anything bad happen to her. Oh God.” I sobbed, realizing I’d come unhinged but was unable to stop the flow of unbridled despair. “How could I lose my own baby?”
Collapsing against him and burying my face in his shirt, I wept, hurting as I’d never hurt before. “She was right there,” I insisted between the tears. “This morning, she was right there, happy and safe… And now she’s gone. I lost her. I’ve lost my child.”
Urban’s arms banded around me. “Shh,” he murmured. “You didn’t lose her. We’ll get her back. I swear.”
“I shouldn’t have left her alone with the servants for so long. I shouldn’t have been with you. I’m such an awful mother. I…I…”
“No,” he crooned, swaying me back and forth. “You’re not. You love her, she’s a wonderful healthy baby because of you. You’re an excellent moth
er. This was not your fault. Monsters did this.”
“What if she’s scared?” I babbled on. “What if they’re not feeding her, or oh God, hurting her?”
A shudder went through Urban at the suggestion, but he merely repeated, more sternly, “We’ll find her. I will find her.”
I lifted my face, my gaze hopeful. “And you can’t sense her? Like you can sense me? She’s a part of me. Surely, you can...”
Urban’s chin quivered and his eyes went moist before he shook his head. “I can’t,” he croaked, his voice breaking. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”
More tears fell down my cheeks. “It’s okay.” I nodded and went back to resting my cheek against his chest and petting his arm. “I’m sorry I’m going crazy. I just want her back so bad.”
“Don’t apologize. We’re all going crazy over this.”
When he kissed my forehead, my legs gave out under me. But Urban caught me and scooped me into his arms, where he carried me to a nearby chair and deposited me gently on soft cushions. I curled into a ball to weep with my head on the armrest.
Urban set his palm gently against my hair as he stood. “I’m going to go get her back now. I’ll return shortly with your daughter.”
“Okay.” I bobbed my head stupidly.
He glanced toward Caulder, Yasmin, and Nicolette, who stood there, gaping at us with staggered expressions.
“Hurry,” I said, so he nodded and strode from the room.
Chapter 37
Urban
I left a numb, shell-shocked Vienne with the king, queen, and princess, and I stormed from the castle, more determined than ever to find Anniston.
Whoever had taken that precious little child wasn’t going to live to see another day. That was my promise.
As soon as I exited the keep, a party of people were hurrying toward me, Brentley, Allera, and Soren among them.
“Did you find anything?” I demanded.
“We captured these two,” Brentley answered, out of breath as he motioned to two men with their hands tied with ropes around their wrists as the soldiers containing them pushed them forward for me to deal with. “They were just outside Mandalay near one of the sand mountains between the castle and the village. We think they may be Far Shore scouts.”
I strode to the two men and looked them both in the eye.
“We asked about Anniston, but they’re not talking.”
With a nod, I eyed one, then the other. “Did you help kidnap that baby?” I asked.
When the bolder one spit at my feet, I took that as a yes.
Not in the mood to play games, I yanked my dagger from its holder and grabbed him by the bangs of his hair before shoving him back-first against the wall of the keep and pinning him there.
Placing my blade against his throat, I moved my face right up alongside his and said, “Where’s the baby?”
The idiot only spit on me again, right in my face this time, so I shook my head and sliced his throat open.
“Wrong answer.”
As he slid to the ground, dead, I turned to the next man and meaningfully wiped his friend’s blood off my dagger onto the leg of my trousers, then shrugged his spit off my cheek with my shoulder.
When he met my gaze, his eyes widened. He tried to back away, shaking his head, but the soldier holding him wouldn’t let him budge.
I reached for him.
“It’s in the forest, in the forest!” he babbled, trembling uncontrollably. “Still alive. We didn’t kill the kid. It’s okay, I swear. We just wanted to use it as leverage to get your attention.”
“Well, now you have my attention,” I said, pressing the blade to his throat. “Where in the forest?”
“Th-that way.” The Far Shore coward pointed, his finger unable to remain steady. “I’ll take you. I’ll take you right to it.”
“Yes, you will,” I murmured softly. “And if there’s a trap, if anyone attacks us, or if a single scratch is found on that child… I will personally make you hurt—a lot—before you die.”
The fool’s head bobbed up and down. “Okay. Okay.”
Letting go of him, I stepped back and stowed my dagger before turning to face the rest of the group. “This fellow’s agreed to show us where Anniston is.”
They merely stared at me.
Finally, Allera gave a low whistle and shook her head. “Damn, Urban.”
My jaw hardened as rage overwhelmed me. “They made Vienne cry.”
“Reason enough,” Brentley said slowly. Then he clapped his hands together. “Alright, then. Let’s go get our little girl back.”
We followed the lead of the bound man, taking another dozen soldiers with us, in case it was a trap. It took nearly twenty minutes of walking time to reach the spot where they were keeping her, each minute making my gut burn hotter because I could feel Vienne’s agony through my mark, increasing with each step. Add that on to the fact that I couldn’t bear to see that sweet little baby I’d held once in any distress, and I wanted to murder pretty much any enemy who crossed my path.
I heard her cries before she even came into view. Throwing caution to the wind, I sprinted forward, headlong, ignoring Brentley and Allera who yelled after me, warning me to be careful.
All I could focus on was Anniston’s angry wail. It bothered me to hear such a sound; it’d rip Vienne apart if she’d heard it. I had to make it stop, had to make the babe happy again.
Two more men were with her, sitting around a campfire they were attempting to light. Neither held her, just let her cry on the ground on top of a pile of blankets. They hadn’t even swaddled her. Her bare legs looked almost purple from the chill as she kicked violently.
“God…damn you,” I muttered, charging them.
They wouldn’t have heard me coming over the wails of the baby, but the prisoner who’d led us here called out a warning, causing his friends to lurch to their feet and whirl toward me. I beheaded one and diced open the other’s chest before either of them could react. Then I was dropping my sword and falling to my knees beside the wailing infant so I could tug her into my arms.
“It’s okay,” I murmured softly. “It’s okay now. We’ll get you back to your momma right away, mistress. Warm and safe. She misses you just as much as you miss her.”
Holding her out, I checked her over for bruises and scrapes before tugging her back against the warmth of my body and bouncing her soothingly. Her nappy was soiled through, but I didn’t even mind, I was so relieved to find her alive and well.
Lifting her higher, I kissed her temple and closed my eyes. She settled some as she burrowed into me, but the babe was still clearly agitated and wanted to go home.
“Is she okay?” Soren asked from behind me, his voice almost hesitant.
I turned to him. He was her father; I knew I should probably hand her over to his care, but I couldn’t seem to relinquish her just yet. “Yes,” I rasped, pressing my cheek to her brow. “She’ll be okay. She just needs Vienne, I’m sure.”
He nodded, his face ashen and marred with what I could only guess was concern.
Allera stepped forward, opening her arms. “Why don’t you give her to me, Brother? Brentley and I can return her to the castle, while you deal with…things.” She glanced back at the Far Shore soldier on the ground who was still alive with blood seeping from the chest wound I’d given him.
I nodded and handed the baby over, warning her to watch for wetness. Brentley gathered the blankets from the ground and shook them out before covering Anniston as Allera patted her back soothingly.
I nodded to my sister and watched her go, Brentley and Soren flanking her for security’s sake as half our guards left with them.
Then I curled my hands into fists and turned to the two remaining Far Shore men.
The one with the chest wound focused on my mark as he pushed unsteadily to his feet. Clutching his injury with one arm, he sneered, “Hell, from the way you came roaring up here, I thought you might actually be some tough shit. Except you’re noth
ing but a pansy High Cliff nanny, aren’t you?”
I said nothing as I picked my sword up from the ground and I killed his traitorous friend who’d led us here.
With a gulp, he watched the other man drop to the ground, and the snark seemed to drain right out of him.
“So you’re from Far Shore?” I asked, turning back to him.
His gaze darted to the Donnelly soldiers who circled us.
When he nodded uneasily, I shook my head. What the fuck? Why would Far Shore do any of this?
“Why did you make it look like a Lowden attack?”
He frowned, obviously confused, before insisting, “We didn’t.”
“But the carriage explosion…” I started, only to realize…fuck.
“What carriage explosion?” the man asked, clearly confused.
He had no idea about that carriage, meaning that had to be totally unrelated to this, meaning… Donnelly had more than one enemy banging at its door.
Shit.
“You didn’t send us a magic-filled carriage to kill some of our royals?” I asked, anyway, just to be certain.
The soldier snorted. “Shit. No, that wasn’t us. Promise. We’d have loved to take credit for such fine work, though.” A look of interest crossed his face. “Which royals did you lose? The king, I hope.”
“No lives lost, mate,” I told him pleasantly. “Sorry to disappoint you. But tell me, why the kidnapping? Why that child?”
He shrugged. “That’s the one we were told to take. Said it’d get the most attention. Cause the biggest stir.”
“But why cause a stir? I don’t understand.”
Beginning a slow, lewd grin, he cackled, “We needed to distract you, mate.”
I shook my head. “Distract us from what?”
He nodded. “I suppose it’s okay to reveal the big secret now, since it’s too late for you to do anything about it. Plus, I want to see the look on your face when you learn more are coming. While all you idiots were running around, crying over your lost baby, an army bigger than yours marched into Donnelly territory, right under your noses. And they’ll arrive at your pathetic Iron Castle any minute to kill you all.” He threw back his head, laughing maniacally.