Princess of Dragons

Chapter 47

Lodin woke up in the early morning hours as always. It had been especially early ever since moving to the sofa though. He slowly and carefully stretched his back, making his entire spine pop back into place in the most pleasant way imaginable.

Sure, it didn't completely remove the pain from sleeping on a sofa for several nights, but it was certainly better than nothing.

He soundlessly slipped off the sofa in the same manner he'd gotten used to doing it and picked out whatever lay on top in the wardrobe.

He closed the creaking door, cringing at the loud sound. As he had become used to doing, he glanced up at his own bed to make sure he hadn't awoken the young girl lying in it.

He found it completely empty.

Well, that was strange. Not once had she woken up before him, despite always going to bed earlier than him. Maybe she'd simply been unable to sleep for once.

He sighed and shook his head. It could hardly be anything else. He went to the bathroom, freshened himself up and got properly dressed before Mathilda could come flying in, demanding to help him with it.

He ran a quick hand through his quite long hair and opened the door to the hall. As usual, two young guards stood there, half asleep as they were, though they tried to hide it. Had the princess woken that early?

Oh well, if just for the sake of doing things right.

"Did the princess leave ahead of me?"

The one on the right blinked furiously. "The princess?" He shook his head. "Have not seen her, my king."

Lodin clenched his jaw. "Hells." He whirled around, back into the room.

He crossed the room with long strides, roughly throwing the balcony doors open. However, she was nowhere to be seen here, either.

He went to the railing and looked down at the ground, where he knew that dragon always stayed. It was curled up on itself and seemed to be peacefully asleep. And there wasn't a tiny, blonde girl anywhere near it either.

He growled under his breath and went inside again. Where in all the levels of Hell could that damned girl have gone?!

Surely, nothing could have happened to her with two - albeit drowsy - guards standing out front, the dragon outside and him right there in the room. Not without a single one of them noticing.

Then again, if it'd been one of those highly trained assassins from the East, then it might just be possible. But as far as he knew, they had no business with him or her.

While his thoughts spun around, one of the princess' personal maids stepped into the room. He immediately whirled towards her.

"Have you seen the princess?"

"T-the princess?" the young maid stammered. "N-no, my king. I have not." The maid paused for a moment to check the bed, then to stare at him with increasingly worried eyes. "Did something happen to her?"

He ignored the out-of-place show of affection from the maid.

"I do not know," he revealed. "When I woke up, she was nowhere to be found and no one has seen where she went." He sighed deeply in frustration as he met the guards' eyes. "Commence a search immediately. I want her found before the sun rises."

They bopped their head quickly. "Of course, my king." One of them quickly hurried out.

He also strode out of his chambers, barely noting the other guard had opted to follow him, until he turned to the him.