Seven

Black robes swished through the gaping hall as the figures quickly strode through the stone interior, their footsteps echoing throughout the entire castle.

            Word had been spreading of her appearance. Word about the missing girl with the purple eyes, the one they’d been looking for, for almost two decades. She had been taken from her room, an orphan babe in the Adraemor Kingdom palace, by thieves who’d wanted to sell her. This is what the advisors had concluded, announcing to the queen of why she no longer had her sister’s daughter with her. She had been deemed caretaker for the girl once her mother and father passed and the queen received the crown.

            But when the babe was barely ten moons old when she was stolen, her cries heard down this very hall as the thief took off with her. Queen Jehenne had been distraught with the news and had sent out her best guards and knights to retrieve her niece but to no avail. The queen had ruled Adraemor with her best intentions and regards while also searching for Avelyn.

            The seekers entered the grand throne room, their boots clacking on the marble flooring, causing the queen to jerk her head up upon their entrance. Her indigo eyes cut to the four men bowing before her, hope evident on her face. She turned away the advisor who didn’t glance in their direction but rather kept speaking about the importance of feed and land. He seemed annoyed but bowed his head and climbed down the five-step dais.

            The lead seeker, Sir Syne, stood up and held his arm to his middle. “My queen, it’s what we’ve thought.”

            The queen rose, her black gown hugging every curve of her slender form, the bodice causing her breasts to appear plump and round for a babe. Her dark eyes looked down her thin nose at the rugged man, a silver eye patch covering one gray eye. He had a scar under the patch, and she would know, she’d seen him without it many times.  Her ruby lips were pressed together before she uttered the word, “And?”

            His chapped lips smiled at her. “It’s her, your highness. It’s Duchess Avelyn and she’s trapped in Ieslal under King Davorin’s care as a slave. Known by her new name of Devyn.”

            Clouds crossed her eyes. “She will be no longer in his palace. I know what he does to young human girls and she is no exception. If we cannot retrieve her through peaceful means, well, I will declare war on him. Send me my writers and squires. Prepare the ballroom. When she returns home, we will feast in her honor!”

            With that, the queen turned away the seekers and headed straight for her study. They’d found her. After all of these years, Avelyn was alive. The stolen girl was alive!