Chapter 147: Kidnapped
He shrugged on his shirt by himself, wincing whenever the fabric dragged over the injury on his arm.
He couldn’t even dress himself fast enough.
She had probably gone too far for him to follow.
Yeren wanted to give up. The fact that he was now injured made him feel more like a liability than a protector.
But he couldn’t suppress the rising feeling that she was in some sort of trouble.
He had instructed Andon to ensure that no one was to be informed of their arrival in the town.
But despite all his measures, he couldn’t be certain that his whereabouts were kept secret.
And whether they knew it or not, harming Miss Stenly was the easiest way to get to him.
And that realization unnerved him more than anything else had.
He pulled on his brocade as fast as his injured arm would allow and literally dashed out of the room.
Maurius and Andon were waiting below, already dressed up in their riding habits.
They had barely arrived, he hated to disrupt their rest.
But it had to be done.
The carriage was already waiting at the entrance of the building.
He climbed in by himself, refusing the assistance of one of his guards who was on standby.
His mind began to pour on the things he would say to her the moment he found her, but none of them sounded sincere enough.
The only sincere thing he could possibly say was the one he was avoiding, the one he knew she wanted hear as well.
He wasn’t in love with her, he told himself stubbornly, but he had come to care for her deeply.
And if by any chance she happened to be a wolf, he would take her to the nearest chapel and make her his wife.
But he had to find her.
His heart sank when they saw her guard on the street.
And he was alone.
Yeren pulled the curtains of the carriage aside and looked around.
"Where is she?"
All the man could do was run his hand through his hair frantically. He never wore a helmet, and from the look of his hair, Yeren was sure he had run his hands through his hair a thousand times already.
"She was just in front of me... Your Grace."
"And where is she now?" Andon asked this time.
He just shook his head, his eyes wild with genuine worry.
Yeren narrowed his eyes at the man but said nothing.
Claire Stenly was a sweet soul to everyone but him, it seemed.
If only she had a scent he could trace...
Realising that riding in the carriage was futile, he signalled for them to stop and continued walking.
"Where did you see her last?"
"She was just around this area... until she vanished into the crowd."
Andon had disappeared as well, doing his own search.
Then, he reappeared from an alleyway, his face grim.
"I caught a whiff of her lavender perfume, but it was much to faint for me to be certain."
That was the only useful thing he had heard all the while.
"Did you follow it?"
Andon nodded glumly. "It led to a dead end."
Without wasting another second, Yeren walked into the narrow path. Even in broad daylight, the buildings above obscured most of the light, leaving the place to suffice with the stray rays that managed to seep in.
He walked with his entourage behind him, stopping only when they reached a kind of crossroad.
There were wooden crates piled at the corner which made the narrow path more narrow.
He nodded at his men who split into different groups, two men taking each path.
Andon, her guard and Maurius remained with him.
That was when he saw it.
He reached down and plucked it from the ground.
A strand of auburn hair. The exact same shade as hers.
It had to be hers.
His frantic heartbeat calmed somewhat at the realization that they weren’t chasing clouds.
Now, where was she?
She was much too sensible to have run away... she had to have been taken.
The town was a dangerous place for people who ventured alone in dark alleys, much more a helpless woman.
What if she was harmed?
Or raped?
Or...
He ran a shaky hand through his already messy locks.
"She was here." He breathed, barely above a hushed whisper.
Andon inched closer.
"I think she was taken. I can smell the faint scent of an Alpha wolf here."
Yeren sniffed the air as well but couldn’t catch any scent. His senses were mushed up since he had the injury.
Just the scrape of metal against metal from the blacksmith’s shed has been ringing in his ears all morning long after the noise had stopped.
"What is the closest route to the Capital from here?"
"The highway... why do you ask, Your Grace?" Andon answered, breathless.
"Gather the fastest horses we have, my Cupbearer’s life is on the line."
Andon and her guard rushed off to gather the horses as he commanded, leaving him to follow after them.
Then, a little boy came out through the back door of one of the buildings and just stood there, staring at him.
He was flustered by the boy’s scrutiny and tossed a coin at the boy.
The boy bent down to retrieve the coin but continued to stare at him in the same unnerving manner.
"She’s waiting for you." The boy said quietly, tucking the coin in the side of his battered trousers before running back through the door.
The door was slightly ajar as Yeren stared at it.
The last thing he was going to do was to rush into trouble with one arm.
But before he could move, something hard and heavy smacked into the back of his head.
He should have expected it, he thought as his eyes began to close.
They knew he was in town.
"Andon!" He called out at the top of his lungs before the darkness claimed him.