The Wolf and His Queen

Chapter 3: Where Is She?

Derek's POV:

When I got to the room, I noticed that the door was shut as usual and was not out of place. I knew that I did not expect it to be open, but this time I knew that something was not right about the scene that lay before me just now. I just knew that something was wrong, although I did not know what it was. I did not know if she was alright or if she even needed my help. I was concerned for her and I needed to find out what the issue was so that I could get it solved.

The next thing I did was I immediately reached out, and I tried the handle of the door. I found that it was locked from the inside. I stopped for a moment as I listened to see if I could hear anything inside the room. After a moment, I did not hear anything. I called out to her and listened once again. However, after another moment, I still did not hear anything from inside the room. I thought for a few moments about how I could get into the room, as these doors were made strong and not meant to be entered from the outside once they were locked from the inside. Just then, I turned to look down the hall as I heard a noise. That is when I saw two other guards rushing down the hall to where I was standing outside her door.

"Alpha," I heard one of them say as I turned to see them rushing toward me. "We were doing our rounds downstairs when we saw Marcus sitting at the base of the stairs with an ice pack on the back of his head. We knew that there was trouble so we went to see if there was something that we could help with."

I did not answer them at that moment as I was trying to think of what could have happened. That was when I started to look back at the door at the same time that I closed my eyes. Then I leaned my head back a bit as I took in a deep, slow breath. I smelled the air and I could tell that I did indeed smell Princess Rosalynn's scent previously there but it was not as strong as it should be if she was still in the room. Then I noticed that there was also another scent that I did not recognize. That only intensified my fear of the need to get into the room.

"We need to get into this room one way or another," I said as I looked at both of them and then back to the door as I started to study the edges of this particular door. "We need to check if things are as bad as my fears are telling me they are."

Just then, the door unlocked from the inside and I was shocked when I heard this. Once the door started to open up just enough past the lock, I pushed the door as I barged into the room. When I did that, I almost knocked over a servant who was the one who was standing right behind the door. It was her who was the one who unlocked the door from the inside.

“Explain yourself!” I demanded as I shouted at her.

The servant looked confused and a bit frightened as she had an expression on her face that she had no idea as to what I was talking about nor about what was going on at that moment. The other two guards rushed past us and started to check the layout of the room. The servant looked over at the other two men and then she looked back at me with a confused expression that was still on her face. She then looked down with embarrassment before she finally answered my initial question.

“I'm sorry, my Lord," she finally stated after a moment of me staring at her harshly. "I do not know what you mean.”

“Where is my Lady?” I demanded in an even harsher tone than the one I used before. "Did you happen to see her leave?"

How was it that she did not know what I meant? I said what I meant and what I wanted to know about what happened to Princess Rosalynn. I was getting frustrated with her delays. I was not pleased that the servant was locked in the room and that Princess Rosalynn was now nowhere to be found at that given time. I had a sneaky suspension that she was trying to hide something or cover up for someone else who was also involved in this whole mess.

I then looked away from her as I peered around the room. That was when I noticed that the lid on the breakfast tray was still sitting at the side like it was on a table that was at the side of the bed. I did, however, notice that since the lid was removed, I looked a bit closer at her plate and her food was not even touched. That could not make sense. I knew that this was one of her favorite meals which she would eat in the morning.

"Where is she?" I demanded again as I looked back at the servant.

To help with my frustration, I grabbed the servant by her arms at the point that was right below her shoulders. Then, to show her my desperation in wanting answers, I then gave her a quick shake as if to get a quicker response from her. Just then, one of the other two guards brought over to me a piece of torn silk. I let go of the arms of the servant and I turned just a bit so that I could delicately take the piece of silk from one of my men's hands. The servant looked very nervous at that moment as if my men found something that she had not intended us to find and I wondered why.

I examined it closely in my hands and thought that this could not be part of her gown, could it? This piece of fabric looked like it had been torn from the trim of something delicate and was a very light purple in color. But the fact of the matter stood me straight in the face. This silk was the exact same color as the silk sleeping gown that she usually wore at night. That was when the servant tried to quickly draw my attention away from the piece of cloth by making her next statement.

"I was doing my usual duties, my Lord," she said as she started to look around the room for a moment, which I took as a sign that she was trying to distract me by getting my attention off of her, then she continued speaking. "I was cleaning up in the bathroom first as I did not know that anything was amiss. I have not seen my Lady yet this morning.”

I was not sure if what she was telling me was the truth or not, I thought to myself. However, it was obvious that something had happened in this room and she was the only one who was in there with the door locked. I knew that she had to know something and it seemed as if she did not want to tell me what it was just yet. I needed her to tell me what she knew so that I could get to the bottom of this and resolve it without wasting any more time that had already been wasted.

"If you have not seen my Lady yet this morning," I said in a tone that was made to strike fear in others. "Then who was the one that brought in the breakfast serving tray to her?"

I was not getting proper answers soon enough, which I so desperately needed. We were here for her benefit and for the welfare of her kingdom. Who would pull a stunt like this on the very day that the long list of events was to begin? I thought about it and it dawned on me that I did know that Princess Rosalynn liked her safety. She would lock and keep the door locked when she was inside her room and while she was away from home. I was not aware if she had her servants who attended to her lock the door while doing their usual duties or not.

When I thought about it, I did not like the reactions of the servant either. I did know that I had been feared by the more common folk as I was in charge of a lot that had to do with them. Being in that position placed a lot of things on my shoulders, so I had no choice but to come across as a scary figure. This was to ensure that things got done by those who did not know me. However, something did not seem quite right with this servant. She did not seem like I had seen her around here before. I came before this event started, and that was to scoop this place out before agreeing that this would be the place that we stayed. Things just did not add up and I was determined to get to the bottom of it, sooner rather than later.

I did not like where this conversation was leading and I was determined to get to the bottom of this, no matter what the outcome was. I would indeed ensure that our Princess Rosalynn was found safe and sound. I noticed a slight smirk that came across the face of the servant when she did not think that I was looking her way. I then turned my full attention back toward her. Her expression died the moment I took a step closer to her, almost pinning her up against the wall behind the door at that moment.

“You! What is your name?” I demanded from her as she did not exactly answer my question.

“Rosetta, my Lord,” she answered in a soft tone of voice.

“Are you new around here?" I said in a demanding tone as I asked this question. "I can say that I do not recall seeing you ever working in this castle before and I am sure you have to make an appointment to meet all the servants that are hired here.”

Before we even came to this castle, I had made a point to check on this place as I wanted to make sure that this place was going to be a safe place to conduct the basis of our trip. Before Princess Rosalynn came back home, her parents met an unexpected death. The circumstances surrounding that event still do not make sense to me, even to this very day. I wanted to ensure that nothing was going to happen to her, whether that was by any assistance from servants or their masters, for any reason. However, it already seemed as if I fell down on my part of the job as Princess Rosalynn was already missing and we did not have a lead to follow as of yet.

“I started this week past, my Lord," she continued to say as if to bring my attention back to the current conversation. "I was informed by the head of my station when cleaning up my Lady's room, that I was to lock the door and not to unlock the door until I finished my duties.”

After she said that, she immediately looked down and away from my eyes. I knew that she did not like the tone that she saw in my eyes. However, in her statement, when she looked down again after telling me this, on the one hand, I knew that she was definitely frightened. However, on the other hand, I wondered what else it was that she was not saying at that point. I had a good knack for being able to tell when someone was lying to me, and with this conversation, I was certainly getting that same vibe. I was definitely going to check on her story to see if things were as she said. However, I knew that I needed to find out what happened to Rosalynn and fast. Every moment counted and we were already getting behind as the scent was getting cold.