9

Chapter 9

Gillian Goldrudder POV.

After hearing the words spoken by Fabien and the revelation that the young man who was accompanying the king and Marc in their journey was a member of House Fortier, Gillian and Marc had become extremely cautious. At first, they didn't believe that Marc had been captured. After all, Marc and the king had been traveling the same route for months and neither had encountered any danger. Then, after seeing the king and Marc being brought into the castle without any signs of struggle, they became certain that there must be a spy involved. Gillian wasn't entirely convinced. Marc was a smart lad who was known for being reckless when it came to his safety, which wasn't exactly an unreasonable behaviour considering he had grown up in the middle of nowhere and had no one but himself to rely upon. She was certain that Marc wouldn't let such a thing happen to him, but she was worried about Marc himself. What if he had been taken by the enemy and was now being tortured in order to reveal their location? Gillian didn't dare imagine what would happen to Marc when his torturers discovered what had been done to him. The fact that they had killed his parents already terrified her. What if something worse would happen to him?

"Where is our daughter?" asked Queen Isabella while walking toward them along with King Daniel and his wife.

Gillian lowered her gaze and stayed silent, feeling guilt consume her as she recalled what had happened just hours earlier. It was all her fault. If she had never left the palace then none of this would've happened. As much as she hated the idea, she also knew she had no other choice. She couldn't protect Marc.

"What has happened to her? Where is our daughter? We demand her presence in the room at once!"

"Calm down, Your Grace," intervened the king. "Our daughter is safe and sound. The guards found her wandering around and bringing supplies back home. They managed to get her back to the castle safely."

"That doesn't answer my question. Who took her?"

Daniel sighed and looked up at the ceiling as if searching for the right words to explain himself.

"The person was a stranger whom we caught roaming around the countryside."

Queen Isabella raised her eyebrows slightly. "And who would that be? I assume you are referring to someone who isn't one of our citizens."

King Daniel shrugged and looked back at his wife. "We're not sure of the identity of the person who took our daughter, My Lady. They appeared out of thin air." He sighed and continued speaking. "However, the person didn't try to hurt us. In fact they seemed to be friendly towards me and the king." He paused briefly before continuing. "I believe that there can be someone who's willing to betray our alliance if the chance arises."

Gillian bit her lip, unable to hide her surprise. It was strange how everything that happened so far seemed to confirm her father's suspicions. If what King Daniel was saying was true and some sort of traitor had managed to infiltrate their army… Gillian shuddered at the thought. Could it really be possible that she could've been saved by the stranger? Maybe her father was mistaken. Perhaps the stranger didn't have anything to do with them at all, perhaps it was simply some traveler and he had merely come across them when the opportunity came and decided to help them out instead of letting them die. Or maybe this man – whoever he was– had kidnapped the woman who Gillian was looking for and used her as a hostage to force her to accompany the queen back home without her husband.