The hall was quiet, but the air inside it was anything but calm. I could feel the tension radiating from Asher even as I lingered just out of sight, listening to the sharp scrape of his boots against the marble floor.
“I need an update,” he barked, his voice carrying through the cavernous space. “Tell me something useful.”
The guard standing before him flinched but didn’t lower his gaze. “We’ve searched the northern borders, Your Majesty. No sign of her.”
Asher’s frustration was palpable. “And the eastern woods?”
“Still combing through them, but no sightings so far.”
For a moment, silence hung between them, so heavy it seemed to crush the space around it. Then, in a voice quieter but no less intense, Asher asked, “What about the towns?”
The guard hesitated, his gaze flickering nervo
