Chapter 207


    “After I realized who she was, I gave chase,” Charlotte said. By now the nanny hade and taken


    Elva


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    out of the room. Both guards went with her to a private nursery, though a third guard quickly arrive to


    take


    their ce at the door.


    “She went down into the cers. I followed closely, but then, suddenly, it was like she had totally


    vanished.”


    Mark’s already heavy frown deepened further. “She must have insider knowledge of all the secret


    passages in the pce.”


    I didn’t understand how my twin, Jane, could so easily sneak her way into the pce. “Is there a


    passageway that could lead inside from outside?”


    Mark seemed uncertain. “Even I’m not privilege to all the royal family’s secrets.”


    “Then the royal family would know?” I asked.


    “Potentially,” Mark said, “But this pce is very old. Some of the passageways could have been lost to


    time, andter found. I’m trying at a loss.”


    My hands were shaking so I clutched them together. “If she was here, and I’m sure she was,” I quickly


    added tofort Charlotte, who appeared distressed at my words. “But why didn’t I feel my wolf? I had


    felt it so keenly before, even from a great distance.”


    “I don’t know, miss,” Mark said. “Maybe she is concealing it with magic.”


    “Does such magic exist?”


    Mark grimaced, but nodded. “It is of a simr vein which stole your wolf from you.”


    “Dark magic, then.”


    “I’m afraid so.”


    The use of dark magic and abilities were strictly regted by the crown. They were prohibited except


    under extremely specific circumstances. Such magic was incredibly powerful but only at the expense of


    a


    person or persons.


    The use of this magic, in part, was what made the underground organization so fiercely hated and


    feared


    That at least solved the mystery of why I couldn’t feel my wolf, but other questions remained. Mainty


    She knew of the secret passages, but another connection could be Terry. A prominent member of the


    royal family coulde and go as he liked without much provocation. Likely, no one would look twice


    at


    the girl on his arm, even with prior warnings.


    Especially if that girl looked exactly like one of the candidates.


    The sooner we could sneak into his mansion and look around, the better.


    “Piper!”


    Suddenly Nichs burst through the door. His wild eyes searched over the room beforending on me,


    then he rushed toward me.


    “Are you alright?”


    “I’m fine. It’s Charlotte I’m worried about,” I said.


    Charlotte gently shook her head. She already had regained her color. “Do not worry for me, Piper.”


    I smiled at Nichs, warmed by his worry… until I saw the lipstick staining the corner of his mouth. Had


    he been kissing someone? My smile slipped right off my face.


    “What is it? What’s wrong?” Nichs asked, noticing the change in me.


    Mark cleared his throat. When Nichs looked over, he motioned toward his own mouth.


    Nichs’s eyes widened. He wiped at his lips with his sleeve, but all he seeded in doing was


    smearing the lipstick down his chin.


    I red at it openly, hating that shade of deep red with all of my being. My hate was irrational. Nichs


    wasn’t mine to be jealous over, but I couldn’t help myself.


    Despite the danger of Jane being in the pce, despite everything, my mind veered in on the fact that


    Nichs had been kissing someone else, and I couldn’t see beyond that.


    “Piper…” he began.


    “It’s fine.” I didn’t want to hear whatever he was about to say.


    This was the nature of thepetition. One man with lots of different women. Nichs was spending


    ume with other girls, and one day he would pick one of them to marry. We both knew that I wasn’t in his


    future.


    But knowing that in my head and seeing the evidence of it clearly on his lips were two very different