The Crown

Chapter Thirty Two

Tobias paced around his room.

Trapped in there for the past few days, he felt his sanity slowly slipping from him. 

All he could think about - all his mind was consumed by - was the soft image of Beatrice standing in front of him, her hand outstretched.

The door was barricaded with guards, as well as the bottom of the balcony, ready to alert the upstairs guards should the prince wander toward the rails.

He sat at his desk, his leg bounced up and down rapidly. He grabbed a paper and drafted a letter - yet another one in a series of letters addressed to his mother. When he finished composing, he folded it and slid it under the door with the other letters he had slid throughout his forced stay.

Tobias reached for his bedsheets, staring at the disheveled state. He smiled at the memory of Beatrice making his bed, and then the first meal they had ever shared together. His stomach churned, longing to be with her once more. 

To see her face, to hear her voice, to feel her.

He glanced at the mirror on the floor, looking at himself. Who would have thought I could be so in love with another person, he thought, a small smile on his lips.

In the silence around him, he heard the sounds of heels nearing the door. He quickly straightened himself against the bed, standing to his feet. With a deep breath, he watched the door open.

Evelyn paused as she stepped on the letters addressed to her. She groaned, sliding them to the side as she walked into her son's bedroom. 

"Are you aware there are dozens of papers under your door, Tobias?" she asked, looking around the messy room. "Oh, dear, we should get a servant in here to clean."

"Those are letters for you, mother,"  he explained. "I explained every scenario I could have possibly thought of and wrote it for you."

"Scenario for what?"

"For Marcus' plan!" he replied, upset that she was acting so nonchalantly. "Have you forgotten the entire reason you locked me in here? Was it not to get the information from him?"

She stared at him. Even though she knew her son loved Beatrice dearly, she could not imagine him still being in such a manic state even days later. "Son, your father had nothing to do with Miss Prior's disappearance."

He shook his head, pained. "He has manipulated you, mother!"

"Tobias, we are doing everything we can to find her," she faltered, controlling her breathing as to not expose her lies. "We have every guard out searching for her."

"I can not lose her," he cried softly, rocking back and forth on the bed. "I can not. I know you do not understand but...Beatrice..." he grunted in pain. "Beatrice is my everything. I can not lose her. I can not."

Evelyn widened her eyes. She quickly wiped away a tear on her cheek, pressing her lips together to prevent them from quivering. 

"Please," she inhaled shakily. "Tobias, you must compose yourself."

He looked at her, tears in his eyes. "Do you know something, mother?"

"No," she gasped out silently. "Nothing."

He turned away. "Then leave me be. I do not wish to be bothered unless you have news, or I am allowed to leave the confines of this bedroom."

Evelyn nodded, turning away from her son to rush out of the bedroom. She covered her mouth and caught her breath in the silence of the halls. 

I could not let him leave now, she told herself. He would see how quiet the castle is...how no one is searching for Beatrice. 

She twiddled with her fingers and walked toward her bedroom, desperately wanting to find one of her handmaidens and have a drink.