Cherry did not walk up the dungeon stairs.
She stormed.
Her footsteps echoed like thunder, her fury sharp and consuming. The guards scrambled out of her way, terrified. Servants pressed themselves flat against the walls.
The guards ran in chaos as the bells rang.
Everyone knew better than to stop Princess Cherry when her wolf was this close to breaking through her skin.
By the time she reached the throne room, she didn’t bother knocking.
She kicked the doors open so hard they slammed against the stone walls.
King Roland and Queen Rose both jerked up from their heated argument, their voices dying instantly.
"CHERRY!" Roland barked. "What insolence? You have no right to
"JASMINE IS GONE!" Cherry screamed.
Silence.
Rose’s face paled instantly.
Roland blinked, stunned. "What did you just say?"
"I said..."
Cherry snarled as she marched forward, hair wild, eyes glowing, "That Jasmine is GONE!"
Rose stood abruptly from her seat. "What happened? Cherry, what are you talking about?!"
Cherry didn’t answer.
Not with words.
She marched back to the entrance and snapped her fingers at the guards waiting outside.
"Bring her," she hissed.
Two guards dragged Hildegard into the throne room, wrists bound, ankles chained, head held high despite the bruises blooming along her neck.
She heard Rose gasp, but why give a fuck?
They shoved her forward.
She didn’t stumble.
She didn’t bow.
She didn’t even look at Cherry.
She just stood there... in Jasmine’s stolen prison clothes... silent.
Cherry jabbed a finger at her. "ASK. HER."
Rose turned to Hildegard, confusion flooding her expression. "Hildegard... what is going on?"
Hildegard said nothing.
She stared straight ahead, jaw set, eyes cold as winter stone.
"Hildegard?" Rose tried again, voice cracking. "Please say something."
Hildegard didn’t blink.
Didn’t breathe.
Didn’t acknowledge her.
Cherry matched up to her, jacked up her hair, and squeezed most cruelly. "Your Queen is speaking to you, so better answer!"
"Cherry, don’t you dare do that!" Rose said, rising to her feet in rage.
Cherry pushed her head away.
"Hildegard, talk to me." Rose pleased.
Hildegard still said nothing.
This game they were playing only further irritated her.
Why the bloody hell was she still coddling Hildegard?
Cherry rolled her eyes dramatically. "Oh, PLEASE. Won’t she talk? Fine. Then I will."
Rose tore her gaze from Hildegard.
"I had a feeling something was wrong," Cherry spat, pacing in front of them. "So I went down to the cell to check on the little thief."
She glared at Hildegard.
"And instead of finding Jasmine where she BELONGED, I found her pretending to be the prisoner."
Rose covered her mouth.
Roland cursed under his breath.
Cherry continued, voice rising. "They switched places. She wore Jasmine’s clothes. They let the girl escape under our noses! I don’t know how they did it, but she isn’t in the guards."
"And the guards? They didn’t see anything?" Roland asked.
Cherry gave a wry smile.
Roland hated her, and yet he was so upset that he spoke to her directly.
She knew she disliked Jasmine, but not this much.
Roland groaned in fury and slapped his hand on the armrest. "Enough. I will deal with this myself."
He stood and marched out of the room.
"GUARDS!" he roared into the hallway. "SEARCH EVERYWHERE! LOCK DOWN THE PACK! IF SHE IS WITHIN THESE WALLS, FIND HER!"
His orders echoed as he stormed away.
An omega rushed into the throne room, breathless.
"Your Majesty!" he cried.
Rose turned sharply. "What is it?"
"It’s... It’s Otto," the omega stammered. "He’s gone too. His chambers are empty. He left the castle."
Cherry’s jaw dropped.
Her whole body trembled with rage.
She turned on Rose.
"I told you," she hissed. "I warned you! I told you this girl was trouble, now see what has happened! A criminal is running free, and YOU let this happen!"
Rose lifted her chin slowly, eyes darkening.
Her voice turned quiet.
Too quiet.
"Cherry. Know your place. I am still the Queen."
Cherry gave a bitter, mocking laugh.
"Queen," she repeated with a snort. "Queen indeed."
Her tone dripped with contempt as she paced the room.
"Excuse me?" Rose demanded.
Cherry rolled her eyes at the subtle warning in her sister’s voice.
Rose scoffed, her face fallen.
"Sister or not." Rose sneered with a pointed finger at Cherry. "If I were you, I would be careful not to test me. I’m your Queen before anything, and I expect that you-
"Expect that I what?" Cherry hissed at Rose, shutting her up. "Kiss your ass? Kiss your royal, cleaned feet because oh Hail the Queen of all wolves?"
Rose was fuming and breathing so hard.
"You’re crossing lines that you should never think of crossing." Rose warned.
"You’re one to talk." Cherry said. "You’re warning and using the crown to the threaten me? The exact same crown that was meant for me."
Rose blinked.
"That very same crown that you sit on that belonged to me is what you’re using against me?"
"Cherry I have done any and everything for you. Made excuses for the stupid things you did in the past." Rose spat in burning rage. "For you to stand and say these words to me and-
"I would have been a better Queen than you ever would have been." Cherry spat.
Rose just paused, her fingers wringing as she stared at her sister.
Cherry realized she had misspoken but then she didn’t care anymore.
She had already done it.
"The crown rejected you." Rose said as she descended the steps of the throne. "Your hair was turned to the very black that lays on your head. Your evaluation that you would have ever been a better Queen is false because the crown itself rejected you."
Cherry was breathing so hard as she tried to contain her emotion.
She rarely ever got affected emotionally, but now Rose’s words hit like a dagger.
She shook as she blinked the tears away.
She turned her face away arrogantly.
"You don’t need to gaslight yourself." She said to her. "Your hair tells you the truth already."