Chapter 47: Chapter 48: The suspect

Kaelen’s pov

“Without guards.” Lena’s face had gone pale. “Without protection. Without telling anyone where she was going.”

We looked at each other.

“We need to search the grounds,” I said, already moving toward where my sword belt lay. “She cannot have gone far. Maybe she just needed air. Maybe she went to the gardens”

“In the middle of the night? In secret?” Lena shook her head. “No. Something is wrong. Very wrong. And it’s all your fault.”

She moved to the door with sudden decision, throwing it open.Her voice carried down the corridor, sharp and commanding before I could stop her.

“Guards! I need guards here immediately!”

The response was almost instant. Footsteps echoed in the hallway. I heard voices, confused and alarmed. Within seconds, two palace guards appeared in the doorway, their faces showing the kind of alert concern that came from hearing that tone in a voice.

“The queen is missing,” Lena said without preamble. “Search the grounds. Check the gardens, the stables, anywhere she might have gone. Move quickly.”

The guards looked past her to me, standing half-dressed in the queen’s bedchamber, and I saw the understanding register on their faces. Saw the judgment.

“Go!” Lena snapped, and they scattered.

I finished strapping on my sword belt, my hands moving on automatic while my mind raced through possibilities. Where would Elara go? What would drive her to leave in secret? Last night had been–

Last night had changed everything. I knew that. We both knew it. But I had not expected her to run.

Unless she was not running from me. Unless something else had driven her out.

More footsteps in the corridor. Heavier. More numerous. I heard voices,sharp questions, demands for information. The alarm was spreading.

Lena stood in the doorway, her back straight and her face composed again, but I could see the fear in her eyes. “This is bad,” she said quietly. “This is very, very bad.”

“I will find her,” I said.

“You will do no such thing.” She turned to face me fully. “You will stay here and pray that when she is found, there is some explanation that does not destroy everything.”

Before I could respond, the crowd in the corridor parted. New voices. Authority.

Thorin appeared in the doorway.

He was fully dressed, perfectly composed despite the early hour. His eyes swept the room in one quick assessment, the disordered bed, Lena’s pale face, me standing there with my shirt half-tucked and my hair still tangled from sleep.

His expression did not change, but something cold flickered in his eyes.

“Where,” he said, his voice perfectly calm, perfectly controlled, “is Her Majesty?”

Behind him, I saw Lord Malakor appear. Then other council members crowding the corridor along with Captain Varrus, drawn by the commotion.

“We do not know,” Lena said. She stepped slightly to the side, as if to block their view of me, but it was too late. They had all seen.

“You do not know.” Thorin’s gaze moved to me. “And yet her personal guard is here. In her chambers. At dawn.”

The implication hung heavy in the air.

“I was on duty,” I said evenly. It was not quite a lie. Not quite the truth.

“On duty.” Thorin took a step into the room. “Inside her bedchamber. With the door locked.”

“The queen requested additional security.”

“How convenient.” His voice was soft, dangerous. “And where is the queen now, Captain? While you were providing this… additional security?”

I met his eyes directly. “I do not know.”

The silence that followed was crushing.

Malakor pushed past Thorin into the room, his face tight with barely controlled fury. “Someone tell me what is happening. Where is Queen Elara?”

“Missing,” Thorin said, never taking his eyes off me. “Vanished during the night. While her guard was… occupied.”

The narrative was forming. I could see it taking shape in the eyes of everyone crowded in that corridor. The queen disappeared. Her guard was with her. No witnesses. No explanation.

And now she was gone.

“Search the palace,” Malakor commanded. “Every room. Every corridor. Check the gates, find out if anyone left during the night.”

“Already done,” one of the guards called from the hallway. “The gate guards report no one left through the main entrance.”

“What about the other exits?” Thorin asked. “The servant passages? The stable doors?”

More guards scattered to check. The corridor was filling with people now, servants, soldiers, nobles drawn by the commotion. All of them looking at me with varying degrees of suspicion and judgment.

“Captain Kaelen.” Captain Varrus

stepped forward, his expression troubled. “You were the last person with Her Majesty?”

“Yes.”

“And you claim she simply… disappeared?”

” I do not know where she went or why.”

“Convenient,” Thorin said again. His voice was still soft, but now there was steel beneath it. “The queen vanishes. Her guard, the same guard who let her leave the palace the last time and questioned by this council, has no explanation.”

“I am not the one who made her feel trapped,” I shot back before I could stop myself.

Thorin’s eyes narrowed. “What did you say?”

“Nothing.” But the damage was done. Everyone heard.

“No, please.” Thorin’s voice was dangerously pleasant. “Explain what you meant. How did I make Her Majesty feel trapped?”

I said nothing.

“Could it be,” Thorin continued, “that Her Majesty felt pressured? Overwhelmed? Perhaps by someone who took advantage of her vulnerability?”

The accusation hung in the air, ugly and pointed.

“Enough.” Malakor’s voice cut through the tension. “We are wasting time. Every moment we stand here arguing is another moment the queen is missing and potentially in danger.”

He was right. But the damage was done. I could see it in every face. The suspicion. The doubt. The conclusion already forming.

“Seal the palace,” Malakor ordered. “No one enters or leaves until we find Her Majesty. Double the guards on every exit. Search every building on the grounds.”

“And him?” Thorin gestured at me. “What do we do about the guard who was supposed to be protecting her?”

Malakor looked at me for a long moment. I saw the calculation in his eyes. The weighing of options.

“Captain Kaelen will remain in the palace under watch,” he said finally. “He will assist with the search, but he will not be alone. Two guards will accompany him at all times.”

“House arrest,” Thorin said. “How appropriate.”

“Protective custody,” Malakor corrected. “Until we understand what happened here.”

I wanted to argue. Wanted to push past all of them and tear this palace apart until I found her. But I had no authority anymore. Not here. Not now.

The corridor was filling with more people. Servants huddled in doorways, whispering. Guards rushed past with orders and reports. The mood was shifting from scandal to crisis in the space of a single morning.

And through it all, I stood in the queen’s bedchamber, surrounded by the evidence of our night together, with everyone’s eyes on me.

Judging. Accusing. Condemning.

The queen was missing.

And I was the last person who had seen her.

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