Page 13 of Vanish

The hushed whispers from the servants and others in the palace followed as I methodically made my way down every hallway and paused outside every door. A few tried to waylay me with pleas to rest, but even as my body fatigued, I didn’t dare cease; instinct warned me that if I waited to find Lisette, I might forever lose my chance to rescue her.

As I walked along a corridor at the back of the palace—candle guttering as it burned down to the base—footsteps sounded behind me. I turned, surprised to encounter my brother in the middle of the night. I waited for him to approach, my back tensing as I anticipated his remonstrance added to all the others—but he simply extended a fresh candle, lighting it with the last sparks of my old one and handing it to me.

Astonished and moved, I couldn’t respond, but Ryland simply flashed a brief, sympathetic smile before turning back towards his chamber to rejoin his sleeping wife.

Renewed determination squared my shoulders as I took up the search once more, but by the time the sky had faded from velvet black to charcoal, I was no closer to finding the missing princess. My feet ached as I trudged on, my head beginning to pound after hours of straining to listen and feel her elusive presence.

Dawn tinged the horizon as this gentle lure guided me to an unexpected location. I climbed the twisting steps leading to the top of one of the palace turrets, one of the only places I hadn’t yet looked, considering I had nearly forgotten about one of the earliest memories between me and Lisette that had unfolded at that very location.

The feeling of her presence grew stronger the higher I ascended. When I reached the top, my gaze was drawn to a place near the baluster that shimmered in the soft early morning light. My breath caught.Lisette, I was certain of it.

Surely it wasn’t a coincidence I had finally located her in a place that connected us. Even with her lost memories, perhaps part of her recalled our past together, precious enough for her to cling to despite the distance that had prevented our relationship from deepening.

I concentrated, willing her outline to reappear…but nothing happened. I kept my gaze locked to the section of the balcony where I thought I’d seen her as I cautiously approached, afraid that startling her would cause her to once more hide from me. When I drew near enough, I reached a hesitant hand out to touch the shimmery air. Though my hand went right through it, the attempted touch was just enough for her translucent body to gradually appear.

I released a whooshing breath of relief. “Thank goodness.”

She didn’t immediately answer, her gaze taking in the dark circles I could feel marring my haggard expression. “So you found me. Have you been searching for me all night?” Puzzlement furrowed her brow at my nod. “Why would you expend so much effort for me?”

“Because I love you.” Shyness made it difficult to finally express the words I’d kept unspoken for so long, but seeing her again made it impossible to hold them back any longer. Of all the ways I’d imagined telling her, I’d never considered doing it when I couldn’t take her hands in mine or at least clearly see her face.

For a brief moment the color that had faded from her eyes brightened with a look akin to wonder…before it too dimmed. “But your brother mentioned another arrangement?”

My heart lurched. “Anything my father is attempting to create is for the crown prince—for the kingdom, notLucien. I only want you.”

“What good are wishes when according to my unreliable memory, the role of crown prince is one I recall you embody?”

I bit back my frustrated curse. In truth I’d been hiding behind my role for so long it was difficult to separate the two, but I’d never felt more hindered by my shackles of title and duty than I did in this moment. “Our arrangement takes precedence. So long as you’re here, it can’t—”

Her sigh interrupted my desperate reassurance. “I still haven’t decided whether or not I evenwantto be here.”

My heart wrenched. “You mean youwantto disappear?”

She hesitated before offering a small shrug. “The desire comes and goes. It was strongest immediately after learning of your arrangement; I wanted nothing more than to fade away so I wouldn’t have to experience such pain ever again.”

She’d always been quiet, but after our first encounter and my inability to understand what she needed, I’d begun to accept her silence as shyness, not a manifestation of a deep-rooted pain…yet another example of how I’d failed her as a fiancé by not being someone she could turn to in order to help share whatever burden she carried.

Though I couldn’t bear the thought of hurting her, the fact that she was bothered by our broken engagement gave me hope that my wish that she cared for me in return wasn’t a whimsical fancy. The honorable intentions I’d harbored during my search for her to confess my deceit vanished, as if swallowed by the curse that surrounded her. “Because…you care for me?”

Suspicion filled her sidelong glance that I had any reason to question my carefully spun lie. “I don’t remember, though I cannot deny that something about you is keeping me here. I witnessed some of your desperate search; it prevented me from giving in, even though I have no real reason to stay.”

I tried to smile reassuringly, but my lips refused to turn up; my mask had become too much a part of me to break my stoic habits through sheer will. “Perhaps we can create a reason.”

My conscience stirred at the promise. The resolution had carried me forward as much as our memories that guided me, yet now that the moment had come, in my weakness I allowed my vow to fade, as if swallowed by the vanishing force.

Lisette’s wistful sigh pulled me from my self-deprecating reverie, her gaze fixated on the surrounding landscape. “There’s no rhyme or reason for which memories the curse has chosen to claim and which it’s left behind. I remember Brimoire used to be lush and vibrant…before the devastation.”

It was only a single example of the havoc the curse had caused. I leaned against the railing to stare out across the sunlit scenery, a mere shadow of the brushstrokes of beauty that used to caress the land. Instances when we’d admired the scenery together midst the silence that frequently cloaked us defined much of our courtship. Though I wanted nothing more than a second chance to finally do right by her, in this moment I found solace in the reminiscence.

It beckoned another recollection from the past, a setting similar to this one except it had been cast beneath the velvety hues of twilight and we had been discussing not my pending engagement with another woman, but the union we had just formed between ourselves.

A wistful smile tugged my lips. “This is the second time we’ve had this conversation. Do you remember?”

Concentration furrowed her brow before her eyes widened. “I do.”

I allowed my thoughts to drift back in time to what had once seemed a trivial conversation, yet it was our first private conversation away from the expectations of title and the prying eyes of the court. The tender recollection made it difficult to remember my original resentment of a betrothal I hadn’t asked for that had tainted the last time we’d overlooked the kingdom we would one day rule together.

My initial attraction upon meeting her had done nothing to change my wariness towards my arranged marriage, but the quiet, gentle nature and innate sweetness I discovered atop this tower had been what first stirred my heart with something deeper than my initial desire to protect her, making this a special place.

---