“I don’t know,” Jenkins said.
Someone cleared their throat behind Jenkins. “I might know,” Guinevere said. “She said she wanted to go for a walk to clear her head.”
Alexander glanced back outside, and the chill down his spine turned into something worse. “She’s out there?” he asked. “And you didn’t see her?” he asked Dietrich.
Dietrich, who looked as scared as Alexander felt, said, “No, but I’m going to go look for her.”
“Me too,” Alexander said, hurrying for the foyer with Dietrich.
“There’s no need, my lord,” Dietrich said. “I will find her. You needn’t go out in the storm.”
“As if I’m not going to go look for my wife,” Alexander growled.
“Your wife?” Dietrich asked, his voice harsh.
Alexander grimaced. He had forgotten he’d left that part out of the note he’d sent to town. “She’ll explain when we find her,” he said as he grabbed his coat from Jenkins. “But yes, she’s my wife.”
He looked over at Dietrich. “Is that a problem?”
Had Beatrice had an understanding with this man and neglected to tell him?
Dietrich shook his head. “Not a problem, as long as she’s happy and you don’t hurt her,” he said. “I suggest we find her because if we don’t, I might have to kill you.”
Alexander grinned. If Dietrich was a friend of Beatrice’s, enough of a friend to suggest killing a noble on her behalf, then he would be worth having around to look for her.
“I understand,” he said. “Let’s go find her so she can yell at both of us for going out in the storm.”
Dietrich grinned. “It sounds like you understand Beatrice pretty well,” he said, as the door opened and an icy blast hit them in the face. Before Alexander could say anything, Rose scampered out between his legs into the storm.
“Get back here, Rose!” he growled at her.
“I think she wants to help you look for her,” Guinevere said, her voice carrying a hidden meaning that he wasn’t sure he understood.
But then realization hit him. Rose wanted to use her dragon senses to find Beatrice.
He looked down at the kitten, then over at Dietrich. “You might as well,” he told the kitten. “We’ll take whatever help we can get.”
The kitten chirped and, in the blink of an eye, had transformed into her dragon self.
Dietrich blinked a couple of times, then nodded his head. “I think I like our odds better now,” he said. “Let’s go find her before it gets worse.”
They made their way into the storm, following Rose, who flew on tiny wings with no hesitation or sign of slowing down. They walked quickly—the snow had already passed their ankles and was growing higher with every minute. The two men walked side by side, their arms brushing against each other occasionally, a reminder that the other was there and hadn’t been lost to the snowstorm.
All they could do was follow Rose and hope that she could find Beatrice, because he couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of them.
They walked in silence aside from an occasional call for Beatrice, the unspoken need to find her, and fast, taking over their every step. Alexander’s heart was filled with fear at the thought of losing her.
It felt odd to feel so strongly about her. He had only known her for a couple of years and had only been married to her for three days. It shouldn’t make his heart stop beating to think about the fact that hers might have already stopped.
He shook his head to himself—he couldn’t think like that.
She had to be alive.
They trudged through the storm for what seemed like an hour before the dragon started making new noises and zoomed ahead at a speed so fast, there was no way they could keep up. They began running anyway. Hopefully they were staying in a straight line and not getting lost in the storm themselves.
Wouldn’t that be a story for everyone if, in trying to find Beatrice, they ended up frozen themselves?
But then through the storm, he could see a dark shape wrestling its way through the snow in slow but steady steps.
