Page 38 of Claimed By Prince Daddy

How long ago did Ember leave?

I flew to one of the balconies on the towers and tucked my wings in, dropping into a crouch. The royal guards at the doorway stiffened, drawing their hands up in a salute. I swept past them without a word. Barging into the palace, I hurried downstairs and straight to Ember’s room. Reaching her door, my heart in my throat, and panting, though not from exertion, I knocked on her door.

“Ember?”

Silence greeted me. There was no sound of anyone stirring on the other side. Frustration mounted within me. I knocked again, this time a little sharper. “Ember, I know you’re in there,” I said. “If you would please open up, I could—” my voice drew off.I could what? Eraseall that I had done to her? Say sorry like it would make everything okay? My claws sliced out, and I clenched my fist, not caring that the talons bit into my palms, drawing beads of blood.

I rested my forehead against the door, a sigh breezing through my lungs. “Ember,” I begged, “please just listen to me.”

Footsteps sounded to my right, and I whipped my head to the side, hope flaring within my chest. “Ember?”

A female stood in the middle of the corridor, but it wasn’t Ember. By her long dark hair and pointed ears, I knew she was a shadow fae. She wore a servant’s outfit, a long plain black dress with glittering stitchwork along the hem and collar, and a pair of sensible, low-heeled shoes.

I recognized her almond-shaped chocolate-brown eyes. She was one of the servants that waited on Ember, one of her friends. I pushed off the door and strode toward her.

“Have you seen Ember?”

The female’s eyes widened slightly, her mouth falling open, then her composure grew relaxed, almost resigned even as she said, “No, I have not, Your Highness.”

I narrowed an eye at her. She knew something; my gut was telling me so. “Do you know where she went?”

The female servant shook her head. “No, no, I don’t, Your Highness.”

“But you do know something about her disappearance, don’t you?” I said, my eyes narrowing to thin slits.

At that, the servant’s eyes flashed. “Permission to speak candidly, sir?”

I blinked, taken aback. “Go on,” I said, dread slowly coiling a noose around my neck.

“After you rejected her,” the servant spat, “Ember told us that she would be returning home.”

I flinched as if I had been slapped.

“Ember…told you she was leaving?” I whispered, my throat hoarse with disbelief.

The servant’s eyes narrowed. “What would you expect, Your Highness? She was unwanted here and found lacking.” The servant’s words bit into me like the fangs of a venomous viper.

Did she run back home because of me?

I could hardly believe it. The ground felt as if it emptied out underneath me, dragging me under as I fell into its depths.

“No,” I growled, claws sliding out. “No, she can’t leave me!”

I whirled around, intent on finding her, when the servant’s voice pierced into me. “Why can’t you just leave her alone? Haven’t you already done enough to hurt her?”

My back went ramrod straight. I slowly pivoted, fixing her with a furious glare. “How dare you speak to me in such a way! I allowed you to speak your mind, but it goes no further—you forget who you’re speaking to.”

“Oh, I know exactly who I’m speaking to,” she snapped at me. “I’m speaking to the male that broke my friend’s heart. And I will not take that lightly, Crown Prince. No one hurts my friends.”

“Broke her heart? What the hell are you talking about?” I flung my arms out to the sides.

“She loved you, you idiot!” The servant’s chest heaved with bridled rage, yet I was too stunned to acknowledge she had yelled at me.

My heart felt as if it dropped down to my feet. Every cell in my body rocked to a halt. “She loves me?” My voice was ragged.

“She was in love with you,” the servant bit out, incisors lengthening. “Till you discarded her heart like it was nothing but trash, tossed aside for that—that female that’s always clinging to you. Don’t you realize that she treats her fellow servants—everybody—horribly and only pretends to be nice in your presence? How could you give up such a kind-hearted person as Ember for such a menace?”

“Rosalana…?” I breathed out. To hear what the servant said about my childhood friend’s sister was hard to bear. Could Rosalana really behave that poorly to others?

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