Chapter 12: 12: Chapter 12

LEAH

I spend the next few days with Maria and her new baby. I sit with him in the armchair under the window that looks out to the back of the castle. My gaze is fixed on his chubby face and his dark curls surrounding his sleeping face.

“He’s perfect,” I whisper, caressing his small fingers. I glance over at Maria who is lying in her bed. I hear her heavy breaths indicating that she is sleeping. I smile to myself and look down on my godson again; he really is perfect. They have named him Peter, after Maria’s father.

I’m so busy admiring my flawless godson that I don’t hear Mateo sneaking into the room. I wince when the floor creaks but relax when I see him approaching. I hold up a finger to my mouth to warn him that Peter and Maria are asleep.

He nods and smiles. “I can take over, Your Majesty,” he whispers, holding out his arms to me. Carefully, I hand over Peter, who whimpers but quickly falls back asleep in his father’s arms.

I put a hand on Mateo’s upper arm before squeezing it. He nods at me, and I smile at him before leaving him. I close the door behind me gently, a little worried about waking the baby and Maria. I stand for a while listening for any sounds, but I hear nothing and take it as if no one woke up. Boris is waiting for me outside; he has recovered from the attack but traces of it are still visible on his face. His facial expression is more clenched than usual, but I don’t question him about it. I have made a promise to Ares that I will be more careful, that I will not put myself in danger anymore.

I greet all the guards I pass as I stroll around the corridors. It took a while for them to get used to me greeting them every day, and at first, they didn’t respond. But now when they see me coming, they always smile and return my greeting with one of their own.

“Luke! How is your mate doing? And your little girls?” I ask as I pass one of the guards.

“Your Majesty, they’re fine! Thank you!” he replies, and I turn around and throw a smile at him as I wave goodbye.

I walk toward the corridor that leads to the library, but I stop abruptly when a smell hits me. A familiar scent, which I find difficult to place initially.

“Boris, do you feel that?”

He approaches me from behind and sniffs the air.

“Someone from the staff has been here,” he replies briefly, backing away from me a few steps. Sometimes it seems as if he is avoiding my presence like the plague.

“No…,” I whisper, “I recognize this scent.” I focus all my senses on it as I follow the scent farther down the corridor. I can’t place it, but my instincts are telling me it’s familiar. Sia is standing on edge inside me, she pushes herself forward into my consciousness.

“Your Majesty,” Boris growls behind me as I’m slowly walking down the corridor.

I follow the smell, it’s frighteningly familiar yet so foreign. I stop at the stairs that lead down to my safe room. What the hell is this? Why would a servant go down to this room?

“They might have replaced the provisions in your room,” Boris says as if he could read my mind.

Yes, that’s probably right, maybe I’m just being paranoid? But part of me can’t let go of the familiarity in the scent. I glance up at Boris, who is staring blankly into nothingness.

“Is it okay if I go down and check?” I ask hesitantly. He widens his eyes in surprise and stands silently for a long moment before answering my question.

“Excuse me, Your Majesty. Maybe I misheard, but you just asked permission before you did something? Are you ill?”

I roll my eyes at the strong irony in his voice and strain my gaze into him as a hint of a sly smile trembles on his lips.

“After you,” he says as he holds his arm up to the stairs.

I hesitate, my gaze staring down the dark staircase. Sia feels upset, the scent does something to her that I can’t put my finger on. I bite my lip before deciding to go down the stairs. Our steps echo against the stone walls and with each step closer to the basement I feel my heartbeat beating harder. The scent is more palpable down here, is it because the person in question is down here right now?

Boris must have sensed my worry, because he puts a hand on my shoulder before we reach all the way down. Slowly he walks past me as he signals me to stand still. He goes ahead and checks every nook and cranny of the basement before beckoning for me to join him.

“No one is here, Your Majesty.”

I’m not entirely sure he’s right, Sia is still upset, her senses and my own coming together to try to discern where the scent is coming from. Slowly, we move toward the armored door to my safe room. I put my hand on the handle and hold my breath as I let the door slowly slide open. The room is dark, so I turn on the ceiling light showing all the familiar furniture. It was only a few weeks ago that I was sitting down here reading a book while Zeke and John fought rogues in the hallway above.

John… The castle was not the same without him.

Maybe this strange yet familiar scent leads me right to him? And if it does, I will have to do my best to find him. He has protected me through thick and thin, and I’ll never forget how he saved me from Jake that dreadful day at the River Pack.

I look around, relieved that Boris is here, even though I would never say it directly to him, but the scent being in this room gives me the creeps. My hand slides over the back of the sofa while my gaze peers out over the bookshelves. Suddenly, I see something that looks out of place. The thin layer of dust on one shelf has been scraped off just by a specific book.

“Boris… Does anyone have permission to be down here except me?”

“No, Your Majesty. Only to possibly replace the water bottles and food in the fridge over there.”

“Hmm,” I reply, taking a few steps closer to the bookshelf. It looks like this book has been pulled out repeatedly, scraping off the dust right by it.

Carefully I grab the spine of the book and pull it out, but instead of getting the book out, I feel a resistance and how the whole bookshelf clicks—only to then open like a door.

“Your Majesty, back away,” Boris growls. He is standing at the far end of the room when he runs toward me.

I can’t help it, so I put my hand on the bookshelf and pull it toward me. It creaks when I pull on it. Boris catches up to me before I can peek behind the secret door.

“Stop!” he roars at me. He places himself between the opening and me.

“What do you see, Boris?” I try to push past him, but he won’t let me pass.

“This doorway is unknown to me… Why would there be a secret way out of the queen’s safe room? We must call for reinforcements.”

Suddenly I hear a familiar voice. “Leah?” it shouts from the opening.

“John?!” I shout back. “John!! Are you okay?” I push hard past Boris who, shocked to hear John’s voice, let me pass him. All I can see is a long dark tunnel.

“John?!” I shout into the tunnel again, but all that answers is the echo of my own voice.

“Come on, Boris!” I take a few steps into the tunnel but am stopped by Boris who grabs my hand.

“No, Your Majesty, we must call for backup.”

“Boris, I won’t let John die! He saved my life a year ago, get it? I owe him this.” Angrily, I jerk my hand back as we stare each other down. I know Boris will have a hard time saying no to this. He cares about John as much as I do, they have worked together for several years and that was one of the reasons why he asked to be placed as my first guard when John disappeared.

“Fine, but you must stay near me. Always. Is it understood?! And if I sense that this is going sideways, you must listen to me and turn back immediately.”

“Okay, deal.” We shake hands on it before taking our first steps into the tunnel together.