Leroy slipped into the Arvand mansion, hoping for a trace of her. Instead, he found the halls restless, servants whispering. One whisper kept circling: Hadrian Arvand hadn't returned all night.
Confusion tightened his chest. If Hadrian had taken Lorraine, he would have paraded her under his roof, feigning normalcy to avoid suspicion. But he hadn't. So… where was Hadrian? And where was Lorraine?
On the road home, something snagged his eye. A stretch of forest path too clean. A freshly broken branch, but no fragment nearby. Twigs snapped, yet the ground swept over, as if someone had scrubbed away the struggle. His heart jolted. Something had happened here, and been buried.
At the mansion, Aldric waited. No servant had seen the princess. But one kitchen maid had heard a vendor mention the Arvand carriage passing this way, though it never arrived. Leroy's instincts flared. Their estate was secluded. No one came down this road unless they intended to.
