A Beast's Tale

Chapter 21

"How is she?"

The man bombarding me with that question the moment I walked into my office was none other than Luke. He was talking to Yves, arms crossed over his chest, leaf-green eyes narrowed and angry, and I couldn't be bothered to address his recent absence or his leadership of the anti-monarchy faction. Those were problems for another day. Today, it was obvious we were on the same page.

"She escaped before he could rape her."

Luke frowned. "How? She's just a slip o' nothin'. I mean, I'm glad, but..."

"Leon and Lucien left as soon as Lucien delivered the news," Yves said, turning toward me and drawing himself up in his typical show of haughty self-importance. "They were meeting Licht in the city. Nokto left not long ago to give them a list of all the property LeBeau owns; Sariel is investigating the court officials; and Cyran is interrogating the guards. Jin and Clavis are... doing whatever it is they do."

"And I'm about ta go ask around at the city barracks," Luke added when Yves stopped to take a breath. "I don't know anybody who would get involved in this kinda thing, but there's always a few bad apples in the barrel. Somebody might know somethin'."

"Go," I told him.

"Leon left me on point here," Yves continued. "I just can't believe anybody would do this to her." He scowled at me. "Where is she? You didn't leave her alone, did you?"

"She's in my room." I spun on my heel and followed Luke out. "I'll be at the training arena."

"As soon as I hear something, I'll let you know."

Venom surged through my veins with every step. She'd calmed down by the time I left her, but she had been too quiet, too docile. I'd told her to lock the door and stay there. Assisting Cyran in his interrogations would provide a productive outlet for my rage until I could wrap my hands around LeBeau's neck and throttle him.

I hadn't felt this angry since Bloodstained Rose Day.

Not all the soldiers were present. Many were on duty, whether here at the palace or in the city, and Leon and Licht had taken a good number with them for the search and arrest. I knew Clavis and Jin would take care of questioning those at their posts and the handful of men for whom Cyran and I could not otherwise account. And I knew LeBeau's contacts were among those. It was the most logical scenario, and it took little time to confirm that none of the off-duty soldiers were involved. Too much integrity, not enough willpower, on duty with witnesses at the time required for yesterday's last-minute warning to LeBeau—by midday, when I left to check on Ivetta, I had ruled them all out, and I'd received no word from Yves.

And she wasn't in my room. Nor were the breakfast tray and her cleaning supplies.

I clenched my jaw and left for the library. If she were trying to pretend nothing had happened, she would be on her lunch break now, sitting in the alcove reading. And she would probably be fine. It would be imbecilic for anybody to target her again—but it had been imbecilic for LeBeau to attack her yesterday. He could have sent word for his contacts to abduct her out of spite. It was a possibility I hadn't divulged to her, not wanting to scare her further. I should have stressed the importance of her staying put.

She wasn't in the library.

Now I was getting worried.

"Where is she?" I demanded of the librarian.

His head jerked up from the book he was reading. "Prince Chevalier! I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in. Why... are you here?"

I despised this man, but that told me something. He expected me to be elsewhere, meaning she expected that as well. And the imbecilic was becoming a reality. "Answer the question."