Chapter 101

Claire POV

Nathan and I stared at each other in shock. Our son…was gone??

Then Nathan charged forward at the terrified servant, grabbing him by the arm so tightly I could see his knuckles go white.

“What do you mean, he’s gone? Where is my son?!”

The poor man paled beneath the intensity of Nathan’s gaze, the power of his voice.

“I-I don’t know, sir. I simply went in to check on him, as you directed me to do. When I found the bed empty, I th-thought maybe he was just somewhere else in the suite.”

A surge of hope rushed through me. I hurried over to Nathan and the servant, putting my hand over Nathan’s, urging him to relax his grip.

“That’s it then, Nathan. He’s just somewhere in the palace, exploring. We’ll find him in no time.”

I turned to the servant. “What is your name?”

He had to swallow hard before he could answer, obviously still terrified of Nathan. “Derrick, your Highness.”

“Derrick, I want you to go alert the butler. Tell him to inform security that Andy is somewhere in the palace, and must be found immediately.”

He nodded, and seemed grateful for a reason just to leave the room. “Right away, ma’am.”

Once he left I turned to Nathan. “Let me get some clothes on, then we can go help look for him.”

Nathan grabbed my arm as I started to walk away. “Claire…what if he’s not in the palace? What if he isn’t just off exploring?”

I’d been desperately trying to keep that exact thought out of my head. But my belly was full of dread anyway.

My heart wanted to hope that our son was just off playing and exploring the palace, like any young child would be tempted to do.

My head, and my instincts, were trying to insist otherwise.

They were all but screaming that something else was going on.

Something awful.

I shook my head, as much to deny the direction of my own inner thoughts as to answer Nathan’s question.

“He’ll be alright,” I insisted. “We’ll find him.”

We had to.

But several hours later, we still hadn’t.

The palace was now ablaze with light, every room lit. All of my security personnel and even all of the servants had joined us in the search.

We’d even done a sweep through the extensive storage rooms that served as an attic, and the nearly endless levels of the basement.

And Andy was still nowhere to be found.

By now my hands were shaking with fear, and it was all I could do to keep my voice from trembling when I ordered the servants to keep looking.

But I couldn’t hide it at all from Nathan.

Once the servants left to continue searching, Nathan took my hands in his. They were so cold, and he rubbed them to try to bring back some warmth.

It didn’t help. This fearful chill went straight down into my bones.

“Wh-what are we going to do?” I stuttered, trying not to cry.

I felt like I’d only just got my son back, after having to live for so long without him. And now he was gone again.

Just…disappeared.

My father had mentioned a similar incident when I was a child, before I became separated from the Royal pack. He said I was a very tiny toddler, no more than two, and yet somehow got out of my crib, out of my room, and even out of the palace.

He said they found me wandering the grounds, perfectly fine.

At the time I could only imagine his terror at finding me missing.

Now I understood it first hand.

“Let’s go back to his room,” Nathan said. “Maybe I can track his scent from there.”

“Yes,” I sagged with relief. “Good idea.”

Nathan was a highly skilled tracker, with incredibly keen senses. I knew it would be more difficult for him to track just Andy’s scent while we were indoors, since the scent trails of so many other people could overlap each other, but it was still a chance worth taking.

Any chance was worth taking, in order to find our son.

We hurried to the suite assigned to Nathan and Andy, and went directly to Andy’s smaller bedroom.

I didn’t need Nathan’s heightened senses to smell our son, his unique scent filling the space.

His scent, and something else…

I took a deep breath, trying to place it.

There was the smell of damp must as well, one that was vaguely familiar.

“What is that?” I asked.

Smelling the air, Nathan shook his head. “I’m not sure.”

I walked over to the bed, my heart breaking at the sight of the rumpled blankets, the indent on the pillow where his little head had laid.

All I wanted was to have him in my arms again.

And then something caught my eye.

A piece of paper, folded up neatly and laid to the side of Andy’s pillow.

Curious, I picked it up and unfolded it.

And gasped.

“Nathan!” I looked up, fear flooding through my body.

“Andy’s been kidnapped!”

“What??” Nathan crossed the room in two quick strides. “Show me.”

I handed him the paper, with its short, awful message:

We have your son. You must offer yourselves in exchange. Or the child will be killed.

You will be contacted with further information.

We stared at each other in horror.

Killed??

“Nathan,” I whispered, my voice hoarse with terror. “Who could do such a thing? My baby…he’s just a child!”

Eyes dark with a mix of terror and rage, Nathan crumbled the note from the kidnappers, clenching it in his fist as he began to prowl around the room.

I sank to the bed, my entire body numb.

Nathan POV

Fear wanted to consume me. My son was missing, and I felt so helpless to do anything to save him.

Was I expected to just wait to hear from the kidnappers?

Did they really think I’d believe their claim that they’d let him go if Claire and I handed ourselves over in exchange?

Absolutely not.

I knew without a doubt that all three of us would be killed.

There was no way this was going to end without bloodshed.

Ruthlessly pushing the fear down and blocking it out, I prowled the room, carefully smelling the air.

All I had to do was catch a scent, a faint whiff. Then I could follow it.

And then they’d pay.

Blood would indeed be shed before this was over.

But I’d be damned if it was mine, or Claire’s, or Andy’s.

There.

A mix of scents moved through the room, almost as if a small breeze was blowing in from somewhere.

Andy’s scent, that damp almost basement kind of smell, and…someone else.

I tried following it, then lost it.

Growling in frustration I went back to the spot where I first picked it up, then waited.

After a few moments I caught it again.

And lost it, again.

I swore. “Where is that breeze coming from??”

“What breeze?”

“It’s like a small puff of air comes in from somewhere. It’s carrying Andy’s scent, and that other person’s.

“But every time I try to follow it, it disappears.”

Claire frowned, then her eyes widened.

“Oh my god. The secret passageways!”

She jumped up off the bed and began circling the room along the edges, as if feeling for a line in one of the walls.

And found one.

“Here! It’s right here. Help me find the trigger to open it.”

I hurried over, helping her search the wall.

“Dad told me about these passageways. They used to be used by servants, so they could move through the palace more discretely.

“But they were too dim, too damp, and no one liked using them. So they stopped.”

That would explain where the smell of dampness was coming from.

My heart began to beat faster.

This was it. This was how the kidnappers got in and out of the palace.

And this was how I was going to follow them.

And end them.

With a cry of triumph, Claire found a small depression in the wall. She pushed it, and a hidden door swung open soundlessly.

Releasing a rush of cool damp air.

Air that was thick with the smell of our son’s unique scent.

And someone else’s.

I took a deep breath, then felt my face twist with disgust.

“Sabrina.”