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Meg stretched and sat forward slowly. She was stiff, but it was the best sleep she’d had for days. She stood, stretched again, and turned to find the bed empty. She stared at it for a moment before she looked around the room.
Cate entered and did just as Meg had done—stared at the bed and then looked around the room. The tray she carried shook a little in her hands.
“Where is she?” Meg asked.
The girl only shook her head.
There were very few places within the room that Kellin could have been, and they searched them all.
“Where would she go?” Cate asked as Meg reached for the door.
“I’ll find her,” she said, pulling the door closed behind her and wondering just where her sister might have gone. She walked slowly along the hallway, peering around every turn, half expecting to see Kellin sitting on the floor, her back against a wall. But she wasn’t.
Meg stepped out into the courtyard where winter had clearly arrived. Dark clouds rolled across the sky, the whole world appeared grey and although there was evidence of snow, none fell now. She turned on the spot for a moment, fearful that Kellin had wandered out in such weather, and when her eyes fell on the doorway back into the castle she could only think of Elalia.
Kellin had been so sure, she thought as she marched towards her sister’s rooms, that Elalia had been involved in taking her son. Whether it was true or not, Kellin had been sure she was right. Meg hoped, as she knocked on the door, that Kellin had come to discuss that with Elalia rather than disappearing into the wilderness to find the child.
Elalia sat at the table, staring into a wicker cage containing a raven on a perch. It looked sad, if that was possible for a bird. Unmoving, it looked down at the floor of the cage, its blue eyes unblinking.
“I can’t find Kellin,” she said, but Elalia didn’t look away from the cage. “Elalia?”
“She hasn’t left her rooms,” Elalia said. “She can’t be that hard to find.”
“She is not there, and no one has seen her.”
“How strange,” Elalia said, turning slowly from the cage. The bird lifted its head and although it remained quiet, it appeared to watch Meg closely.
She refocused on Elalia. “Where could she be?”
“Have you tried the Temple?”
Meg shook her head slowly. “I woke and she was gone. She spoke of you so much in the last few days, I thought she had come here.”
“Me?” Elalia asked.
“The birth and the loss of the child.”
The raven gave a little screech, and Meg looked at it. “What is that?” she asked.
“A raven,” Elalia said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Tell me more of what Kellin said; it may help us find her.”
“Why do you have a raven in a cage?” she asked, distracted momentarily by the oddness of it.
“It was a gift,” she said. “A raven for the Raven Queen. Terra is quite taken with him.”
Meg moved closer and bent over to study the bird through the bars. “Would such a creature be happy in a cage?” she asked. The bird tilted its head to the side, its strange blue eyes focused on her.
“He does not seem bothered.”
Meg straightened and looked at Elalia seriously. “Have you seen Kellin?”
“Not since the birth of her child.”
“Did he die?” she asked quickly.
“Who?”
“Kellin’s son. Did he die?”
Elalia stood slowly from the table and sighed before looking out the window. “You know the child died. You saw his body.”
Meg was tempted to shake her head. “Was he born dead?” she asked, noticing that the bird now watched Elalia as well.
Elalia nodded once, and as the lump formed in Meg’s throat, the bird screeched. Kellin had been so sure she had heard the child cry out, and yet the child Meg had seen was blue. He had looked so cold, and Meg remembered Elalia pulling him away before she could touch him.
“I suggest you try the Temple,” Elalia said without turning from the window.
Meg stood quickly, and without a word left the room. She flew down the stairs, raced across the courtyard and as she pushed open the Temple door, she was disappointed to find very few people present, none of them Kellin.
She paused in the centre of the space, unsure whether to go forward and ask the gods for assistance or run back outside in search of more human help.
“How is your leg, Princess?” Brother Erasmus asked, and she jumped. “I am sorry,” he said.
“It is no longer a bother; my exercise helps greatly,” she said quickly. “Kellin is missing. I thought that she might be here.”
“I thought her not well enough to leave her rooms.”
“She is quite desperate, I fear. She is so sure her child lives.”
Brother Erasmus looked as worried as Meg felt.
“Where could she be?” she asked, looking more at the gods than the Brother.
“We will find her,” he said. “Go for Commander Brent, he will have an idea of where to start.”
“Brent is gone,” she said, shaking her head. “He went out to the border.” She wrung her hands, feeling very alone. “Raf,” she said as the Brother nodded.
“You have many friends to help,” he said, guiding her back towards the door. “Go now, for the sooner they start to search, the sooner they find her.”
Rainger was unsure whether to smile or weep as he made his way through the gates. He had passed the men on the road as they headed out to relieve the watch at the border. He was grateful Brent had given him the news but he was sorry now that he had left him behind, for he wasn’t sure what he could say to Kellin to make the pain disappear.
Meg came out of the Temple door and he dismounted, walking his horse over to her. She looked serious and as he approached, she turned a sad smile on him.
“Your Highness,” he said with a bow.
“How good it is to see you returned, Commander,” she said.
“How fares my princess?” he asked quietly.
Meg shook her head. “I fear not well, and this morning I cannot find her.”
“Cannot find her?” he asked slowly, his heart thumping. “Where could she be?”
Meg looked briefly around the courtyard. “She thinks her son lives,” she whispered. “That our sister took him for herself. And I worry that she has gone in search of him.”
“Brent said the child died.” What if I have lost them both?
“I saw a dead child,” Meg said softly. “But...”
“What did the nurse say?” Rainger asked quickly.
“There was no nurse, Elalia said. Yet Kellin swore a nurse was present, although of no assistance.”
A strange uneasiness grew in Rainger’s chest and he knew he should have been there, defied all orders and returned as Kellin had wanted him to. She had been so sure that something would happen with him gone, and she had been right.
“Kellin said she had sent for me too, and Elalia told her I could not be found, but I was in my rooms all evening,” Meg continued.
The uneasiness in his chest twisted into rage, and he could feel it hardening his muscles and trying to burst through his skin. He clenched his fist around the reins of his horse. Meg surprised him by stepping forward and gently placing her hand on his. “Let me take your horse,” she offered quietly. “Go and do as you must to find my sister.”
“Shall I fetch someone?” a Brother asked, coming out of the Temple behind them.
“A princess knows that her duty is varied, Brother. I can walk a horse, I am sure.”
He bowed his head and moved away.
Rainger released the reins and with a short nod turned. He wasn’t sure where to look for Kellin, but he knew where to start, and he headed with determined steps towards the queen’s solar.
Rainger threw the door open to find the maid, Terra, still looking small and young, he thought, poking a small piece of bread through the bars of a cage. The raven inside cocked its head.
“Where is the queen?” he asked.
“I am here, Commander,” she said coming through the door behind him. “I understand you have just returned and I am pleased that you have come straight to me to make your report.”
He gave a curt nod. “There is little news,” he said. “Where is Kellin?”
“Really, Commander Rainger? You forget yourself and your duty.” She sat at the table beside the cage and despite her words, she smiled at him.
“Never,” he said, stepping forward to lean on the back of a chair and stare down at her. The maid scuttled quickly away. “The unrest appears to have died down, and there is no indication from the Tandian side that they would take advantage of the trouble.” He looked at the blue eyes of the raven watching him from the table. “My duty is to Kellin,” he said.
“And yet you went away so often.”
“At your request. I am a soldier.” He hit the top of the chair with the heel of his hand. “Where is my Kellin?” he asked more forcefully.
“She was never yours,” the queen said, her face hard, but her eyes sparkled. Despite his sense of danger, he did not move. “She is gone.”
“Where?” he asked.
She shrugged and smiled. The raven watched him.
“What have you done?” he asked quickly, his eyes on the bird, and it hopped closer to the bars. “Where have you sent her this time?”
“Commander,” she said, more slowly. “You forget that I am queen. You forget that you are my soldier to direct as I see fit.”
“I forget no such thing,” he said.
“You forget that I hold all the power and you none.” Her face was unmoving and he released his hold on the chair.
“So why are you threatened by Kellin?”
“How dare you say such things. She was of no threat to me,” she said, the words harsh but her voice too level.
Rainger looked at her closely. “Was?” He closed the gap between them and had her by the shoulders. “What have you done?” he asked.
Elalia shook him off with surprising strength. “I have done nothing,” she said.
It was hotter in the room suddenly, like a summer storm was brewing within the stone walls, the air heavy and humid, and he knew she would tell him nothing.
“The Silent Mother,” he said quietly, and the feeling in the room shifted. “She guides you. Why would she stay so long in Rocfeld, so long away from her Sanctuary?”
Fear flashed across the queen’s face before the cold, hard stare settled quickly back into place. “She is a woman of the gods,” she said.
“I doubt that,” he said. “Tell me what you did to Kellin.”
A strange, strangled noise emerged from the cage on the table.
“You are lost in your grief to attack a queen so. Do you want to be arrested by your own soldiers?”
The whole world seemed out of order. “Why is there no guard at the door?” He stood back.
The queen sighed. “She is gone; there is little I can do. She is deluded, poor girl. She thought you watched her because you loved her, yet it was at my bequest. You took them away. You were told to distract them and you did. Tell me, did you bed Megora as well, or did you leave that to Brent?”
The bird in the cage screamed—loud, echoing, painful screams.
“I did what I did to keep the princesses safe. There was no impropriety.”
The Queen raised her eyebrows and grinned.
“None,” he continued loudly. “The men adore Meg; she has their loyalty and there was no question of inappropriateness from anyone, myself included.”
“Yet Kellin returned carrying a child in her belly and declaring you should be married.”
“We should have married,” he said quickly. “Princess and soldier, man and woman. I love her.”
The raven screamed long and loud, as though calling him, and he was lost to the distraction of it.
“Princess and soldier will never be. Love or not, it is not your place. And she is gone, run away. Perhaps she chases someone else. Kellin was always fickle.”
This time the raven screeched and screamed and bobbed up and down on its perch.
“If you want her,” the queen said loudly, trying to be heard over the bird, “find her and bring her back to me and I will consider not marrying her to some noble’s son.”
He glared at her, swung around and left the solar. He could still hear the raven screaming as he raced down the stairs and out into the cool air.
Meg stood in the royal commander’s room with Kiam and Raf filling the small space around her as she tried not to cry.
“Tell me when you discovered this?” the royal commander asked.
“I had fallen asleep on the chair at some point during the night,” she said. “I don’t like to leave her for long, for she still sleeps so poorly.”
He nodded and Raf indicated the chair, but she shook her head.
“I woke early this morning and she was gone. She hadn’t woken me, there was no sign that she had even dressed and when Cate arrived she hadn’t seen her either.”
“Could she have gone for Rainger?” Kiam asked.
Meg started to shake her head, but she wasn’t sure that Kellin would not have done that. “Rainger is back,” she said. “I led his horse back down to the stables. Brent has sent him home.”
“But Kellin wouldn’t know that,” Kiam said.
“I’m scared,” Meg said quickly, and Raf put a firm hand on her shoulder.
“Where is Rainger?” the royal commander asked.
“Looking for her, but I don’t know where to start.”
“Where did you start?” he asked.
“With Elalia, for Kellin was sure she has taken her son, and then the Temple.”
The royal commander nodded slowly. “Take every man you can,” he said to Raf. “Search every house of Rocfeld and every room of this castle if you have to. Find her.”
Raf nodded and raced from the room, Kiam a step behind.
“Wait,” the royal commander called after him.
Kiam stopped in the doorway but he swayed, clearly eager to follow where Raf had led.
“Go with Meg,” he said. “Search Kellin’s room and ensure she didn’t run away, or worse, head out into the wilderness with nothing.”
He nodded once and Meg gulped down her fear. Where could she be?