Scarlet

This Night is Cutting Into Me

A man clad in silver armor and a white fur cloak burst through heavy wooden doors, a stricken look on his face.

"The princess is missing!"

The woman that sat at the front of the room in an ivory throne stood and rushed forward to meet the man. "Are you sure?" she asked, voice calm despite the air of panic, but her eyes betrayed her.

"Yes, Your Majesty," said the man.

Before he could speak again, a second man joined him, a gold crown encrusted with precious gems upon his head. "The guard posted by her door was found with his neck broken."

The dark-haired woman made a sound of distress before she pushed past the two men and made her way down the long corridor to find the man they spoke of. The body was gone but the door to the princess's bedchambers were thrust open with a few armored men moving around inside. It felt empty despite the guards, and the absence of the blonde-haired girl sent a chilled spike through her heart.

"When was she taken?" the Queen asked, turning to find her husband. She felt arms fold around her as she shook.

"Ser Willem claimed his body to be cold by the time he found him," answered the King, his worried blue eyes on the empty bed that their daughter once filled. "We will find her, Snow; I promise."

A shaky breath fell from Snow's lips as she leaned against her husband, tears welling in her dark eyes. "She took her," she whispered, but her words were caught by the blond man.

"Who took her?" he queried, though the answer was drawing to his mind even as he spoke.

"The Evil Queen," she spat spitefully. Pulling from the King, she paced the large bedchamber once the guards had left.

"How can you be sure?" He stepped forward. "Perhaps she was anxious about the wedding. It will be soon."

"No," she murmured, shaking her head. "No. Emma would not do this."

"She is young, Snow." He sighed softly and drew closer to his wife. "And she is adventurous like you."

"But she would not just leave, James." Her voice had risen in her distress and she paced heatedly, crystalline tears falling down her snow-white skin. "She is the only one that would steal her away."

"Snow–"

But the Queen cut him off, her dark hues twinkling. "I- I have a feeling, James. I can feel her magic here. Please."

He let out a resigned sigh, a hand falling to the back of his neck. "You can feel her magic?"

Snow nodded quietly, her pink lips pressing together. "I know it well from the days we fought for our lives. It's dark and suffocating and I just sense it in this room. Do you not feel it? The way it fills your lungs and makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up?"

The King could not deny what the Queen had told him for he felt those very things and the invisible presence that seemed haunting in his daughter's bedchamber. "What do you propose we do? Do you know where she is?"

She seemed to relax at his words though her muscles were still tense. "We find the one who will know where she is."

The blood drained from his face at the Queen's implication. "The Dark One?" Snow nodded, silent. "He will be angry that she is missing."

"It will make him more determined."

King James swallowed thickly, his stomach twisting inside himself at the thought of the man with the crocodile smile. "Then let us call upon him."