Daufina lounged back in the chair in the comfort of Edric’s study. He had been on edge all morning. She could see it in the tension in his shoulders, the way he clenched his jaw, and a million other minute details that someone attuned with his body could see from far off. She wanted to believe that he was just steeling himself for the trade negotiations with Eleysia, but he wasn’t normally so ill-tempered when it came to the matters of state.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” she asked carefully.
He shot her an exasperated look from where he was standing. He had a spread of paperwork before him, all things he needed to decide on and sign before the Eleysian Prince arrived.
“If you stay in this mood when he arrives, I’m sure he’ll be easily swayed to our side with your…charm, Edric.”
Edric plunked the quill he had been writing with back into the ink and crossed his arms. “I know how to run this country, Daufina. I was bred for this role, raised to know my place since infancy, and have been doing a good job for the last five years. If you would care to take my place, by all means.” He gestured to the pages.
She quirked an eyebrow at his chastisement and sent him a bemused smile. “No one could run Byern as you do. I was just noting that our Eleysian representative might not appreciate the fact that you are sulking.”
He ran a hand back through his hair and sighed. “It’s nothing. Let it be.”
So, she let it be. He would tell her in due time. He always did.
The time passed uneasily. She could hardly concentrate on the text she was reading. She hated that he was so troubled.
“Is it the baby?” she finally asked.
The fact that Kaliana had lost yet another one while Duchess Elida was months away from a baby of her own, in truth, troubled Daufina deeply. They needed a Dremylon heir. Nothing was secure without one.
Edric sighed. “No. Though perhaps it should be.”
“You need an heir.”
“It was my father’s dying wish for me, Daufina. I know I need an heir.” His blue-gray eyes settled on her, and she saw the heaviness in them. “Maybe if I had cared more for that than what is troubling me, I would already have a baby on the way. But that’s not possible when you haven’t been with your wife.”
“At all?” Daufina asked with raised eyebrows. “Edric—”
“I know!” he snapped. “I should. It is my duty, and it must be done.”
“Then, is it Cyrene? I thought you closed that matter when we arrived. I know her safety concerned you, but you stopped showing her favor. I thought—”
“Whatever you thought was mistaken. I stayed away to appease a wife who I do not love. Yet I am king, am I not? I should appease myself, should I not?” His voice grew continually louder as if he were convincing himself more than her. “I invited Cyrene to my rooms.”
Daufina tried to rein in her surprise. Edric had sworn up and down that he never wanted a mistress…not one in competition for his heart. He had tried so hard to love Kaliana, but the woman made it impossible for anyone to do so.
“So,” she said quietly, “if you invited her to be with you, why are you angry? Are you angry with yourself for deciding to go through with it?”
Edric laughed without humor. “She never came to me. She promised she would. I waited all night. I sent a maid to her chambers. She refused to even answer the door. It appears that even the King gets rejected.”
“She is a fool to have done so.”
“And do you know that it just makes me want her more?”
“Oh, Edric—”
“Your Highness!” a maid cried, scurrying into the study unannounced.
Her face set in stone, Daufina turned to face the woman. No one burst in on the King of Byern. Even if she was here for the Prince of Eleysia, she should announce a royal emissary.
“What do you want, girl?” Daufina asked coldly. “You just interrupted the King.”
“My apologies,” she sputtered. She sank into a deep curtsy. “I just…went into the Pearl Bay Chambers to bring Affiliate Cyrene her morning breakfast and found her missing! Her room was in disarray, and some of her things were gone!”
“What?” Edric and Daufina cried at the same time.
“Yes. I know I was sent…last night.” Her cheeks colored. “I think…she must have been gone already! Do you think the killer somehow got into the castle?”
“Absolutely not!” Daufina said.
But one look at Edric’s pale face said otherwise.
“Start a search immediately, Daufina. Look everywhere. Find any information you can.”
“Edric, you’re not seriously considering that something happened to her?” she asked softly.
“It all makes sense. She was the target, she was supposed to be with me last night, and now, she is missing. I think it is a very real possibility.” He strode around the desk and reached for her. “We cannot let anything happen to her, Daufina.”
Just then, a Royal Guard walked inside. “His Royal Highness, the Prince of Eleysia.”
Edric cursed under his breath. “Take care of this for me. I have to deal with the trade negotiations, but I won’t rest until she is found. Mark my words,” he cried before storming from the room.
Daufina watched his retreating back as fear set in. If Cyrene was missing, potentially captured by this mysterious killer, then it meant none of them were truly safe, not even in the castle. And just as bad—in her mind at this point, even worse—Edric would not recover from this. She knew him too well. He would blame himself. He had already blamed himself. And she did not know what would happen to her King under such circumstances.