Third-person POV
Jella was furious.
For days she'd been waiting—no, fuming—as royal guards scoured every corner of Elmeria for Electra, and yet, not one of them had returned with even a rumor of her whereabouts. Every report that came back to the palace sounded the same: no trace, no sightings, and absolutely no leads. It made Jella want to burn the entire place to the ground.
She stood in her private room, pacing before the wide windows that overlooked the palace courtyard. The morning sun made everything look calm, peaceful even, but the calmness made her skin crawl. The kingdom was rotting from within, and she could feel it.
"Useless men," she muttered, her jeweled hand clenching around the rail. "They can't even find one foolish girl."
