Page 55 of The Heart of the King

“The search is on-going, but there’s nothing to be overly concerned about,” Daniel reassured them, though David didn’t know how he could be so certain.

Edward turned to Benjamin. “Stay here with the women.” Then he looked at David. “We’ll start at the bottom and work our way up.” He glared at the heads of security, daring them to tell him to stay put.

David led the way to the stairs and hoped they went all the way down. He’d only been on board once or twice before this, and he’d never had a complete tour.

“How well do you know her?” Edward asked.

“Not well. She’s just starting to open up to me.” Kind of. A little bit.

“I mean the yacht.”

Right. They were always referred to as females. “Not well.”

They reached the bottom of the stairs that were connected, but a sixth sense told David this wasn’t the lowest deck. “I think there’s one more down,” he told the other king. “But I’ve never been here.”

Edward opened a door to another, even narrower, set of stairs.

This time, they were on the lowest deck. They started at the stern, near where they’d exited, and thoroughly searched the toy area. Jet skis and a significantly smaller boat along with inflatables were stored there.

No girls.

They went forward, though it appeared there were two hallways - or whatever they were called on yachts - heading for the bow. They’d go down one then come back to the other, if they couldn’t reach it from the front.

“Hazel? Sofia?” They both called for the girls.

They reached the bow having found nothing in the rooms. At least they hadn’t found them in the engine room. They went through crew quarters, something normally off limits even for monarchs, but this was unusual circumstances. Sofia might have known that, but Hazel wouldn’t have.

They started back down the other hall.

“Hazel? Sofia?”

“Are you all right?” he asked Edward. This had to bring back bad memories.

“I need to find my granddaughter. After that, it may be years before I set foot on a yacht again. Not after what happened to Miriam.” The older man’s voice was grim and laced with pain.

David had looked at the report Daniel provided him. A collision with an already injured whale combined with a rogue wave during a moderate storm and several people, including Queen Miriam hadn’t made it out. What he didn’t know was why the royal family had claimed she’d collapsed then passed. The claim had been made for over a week before the truth was released.

He wasn’t about to ask now.

Not when he heard something. David held up a hand.

“Hazel? Sofia?”

“Help!” He heard the voice, but couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.

“Call out again, girls!” he told them. “Keep calling. We’ll find you.”

The yelling intensified until they were outside what looked to be a mechanical closet of some sort. David turned the handle only to be met with resistance.

“Can you open the door?”

It rattled a few times while a girl - he thought it was Sofia - said it didn’t work very well.

It finally swung inward, and Sofia rushed into her grandfather’s arms. David went into the room as the ship rolled a bit and the door swung shut again.

Hazel was huddled on the floor crying.

“Hey. What’s wrong? I’m right here.” He tried to reach for her, but she shrunk away from him.

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