L

                                    

                                          

"THIS IS nonsense. What do you mean you can't find her?" Blakeley paced back and forth in his office, hands in his hair. Anger radiated off of him in waves. "I swear, you are all idiots!"
	"Watch your mouth, Blakeley," the pink haired fae said in a sharp tone, her eyes narrowed at the russet haired man pacing. "This is all technically your fault."
	"My fault?" Blakeley exploded, coming to a stop, slamming his hands on his desk. "How is this my fault that the princess ran away on her wedding day? How is this my fault she forced all of us to be still while she made her getaway?"
	The pink haired fae looked over at Stagren, who was just standing at the door, wringing his hands. When Blakeley also turned to look at him, Stagren's face went pale. "You're right, Sir. I should look harder."
	The pink haired fae rolled her eyes. "No, you don't have to look harder." She leveled another look at Blakeley, and he knew exactly what it said. If you hadn't wiped his memories, he would be of more help to us.
	Blakeley didn't like admitting he was wrong. He wouldn't dare admit that.
	"And this whole Levison business-"
	"Leave him out of this," Blakeley seethed. "I promoted you for a reason, and you're not proving to me that I made the right choice. Should I have promoted Stagren instead? Had the sun fae erase your memories instead?"
	The pink haired fae narrowed her eyes in disgust. "Without me, you would have never found the Princess in the human realm, remember?"
	"If you're done arguing with me, then I suggest we start coming up with next steps. Where did she go? And how could she have moved so fast? We know she has the ring on still."
	"My guess is she went to see the friends that you wouldn't let her invite to the wedding. Maybe we could have avoided this if you'd just let her bring her friends."
	Blakeley snorted. "You're an even bigger idiot if you think that letting her invite those ridiculous royal children along would have been a good idea. I mean, those good for nothing children get everything while we have to work ourselves to the bone for just a scrap of power! Yet, what I wouldn't do to have a modicum of the power Prince Puck's son has."
	The pink haired fae rolled her eyes. She stepped away from the desk, twirling a strand of hair with her finger. "If I had to guess, I would say she went to the Autumn Court to see Princess Carling's daughter. Or to the Winter Court to see Sir Nohx and Callum."
	Blakeley paused. "Not the Summer Court?"
	"Are you dense? Andorra has made it perfectly clear how she feels about her own people. No, she's probably in the Winter Court. Callum is her guard, and she has a thing for Sir Nohx."
	Blakeley paused, silence filling the office. Stagren fidgeted in the doorway. "That's going against the caste."
	"I didn't say she was smart. Just that it was obvious she has a thing for him."
	"No, no. She was clearly head over heels for Anders. Didn't you hear her, going on and on about the wedding and her excitement? I mean, she was drooling over him."
	The pink haired fae leveled Blakeley with a look. "Yeah, that was her game. She was fooling you. You think, for a single moment, that Andorra really wanted this wedding? She was acting, and you ate it up."
	Blakeley's mouth dropped open, a new wave of anger rushing through him.  He turned and punched the wall behind him with an angered shout. The anger simmered on his skin. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"