The Underground Witch (Incenaga Trilogy) (10 page)

“We don’t have tim
e for this!” Tiergan said. He crossed the room in three large strides and snatched the crumbled letter from the floor. Smoothing it between his palms, he read it.

“This will do,” he said
. “If you want to spare your maid’s life, we must leave now.”

Emmeline dropped her chin
and looked at the ground. Tiergan was right. Adelia would return soon. There was no time left.

But he did not own her
. She still had some control over her life and she would hold onto that control for as long as possible. Bringing her head back up, she gave Tiergan a defiant stare.

“Call your men
off, Tiergan,” she said. “It is finished. You have what you want.”

Tiergan ignored
her request with a casual flick of his hand toward the door. “After you,” he said.

Emmeline did not budge.
“Call your men off.”

“There is no need.
They will follow once we leave. Come, now!”

“I will not move from this room until I am certain Erick is safe.”

Tiergan’s nostrils flared. “I can force you.”

“I’ll
scream.”

“And when you do, I’ll signal to my men.
Erick will not live to hear the end of your scream.”

Emmeline’s eyes narrowed
. “Call. Your. Men. Off.”

Tiergan glanced at th
e door and Emmeline knew he was considering the complications of Adelia’s return. The sooner they left, the further they could be when Adelia alerted the palace, and the greater chance of escape.

Tiergan
marched to the window, brushed the heavy curtain aside, and moved his hands in a series of quick patterns. He took a step back and jerked his chin toward the window.

“See for yourself,” he said.

Emmeline watched as several men dropped from the treetops and slipped into the dense forest. Near Erick, the glimmering knife also moved and disappeared into the trees.

With one last glance at Erick, Emm
eline prepared herself to leave, but his gaze tilted up toward her, as if he sensed her looking at him. His eyes brightened and an easy smile spread across his face. Her father noticed Erick’s diverted gaze and turned himself, his weathered hands lifting into a wave.

Emmeline forced a smile and waved back.

Erick
’s brow furled ever so slightly as he cocked his head to the side. His eyes seemed to ask,
what’s wrong?

Panicked, Emmeline brightened her smile as
much as her face would allow. Somehow he always knew when something troubled her and this time proved no different. Her cheeks widened as she plastered a broad grin on her face, her eyes pinched into thin slits. She waved again, wishing she could erase the look of concern off Erick’s face. If Tiergan saw him, it would be over.

Erick
gave her a tight smile, and Emmeline knew it would have to be enough. She dropped her hand and turned away from the window, walking out of his life forever.

She looked so beautiful gazing from the window. Erick knew he was the luckiest man alive. Why else would someone like Emmeline have agreed to marry him? And yet something felt amiss. While Orrin spoke of crop yields and market improvements – nothing too serious to damper the wedding atmosphere – Erick wondered what had changed the sparkle in her eyes. She seemed so happy one moment and then darkness seemed to have enshrouded her in the next.

Erick
sat on the bench and tapped his foot as he gazed into the nearest bush. What was it about the look on her face that bothered him? Soon his fingers were keeping rhythm on his knee, and then his other foot followed suit. Why had he agreed to leave her alone?

He sighed and fidgeted with a button on his jacket. He could understand
a bride wanting to prepare for her wedding day without the groom lingering nearby, but her two hours had come and gone. He wanted to be a good husband and not rush her along, but the wait was torture.

A reluctant smile crept onto his face. Perhaps
sitting underneath her window was not what she had in mind. After weeks of his constant companionship, her frown could very well have been because she had hoped for more distance from him, more privacy. But given the circumstances, surely she could understand his unease to be very far from her.

Orrin smiled and put h
is hand on Erick’s bobbing knee.

“Nervous?” Orrin asked.

Erick laughed. “Not in the slightest. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

“Well, I suppose it
is near time we move this ceremony along. I don’t know what is taking Emmeline. Even her mother didn’t take so long to get ready for our wedding day.” He chuckled to himself.

“It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?
” Erick’s foot began tapping again. He glanced at her window for the hundredth time. It had been at least fifteen minutes since he had seen her looking down and, since then, he’d seen nothing but her closed curtains. Perhaps she was dressing into her gown. He smiled. She was going to look so beautiful.

“
I’m sure she is fine. Come, I will walk with you for a bit before I find my daughter and give her away.” Orrin’s eyes watered.

Erick stood and glanced at the window again. A stab of fear shot through his gut. Something was wrong. He shook his head and chuckled darkly. Nothing was wrong. Today would be perfect. He pushed the feeling of dread out of the way
and fell into step next to Orrin.

Orrin
cleared his throat. “Perhaps wedding day jitters are slowing her progress.”

Erick swallowed. Wedding day jitters? Was there a possibility she wouldn’t want to marry him?

Orrin chuckled and waved his hands around his head. “Maybe her hair isn’t quite right, or whatever it is brides concern themselves with.”

“I’m sure she will be stunning, no matter
the condition of her hair.”

“Hear, hear!
I will agree with you on that. Emmeline doesn’t need any help for her beauty to shine. I wish her mother could see her.”

Adelia
bounded around the corner, her hands in a tight mass of fingers rubbing back and forth against one another, as if she were scrubbing them clean.

“Ah,” Orrin
said. “My daughter is ready for me to escort her to the ceremony, I presume?”

“
Uh…” Adelia’s voice cracked as her gaze darted between them.

“
What is it?” Erick asked. His heart thudded in his chest and he knew, without doubt, that something was wrong. He shouldn’t have ignored the feeling before. She was hurt, scared, in danger, and Adelia was wasting precious time by keeping her mouth shut. “What is wrong, Adelia!”

Adelia’s lower lip trembled.
“I can’t find her.”

“
What?” Orrin and Erick shouted at the same time.

Erick grabbed Adelia’s arm.
“You were supposed to stay with her! Where is she?”

“I…
I…don’t know,” she stuttered. She began to sob and thrust a crumbled piece of paper onto Erick’s chest. Covering her face with her hands, she pulled away and ran back toward the palace.

“What
is the meaning of this?” Orrin exclaimed.

Erick
opened the paper to find Emmeline’s elegant script. Her words cut into his soul like a jagged knife.

“What does it say?” Orrin asked.

Erick shook his head. “She can’t be serious.” He stuffed the letter into his coat pocket and bounded toward the palace.

“What?
What is it?!” Orrin called from behind.

Erick took the stairs three steps at a time
, twisting and turning up the spiral stairs until he reached Emmeline’s floor. Throwing open her doors, he flew from room to room, searching for the woman he knew he could never live without. Her bedroom was empty, as was her sitting room and water closet. Empty. Empty. Empty. He stopped, and yet his heart raced on.

“I don’t believe it,” Erick whispered
when Orrin reached the door. The old man hunched over to catch his breath.

“Believe what?
” Orrin said between gasps. “Erick, tell me at once what this is about. Is it Emmeline? Is she hurt?”

“She left,” Erick
said.

“What do you mean she left?
Where would she go?”

Erick stood in the center of the room
, his mind swirling into gray. She was gone.
Things have changed.
A small part of him had always been afraid she loved him more when he had been disguised as the gamekeeper, not when he wore the burdens of a prince. She had been raised on a farm, unaccustomed to such a lavish lifestyle or the demands of royal life. That was what had changed. Her new life was too much for her. She wanted a simpler man, not the Crown Prince of Dolmerti. Parts of her letter tore through his mind, tumbling over and over.
Things have changed…I can’t do this….things have changed….I have to leave….things have changed….don’t come for me.

Staring straight ahead,
he raised the crumbled letter toward Orrin. “Here.”

Orrin snatched
the letter. After reading, his head shot up and his eyes widened. “Guards! Guards!” he shouted.

Several guards came bar
reling into Emmeline’s quarters, their hands on the hilts of their swords.

“Search the palace for my daughter.
Bring her to me at once. She can’t be far!”

Despite the confusion that swept across their faces, the guards
marched out without a word. Orrin closed the distance between himself and Erick and placed a hand on Erick’s shoulders.

“Let’s wait here, son,” he s
aid. “She’ll come back and we’ll all have a good laugh at the misunderstanding.” His voice broke at the end.

Erick stared at the ground. She was gone.
In the end, he hadn’t been able to offer her the life she wanted.

As time passed,
the efforts of the guards increased. More and more guards were enlisted as each nook and cranny proved empty. Erick noticed sweat pouring down Orrin’s brow. The man looked close to hysteria.

“I can’t believe she left
,” Orrin said, his face red. “She is unprotected!” He threw his hands in the air.

Erick pointed at a candelabra perched on the cold hearth. “A candle is missing. She took a flame.”

“That doesn’t mean she is safe.”

Erick
shuffled over to the candelabra and circled a finger over the empty space. “She is stronger than we think.”

“
There must be an explanation. Do you think this has to do with the letter from Volarcus? Maybe it frightened her enough to want to leave. Maybe she is hiding somewhere nearby until this whole mess passes”

“On her wedding day?” Erick
shouted. He took a deep breath and tried to keep from yelling, but he couldn’t seem to restrain himself. “This doesn’t have anything to do with the letter. She didn’t leave Dolmerti. She left me!”

Orrin
drew his head back. “I don’t believe it. Emmeline loves you. I know it.”

Erick rubbed his forehead and, with another deep breath, managed to lower his voice.
“She never wanted this life. She said on more than one occasion that she missed the slower pace. She loved the gamekeeper, not the prince.”

“She wanted a life with you, p
rince or not.”

“I thought so. But maybe I wanted
to be with her so badly I didn’t see her unhappiness.”

“She wasn’t unhappy!
I can’t believe I’m hearing this. I am sure…”

Erick turned his attention to the empty hearth and
pushed Orrin’s ranting out of his mind. He couldn’t hear another word of explanation. He knew why she left.

A
guard marched in, breaking Erick from his self-induced stupor. He knew it was weak of him, to slip into a state of nothingness, but he couldn’t endure Emmeline’s abandonment any other way.

“She is not here, Your H
ighness,” the guard said. “She is not in the palace, nor anywhere on the grounds. Would you like us to continue our search in the nearby towns?”

“No,” Erick sai
d.

“Are you mad?” Orrin shouted.
“She could be anywhere by now. She could be hurt, or worse!”

Eric motioned for the guard to leave.
“It’s apparent from this letter that she did not want to be followed,” he said once they were alone. “If not to leave me, then for whatever reasons, she did not want to stay in Dolmerti. She said things have changed. She is smart girl. She must have gone home to Pamizak. It is the only logical solution.”

“That is
a week of travel! She’ll never survive on her own. Even if she has plenty to eat, she could be robbed and beaten!”