Page 12 of Vanish

Had the curse consumed her, or was she merely beyond my sight now?

I tried to calm my frantic breaths in order to push through my crippling panic enough for me to concentrate. I extended my awareness into every nook and cranny, but though I couldn’t locate her familiar presence, I sensed it nearby, like a phantom wandering the corridors. Hope stirred—perhaps she hadn’t completely disappeared after all.

Urgency pushed me shakily to my feet. I staggered towards the door, but Ryland seized my wrist, jerking me to a stop. “What’s going on, Lucien?”

“Let me go! I need to find her.” I tried to wrangle free, but his grip held firm. His bulging gaze slowly took in my wild expression before his hold loosened, allowing me to pull away and begin my desperate pursuit.

I felt as if I was playing an elaborate game of hide and seek within a vast labyrinth, my quest made more difficult when the one I sought likely didn’t want to be found. Though I faintly detected her lingering presence within the palace walls—stronger in some places than in others—no matter where I looked she remained invisible to my awareness. As time lengthened, my worry escalated that without any connection to keep her tethered, Lisette would vanish completely.

Perhaps there was somewhere within the palace where we had built some memories where she might have gone. Sadness tainted this tentative hope as I considered every location we shared and I realized just how little interaction we’d had throughout our relationship. I’d spent our courtship so caught up in my determination to maintain my charade for her protection that in the end I’d only created distance, leaving nothing to sustain us now.

I failed to find her in the guest bedroom she used whenever she visited, the parlor where we often took tea together, or the gardens we frequently strolled, wrapped in our own thoughts. Eventually the weight of hopelessness grew too heavy to bear and my weakened legs gave out in the middle of the corridor.

I scarcely noticed the horrified cries or hurried footsteps of my trailing guards, nor Father’s arrival until he crouched beside me. I sensed his surprise at my faltered composure and worry, a state I had never dared allow him to witness out of fear that such weakness would leave me unfit to one day inherit the crown.

The flickering candle his accompanying guard held provided just enough light to illuminate the concern lining his harrowed expression. “Ryland expressed his concern that the pressure has finally gotten to you. Upon seeing you for myself, the situation appears more dire than I anticipated.” He was silent a long moment. “Is this about Princess Lisette’s disappearance?”

I could scarcely nod my affirmation, nor did I have the strength to share my suspicions that she hadn’t fully succumbed to the curse, not when Ryland had already failed to see her and I couldn’t locate her now. In the years since the curse had descended upon our land we had never discovered any evidence that its victims lingered, trapped in a state of in-between instead of completely ceasing to exist.

If my heart hadn’t recognized the unique contentment I experienced that always accompanied my time in Lisette’s presence even with her partially visible form, I wouldn’t have believed she lingered myself. Sharing my hypothesis with Father—especially midst my turmoil of emotions—would do little to convince him of the impossible, and I needed a show of good sense for the impending battle that still lay ahead.

I struggled through the panic hindering my judgment in order to better analyze my dire situation. If the news of the new engagement contract in the works had been what led to Lisette’s disappearance…could breaking it possibly bring her back?

I lifted my bleary gaze to meet Father’s concern. “Please call off my pending arrangement.”

He frowned. “Is this what this is about? As much as I wish otherwise, you know I can’t do that. Brimoire is in need of strong alliances now more than ever; the situation is too dire for us to do nothing. While decorum would normally dictate a proper mourning period, we simply cannot afford to wait as more of Brimoire disappears every day.”

I winced at the thought of my pain being reduced to meredecorum, but I was too intimately familiar with the devastation our kingdom faced to argue. Duty forged my path forward, just as it’d done when I had first agreed to the union with the princess of Thorndale several years ago. But things had changed now that my previous responsibility had become my most heartfelt wish. If I hoped to retain it, I would need to restore Lisette before my new duty forced me to let her go.

That didn’t leave me much time—breaking the curse upon my true fiancée would be a race against not only the force that threatened to erase her, but against the clock as Father worked to arrange my engagement to someone other than the only one I wanted.

My heart that yearned for Lisette could still sense her lurking somewhere on the palace grounds, similar to how one could measure each breath when they concentrated. Though my search for Lisette’s invisible form had so far proved futile, there had to be a way to locate her even if she remained hidden from sight…

An idea sparked in my mind, a glimmer of a possibility that urged me to depart from Father with empty reassurances that I would feel better after a good rest and instead seek out my sister-in-law. I found her sprawled across a settee in the library, restlessly kicking her bare feet back and forth as she attempted to read the book propped up on her protruding pregnant stomach. I released a breath of relief that my brother was thankfully not present, which would allow me a rare chance to converse without his protective interference.

At my entrance Evelyn stiffened, a reaction that caused my frantic whirl of emotions to falter just enough for the guilt I wholly deserved to penetrate. She had every right to be wary of my presence after my continual persistence in assuming the mantle her husband had abandoned after falling in love with her had led me to repeatedly press for the magical assistance that deep down I knew was more than she and her kingdom had to give, all in hopes of relieving my kingdom from the devastation it faced.

Such dishonorable behavior left me in no position to ask for magical favors when my previous pleas had continuously fallen on deaf ears, but desperation left me no choice but to make another appeal. “Evelyn, I need—”

She snapped her book shut with an angry glare. “For the last time, Lucien, I am unable to provide Brimoire the magic it needs. It’s not a matter of stubbornness or selfishness, but the limits of my own power that prevent me from…” She trailed off upon noticing my broken composure. Her brow puckered. “This isn’t about Brimoire’s curse?” Her defensive posture relaxed as I shook my head. “Forgive me for assuming; we’ve so rarely discussed anything else that I didn’t think you had any other reason to seek my company.”

Remorse joined my torrent of emotions; my relationship with Lisette wasn’t the only one riddled with mistakes. “I shouldn’t have allowed my role as the crown prince to prevent me from treating my brother’s wife with greater consideration.”

Her defensiveness softened. “I understand the situation Brimoire faces and truly wish there was something I could do to help. If this isn’t about the curse…could it possibly be about Lisette? Ryland informed me that you were…struggling.” Her initial antagonistic tone had gentled, leaving me feeling vulnerable.

I managed a nod. “I have reason to believe she hasn’t fully succumbed to the curse and may in fact be within the palace.”

I expected a dubious reaction similar to Ryland’s, but Evelyn’s eyebrows merely quirked in interest; perhaps magical beings were more accepting of the unexplainable.

“So you’re in need of tracking magic?” At my nod she fidgeted, twirling a loose strand of hair around her finger as she considered. “I’m not entirely sure I’m yet capable of that. While my powers have grown stronger with practice, there is still much I don’t know. I’m afraid such a spell is beyond my current capacity when I’ve only so recently discovered my powers, especially since I’m only slightly acquainted with the vanished princess.”

I clenched my jaw to hold back the frustration that threatened the small amount of progress I’d made with my new sister, especially when any insight she offered was an extension of mercy I didn’t deserve. Even without my biting retort, she sensed my simmering emotions and offered an apologetic smile. “If you sense her within the palace, then you alone will be able to find her.”

“I’ve spent all evening doing nothingbuttry to find her, exertion that has amounted to nothing.” Just as my efforts to aid Father in protecting our kingdom had also failed; I was as useless a prince as I was a fiancé.

“Your persistence was not for naught, and I’m happy to offer a small enhancement spell in hopes of strengthening whatever allows you to sense your missing fiancée enough for you to find her.” She conjured a small handful of light, which floated towards me to settle above my heart; warmth expanded through my chest as if I’d just received a drop of sunlight, dispelling the discouragement that had tempted me to give up.

This hope guided me as I thanked her and resumed my search, which grew more difficult the deeper the night settled, making it easier for the shadows to conceal her. My worry and weighty exhaustion measured the lengthy hours, yet my need to find Lisette urged me forward, my remembrances of her directing every step, as if their invisible guidance would allow me to finally locate my invisible fiancée.

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