Auburn’s head still throbbed where it had struck the wall.
Her maids fluttered around her like startled hens, fussing over her hair, her dress, her wound.
"Princess, are you hurt?" The first asked.
"Do you need water?" Another asked in a pleading voice.
"Should we call for a healer?" A third questioned sympathetically.
"LEAVE !" Auburn shrieked, slapping their hands away. "All of you, OUT!"
They scattered instantly.
Auburn clutched the side of her head, breathing hard.
She didn’t understand what happened.
One mont she was walking through the hallway proudly with her girls, the next she was on the ground, her skull ringing, blood in her hair, and a gust of force pushing her forward like a ghost had shoved her.
But it wasn’t the fall that unsettled her.
It was the feeling.
Sothing cold had passed through her.
Sothing familiar.
Sothing she hated more than anything.
She looked back at the empty space and felt the cool breeze against her.
She felt her back and massaged it with her spare hand.
It had felt as though a hand had imprinted against her back.
"Who the hell pushed ?" She demanded in rage.
The maids looked at each other, their breathing uneven.
She glared back up at them.
"Are you fucking deaf?" She demanded in further rage. "I asked a question who hit ?!"
"There was no one there your majesty." One of them said in a small quiet voice.
"Are you telling I’m imagining what I felt?!" She hissed at the girls.
"No no no." Your majesty they chorused.
Auburn rolled her eyes.
"Bunch of pussies." She swore as she slowly rose to her feet.
Her hand was girly held against her wound.
She took off her hand and felt the sticky wound.
She looked down at it.
Blood.
She looked back at the vacant space and she felt a sickening feeling in her tummy.
Jasmine.
Auburn swallowed thickly.
No.
That was impossible.
But there sothing within her told her no.
She decided to check for herself.
To see Jasmine for herself.
She balanced herself well and another maid offered her help.
"Your majesty." The maid said kindly. "Your wound needs to be clean-
"SHUT UP!" Auburn stord off and in a matter of seconds, she was headed down the cells.
Her footsteps echoed angrily through the tunnels.
She ignored the guards’ confused looks, ignored their bows, ignored the wary way they stepped aside.
Her wolf was pacing in her chest.
Agitated.
Uneasy.
She stopped directly in front of Jasmine’s cell.
The girl sat on the floor.
Huddled.
Silent.
Back turned to her.
Auburn sneered.
"Well, well, well," she hissed, folding her arms. "The little rat finally looks like what she is. A criminal in a cage."
No response.
Auburn’s eye twitched.
She stepped closer to the bars. "Are you deaf? I’m talking to you."
Still nothing.
Auburn’s irritation sharpened into anger.
Into rage.
"JAS-MINE!" she shouted, her voice slamming off the walls.
Jasmine didn’t move.
Didn’t flinch.
Didn’t turn.
Just kept her back to her, head bowed.
Auburn’s stomach twisted.
A strange dread seeped into her.
Her wolf whined and Auburn’s irritation briefly faltered into a flicker of fear.
Sothing was wrong.
Sothing was terribly wrong and she didn’t need to be told before she knew.
She stord away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cherry was brushing her hair when Auburn shoved the doors open.
Cherry turned sharply. "This better be important."
And then the mont Cherry saw Auburn’s forehead she rose a brow.
"Did your fake wolf lose her mind and bash her head?" Cherry asked
"Sothing pushed ." Auburn managed. "I an I....."
She took in a deep breath and proceeded again. "I... I don’t feel right. Sothing is wrong."
Cherry frowned. "Wrong how?"
Auburn swallowed hard and pressed the clothe she had snatched from a maid on her head. "I went to see Jasmine. In the cells."
Cherry’s eyes widened with fury.
In a matter of seconds he was up on her feet and had slapped Auburn across the cheek hard.
Auburn gasped and held her face in disbelief.
"You stupid girl!" Cherry hissed. "Do you want your idiocy to ruin everything?! Going down there could expose us!"
Auburn’s voice cracked. "I just wanted to make sure she was there!"
"And?"
Auburn swallowed. "She... she didn’t look at . Not once. I shouted at her. She didn’t turn around." Her voice trembled. "She didn’t even answer."
Cherry’s face stiffened.
"She didn’t speak at all?"
Auburn shook her head. "Nothing."
Cherry blinked once.
Twice.
Her breathing changed.
Her hands curled.
"Auburn," she said slowly, "are you absolutely certain?"
"Yes!" Auburn snapped. "Why would I lie? She sat there like a doll. Like she wasn’t even alive. Just... sitting."
Cherry’s heartbeat pounded visibly in her throat.
"Co," she whispered. "Now."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~
The guards stiffened when they saw Cherry approaching with Auburn behind her.
"Princess you’re not allowed to-
"MOVE," Cherry snarled.
The guards imdiately backed away.
Cherry marched to the bars and glared inside.
"Jasmine," she called sharply. "Turn around."
No answer.
Her jaw tightened.
"Jasmine."
Still nothing.
Auburn stepped closer, whispering shakily, "See? I told you."
Cherry lunged for the nearest guard and snatched the ring of keys right off his belt.
"Princess please we don’t want to-
She ignored him and slamd the key into the lock.
The cell door creaked open.
Cherry stord inside, grabbed Jasmine’s arm before she yanked her around.
The girl’s hair fell back.
And it wasn’t Jasmine.
Hildegard lifted her head slowly...
And smiled.
A calm, wicked, knowing smile.
Cherry’s blood boiled over before it finally turned to ice
Auburn stumbled back, a strangled gasp ripping from her throat.
The guard dropped his torch.
And Hildegard raised her chin, eyes glinting with satisfaction.
"Looking for soone?" she asked. "I told you. Just one powerful move from the pawn could send the crown off the chess board."
Cherry gritted teeth and at that mont she heard the bells ring.
What the hell was going on now?
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