Page 29 of Bartered by the Shadow Prince (Bargain with the Shadow Prince #3)
Missing
DAMIEN
T he sound of Eloise’s scream wakes me, but the cave is silent.
Was I having a nightmare? Her side of the pallet of blankets we constructed last night to sleep on is cold and empty.
Breaking into shadow, I search the cave and then follow her scent to the edge of the woods.
Impossibly, it ends as if she were plucked straight into the sky.
As fast as the darkness will carry me, I travel out in each direction, searching with all my senses. Nothing. Nothing for miles. It’s as if she fell off the planet.
Praying she might have returned to the party after I fell asleep, I surf the darkness to the site of the Harvest Festival. I find Tempest and her people, drinking coffee and eating sweets as they clean up after the worshippers.
“Tempest, thank the gods,” I cry. “Have you seen Eloise?”
She shakes her sleepy head. “What’s wrong? What’s happened, Damien?”
“Eloise…she’s missing. No trail. No scent. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s as if she were snatched by a bird?—”
Tempest’s eyes widen as memories of my days as an umbrae rush back to me. In unison, we say, “Hunters.”
“ Fuck ! She might be anywhere by now.”
Tempest grabs me by the shoulders and shakes. “That attitude won’t help you get her back. Calm down. Focus on your mating bond.”
I do as she says, and a pang of fear shoots through me.
I know for certain it is not just my own.
“I’m feeling Eloise’s panic down our bond.
” It’s the same way I felt the day she saw my father’s ghost in the cemetery.
But as I turn a slow circle and then look straight up into the moon-filled sky, no matter how much I concentrate on the feeling, I can’t track her. I shake my head.
“Either she’s already at a great distance or magic is being used to keep her hidden from you,” Tempest says.
“Who?” I ask her, pacing the clearing.
“I’d say Nevina found her, but why take her and not you?” Tempest says. “And if you storm the castle looking for her and she’s not there, they will very likely kill you, Damien. You’re good but not good enough to take on an entire army.”
“Where else might she be?”
Tempest frowns. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but a lovely woman like Eloise would be a desirable commodity to a group like the Rivertoads or the dark elves of Willowgulch.
They might try to sell her outright or hold her for ransom.
Either way, once they hear about last night, their plan will be to barter her to the king and queen for a reward. ”
No. No. No… “It was hunters. I would have smelled a Rivertoad. Where would a hunter have taken her?”
Tempest shakes her head. “Impossible to say. They sell their services to the highest bidder.” She juts her chin toward the mountain. “The witches can help. They helped you find your father.”
I sigh. “I don’t know if my friend Aurora is still alive.”
“The witches will be the fastest way to find her, Damien. You can’t act until you know for sure where the hunters have taken Eloise.
The second you expose yourself, New Stygarde will come down on you with all the force and power available to it.
After last night, you are enemy number one.
You are the prince who would be king. You are the heir of the true royal family of Stygarde. You could lead a rebellion.”
“Tempest, now is not the time,” I growl.
Contrite, she draws me into a tight embrace. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Go to Dimhollow, Damien. Learn what you need to learn. Bring her back. Once you do, I will protect you in Aendor.”
Minutes later, I arrive back at the cave, feeling even worse about Eloise’s absence. How did the hunters find us? Something about this situation is very, very wrong.
Quickly, I pack our bags and load our rabble beasts, tying the reins of Romulus to the back of Borus’s saddle. We set off toward the mountain, toward the border to Dimhollow, toward the witches who will either be my salvation or my end.