Chapter 1013
Chapter 1013:
Moments later, a soldier hurried into the dining room, led by the butler.
Fixing the man with an intense stare, Dayton asked in a deep voice, “Did you see Ailyn during your patrol last night?”
Swallowing nervously, the soldier replied softly, “Yes, I saw Mrs. Burton leave the estate last night, but even when my shift was over, she hasn’t returned.”
When I heard these words, my heart seemed to be clutched tightly by an unseen force, plunging into an abyss.
Makenna had gone out alone. Where could she have gone? Could she have encountered danger?
“Where on earth did Makenna go?” I couldn’t help but murmur softly, my voice filled with anxiety.
Beside me, Clayton’s brow creased with concern, though his voice remained a pillar of composure. “Let’s keep calm for now.”
He turned to his subordinate and instructed, “Find out where Makenna was last night. And make it quick!”
The subordinate vanished in an instant, leaving the dining room draped in a cloak of heavy silence. Minutes crawled by like hours as we sat, prisoners to our growing anxiety. The once-tempting breakfast had long surrendered its warmth, yet worry had stolen our appetites completely.
At last, footsteps announced the subordinate’s return as he burst through the doorway, words tumbling out between labored breaths.
“Your Highness, Miss Dunn visited the prison last night—she went to see Alden.”
Maia released a breath she seemed to have been holding all this time. “If she went to Alden,” she whispered, hope threading through her voice, “then surely she’s alright.”
Yet the knot of dread in my stomach only tightened. True, we’d uncovered a fragment of her trail, but Makenna’s continued absence cast long shadows over this small discovery.
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Comfort. Too many questions remained unanswered. I had no patience for idle chatter. Every moment spent talking was another moment she might be in danger.
The three princes must have read my thoughts in my expression, for they rose as one, their movements fluid and purposeful as they led the way toward the prison.
The prison greeted us with its familiar embrace of gloom—walls weeping with moisture and air thick enough to taste.
Alden had been slumped against the cold wall, but our arrival jolted him from his half-slumber. Confusion and alarm flickered across his face as we crowded his cell.
“What happened? Why are you all here?”
Dominic’s gaze turned to frost as he approached Alden, each word falling like shards of ice. “Where is Makenna?”
Alden’s complexion drained of color, his eyes darting nervously as words stumbled from his lips. “Makenna… she visited me last night and then left.”
Bryan’s restraint finally snapped, patience evaporating into the damp prison air. “What time did she leave? Why hasn’t she returned to the Pierce estate yet?”
Only then did understanding dawn across Alden’s features, horror replacing confusion as the gravity of our presence struck him. “She left around two in the morning! How could she not be back yet? What on earth happened?”
We exchanged glances, each moment of Makenna’s absence feeding the growing dread in our hearts.
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