Page 36 of Taken By the Lord of the Nocturne Court

Only once we reach a private room down the corridor, the one where I was preparing for what was supposed to be the most glorious day of my life, do I turn to my guard and servant.

My shadow buzzes, as if it were struck by lightning, and I lash it against Reiner’s face. “Where. Is. He?” I roar, stepping toward him so fast he stumbles and falls on the floor, pale and sweaty like a man about to die.

“Elodie and Vinia Goldweed came and told me the spare Sanctuary key was lost, and I’m the only one who knew how to deal with the situation.I—”

“You left him on his own?” tears out of me as rage licks my insides, charring them to a crisp. My promised might be anywhere, even dead, and all because of a servant’s incompetence!

“W-with Vinia,” Reiner mumbles, and Tristan whistles, shaking his head in shock.

“You know the Goldweeds are your master’s rivals.”

“But she’s so young. I didn’t think—”

I push over a fine glass statue depicting a mermaid, and it crumbles into shards as it hits the floor.

“Let me guess,” I say in an ice-cold voice. “She said Luke ran away on his own and there was nothing she could do?”

Reiner won’t look into my eyes. He knows he had the right to refuse Elodie in a matter such as this.

Tristan rubs his chin with a frown. “If they did this, they’re out of their minds. What do they think will happen if Heartbreak comes before you wed your Dark Companion? People will die. Their father served as a knight. He’d be called upon too.”

But Anatole Goldweed doesn’t care about his father's fate. What matters to him is my failure and the chance to contest my right to the crown.

“Luke couldn’t have gotten far, Your Highness,” Reiner mutters. “Unless magic we do not comprehend is involved, he must be reachable. Can you feel him through the bond, Sire?”

I know what he’s really asking.‘Is he alive?’

My hand shakes, and as Reiner crawls away from my shadow when it starts to bubble, I hiss, “Get out of my sight. Now!”

Reiner dashes to the door, not even trying to argue or apologize anymore, but once he’s gone, I glare at Tristan and bare my teeth. “Get the knights. We need to find him. I want all the Goldweeds under watch.”

“Do you want the knights aligned with them to participate in the search?” Tristan asks, for once without a hint of smile.

“No. Let them stand watch in the palace.”

When I glance at the bright full moon, I’m all too aware that the chances of the wedding happening today are close to none. Time is ticking away all too fast. At this point, my focus needs to be on findingLuke.

But when I send a pulse of my heartbeat down our bond to locate him, I get the faintest reply. I can’t pinpoint the direction, but he’s alive. I want to throttle and kiss him all at once. How dare he run away from me? How dare he betray my trust when I’m offering himeverything?

I almost hate myself for the intense pain in my chest, because I have only known him for a day and therefore shouldn’t have this kind of weakness, but I already need him in my life, and not just because the future of my reign depends on it.

Tristan nods, and when he leaves, I face the big window, my mind racing for answers. There are numerous ways to protect oneself against shadow magic, and there is no way a human could know them. Someone helped him. And I know exactly who that someone is.

But until I can prove it, the most important thing is to find Luke.

To manage such a feat while our bond remains so weak and confused, I need more power than my own shadow has even on a full moon.

I roll up my sleeve in disbelief, because I never thoughtthiswould be the way for me to use one of the eels swimming over my skin. I’ve always held it as a point of pride that I’ve never had to use one, but I can now see how silly it was of me to think that.

Whether Luke ran away or was abducted, I need to find him all the same.

I call the eel all the way to my open palm, then pluck it out of my hand. It twists between my fingers, semi-translucent, with the details of its form barely discernible against the bright background. When I open my mouth and bring it close, its shadowy form gets sucked into my lungs, and my skin sparks with power I have never before experienced.

Closing my eyes, I go to my knees, press my forehead to the cold floor and reach into the shadow under my crouched form, calling out to my lost mate, because I already know I shall forgive him this transgression. Right now, I just want him safe.

As the eel amplifies my powers, a weak heartbeat calls out to mine, and my consciousness dives toward it, past floors, walls, and deep into rock.

And that’s when I know that he’s below the palace. In the caves.