My heart is drowned with you.

Betrayal

Cardan stands up immediately.

It cannot be that Jude - his Jude - was kidnapped.

"Tell me by who!" the Roach shrugs and Cardan is instantly aware of the roughness and panic in his voice.

"We suspect that it was Queen Orlagh. Jude was summoned yesterday by the Ghost to the tower of forgetting. When she didn't return in estimated time, the bomb and some of ours made their way to see what took so long, only to find most of the tower guards and prisoners drowned on land... their eyes were replaced by pearls. Balakin is no longer there. The bomb happened to find one guard barely alive - and in complete agony. She enchanted him to get information on what happened.."

"Continue!" Cardan demands. It was new to him to talk so seriously, steadily even.

Outside, clouds began to form.

Uneasy, the Roach continues in the calmest voice he can muster under this situation. "Some of queen Orlaghs soldiers killed the guards and rescued Balakin. He also remembers seeing them carry Jude on their back upon leaving the tower... He couldn't confirm if she's alive. He passed away shortly after."

Cardan froze. The image of Jude's lifeless body being carried on some merman's back freezes the thin blood in his veins. It can't be. But even if Jude was alive, Balankin has her. The same Balakin who whipped him at the slightest inconvenience, the slightest annoyance.

This can't be happening.

Cardan feels immense fury rush through his blood. With a quick pace he walks towards his desk and with an angry sigh, he violently throws everything on it to the floor.
He felt such hatred towards everything. Towards his brother, queen Orlagh, the Ghost, the kingdom and most evidently himself.
He breathes heavily and while he doesn't notice that the, once beautiful, flowers in the crystal vases wither - the Roach does. Cardan is indeed the high king of Elfhame. Many are not aware though. Not even him.

I could have prevented this.

By the loud thud of the items falling to the floor, the chamber door is opened a few soldiers storm into the chamber ready to protect their king. „Your majesty-„

Cardan swiftly turns around revealing his enraged face to them and wrathfully shouts at them „OUT!". The soldiers are quick to leave and close the door behind them.

The Roach is struck by fear. Spending time with Cardan, laughing and playing card games, he forgot how horrifying Cardan could be. This wasn't the Cardan that laughed at silly jokes and played card games in the court of shadows. This was the infamous Cardan.

"And who allowed for this to happen? Where is the Ghost!" He shouts. If the walls weren't as thick and the windows closed - The entire palace ground could have heard Cardans uncommon shouts.
Usually, Cardan controlled his fury - displaying none - if only his eyes were not the revealing pit of darkness. However, the thought of Balakin planing to strip him of everything within a single night conjured all of Cardan's wrath. Jude was gone. He had to make all decisions now.

„We cannot find him... we believe he stood with the seafolk" the Roach almost whispers, looking down. If the Ghost, one of them, indeed was a traitor, who would stop at doubting him and the others as well? At the thought of being accused of treachery, the Roach feels his body become hot.

There is a silence.

The Roach looks up and sees Cardans face in disbelief. His cheeks are reddened, his eyes glaring. Cardan can't believe that one of them would betray Jude. That Jude was never safe from the outside world was known - but to have a traitor from within the court of shadows struck his heart with fear. What were they doing to her? What are they planing next?

Another thought strikes Cardans mind; If the Ghost betrayed Jude, then who says he won't move against them next.

„Who is guarding the entrance of the court of shadows?" Cardan asks in an unnerving calm tone. The Roach's eyes widen, understanding the calmness in Cardan's question. Yet before he manages to answer, the ground beneath them shakes and the loud sound of an explosion emerges.