Page 37 of Her Royal Rebellion

“Carolyn went to fetch her this morning. Her bed was empty, but obviously slept in. The grounds are being searched, but an initial check of the palace came up empty. Kyle said he didn’t hear anything, and no one came down her hall.”

“Logan. Let’s go.” Shane shook my shoulder and it was enough to break through the cold ice that took over my body. I finished dressing and jogged behind them toward the palace. There were dozens of guards headed in every direction. We went straight to the security office where the king and queen were waiting, watching the wall of screens.

Kyle, Isla’s night guard, was pale, standing in the corner. I wanted to slam him against the wall and demand to know how he let this happen, but I knew that wouldn’t get me the results I wanted.

I went to the screens and watched her windows. If Kyle didn’t see anyone come down her hall, then they had to have used the windows. Her suite had no hidden tunnels or connections to other parts of the palace.

Whoever did this risked being seen, but they hadn’t been.

How?

“Have you gone through the entire night?” I asked Bill as he took over controls from the man at the computer.

“We have, but there’s nothing. It doesn’t make sense.”

“You’ve checked the hallway as well?”

“Yes, Kyle never left. He never fell asleep. He didn’t miss anything.”

I knew what he was trying to convey to me. I couldn’t blame Kyle. He did his job correctly. He had no reason to suspect anything was wrong. If someone was able to get into her room, I knew they would be able to get to her without making noise. Nothing would have alerted Kyle that he needed to check.

We didn’t have cameras inside Isla’s suite for her privacy, which meant we had no idea what happened. There had to be something we missed. The sun rose on the screens and I knew we were already past the time she was taken.

I didn’t say it aloud, but I knew that’s what happened. Isla didn’t leave on her own accord. Not after yesterday. There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind. She was removed by force and not by someone who cared about her. Whoever did this was after something else.

“Go back to last night and let’s watch again.” Bill followed my instructions, but I didn’t catch anything the second or third time.

The queen gasped. “Where’s my baby. Where’s Isla?”

She fell against her husband who didn’t take his eyes off the screen. The distraction only took my focus away for a second, but when I looked back to the screen, I caught a flicker.

“Wait!”

Bill paused the feed.

“Go back, slow it down.”

We watched in silence as frame by frame, the feed reversed. There it was again. “There. Did you see that?”

Bill nodded. “They took over the feed. They put up another image.”

I didn’t want to waste time finding it, but I knew if we continued watching, we’d see the second flicker when the feed went live again. “Someone got into the system.”

From all I knew about our security that should be impossible.

“How?” King Leo’s voice roared.

I looked to Bill, his face pale. This was his team, his room, his domain. If something happened, it had to have been under his watch. One of his men slipped. Or had betrayed them.

My biggest concern was finding Isla before it was too late. “We can worry about that later. Right now, we need to come up with a suspect list and find the princess.” I spun to face Shane. “Get the status on every suitor who has come to the palace. Marius left yesterday, but Philippe and Peter should still be here. We can question them, and the rest need to be accounted for.”

He nodded and hurried to a different computer, lifting his phone to his ear.

“You think one of them took my daughter?” the queen asked me.

My gut said it was Marius, but that was a serious accusation. One I shouldn’t throw out lightly. I took in her despair, her anguish and forgot about what was proper and if it was my place or not.

“I believe it was Marius of Suruso.”