Chapter three

Cyrus paced back and forth in front of his desk, his nail beds bleeding from the constant mean chatter of his teeth, tearing away skin and nail. 

He had sent every available man and woman out to search through the palace and the city. Nothing. Cyrus held back the tears at the thought of Clover leaving him, she wouldn’t have done that. She couldn’t. Hw hated that he wasted so much time being angry with her, he couldn’t care less about her magic, it didn’t matter, he felt empty knowing she wasn’t nearby, that he may have broken her heart. His own heart was breaking. 

The scene was replaying over and over in his mind, not leaving a moment's rest. After stepping into Clovers apartments then her bedchamber finding it empty. He had scoured and rifled through every room, he mashed, broke and scattered everything in his way. Hildie his former nanny stood horrified watching as her king succumb to madness, he couldn’t believe she wasn’t in that room, he refused,  even when his own guards had tried to drag him away from the room, he wouldn’t budge he had even threatened his own manservant Fin with a sword. He stayed there for hours, till ultimately he realised she was truly gone. 

He flew in a rage, barking and shouting for knights and guards to inspect every inch of the palace; they had turned the place inside out. No one had seen a thing, the guards posted in the hall said no one came in or out except for one the king's guards, Daniel. Cyrus had ordered for him to be sent to cells and questioned and he didn’t care how they got their information, just that they told him what happened to his Clover. 

His other three personal guards were solemn about the order, one, Alec had even admitted as much that Daniel had not looked favourably on Clover and had despised her for her magic. Cyrus feared Daniel had done the worst to her, that he had her hidden something under his nose. The other two guards had disputed the matter, Daniel was the only one other than her maids and siblings to care and comfort her when Cyrus had refused to see her for that painful week. Cyrus was desperate to latch on anything and dismissed them, telling them that he could have simply done so to gain her trust to make whatever nefarious plan of his work. 

Cyrus stopped pacing his eyes, fixing on a vase holding a pink orcad. He grasped onto the porcelain vase, he hurled it to the ground, smashing into small fragments. He seethed through his teeth, breathing heavily. There was a knock at the door, it opened, his manservant stepped in cautiously. He curiously surveyed down to his feet, feeling his left foot jolt against something.Fin was wise and did not say anything to his king. 

“Your majesty,” he bowed. 

“What?!” the king was clearly aggravated, he glared at Fin, “this better be about Clover, or so help me, i will-” 

“We found a spy.” 

“What?” 

“A spy,” Fin echoed, “he was one of Basil's servants. He was newly appointed, this was his first time working here,” 

“No shit,” Cyrus snarled, “why was he here in my palace?” 

“That's what we;re trying to find out. But we’ve found that a maid is unaccounted for,” 

“A maid?” 

“She was Asters,” 

“Fuck,” the king muttered. “That isn’t a conviendance,” 

“No, but it’s hard to get the guy to talk about anything. We asked him about the maid, but his lips were shut. We’ve got other methods cooking though, we’ll have him singing by tonight.” 

“You better,” Cyrus spoke darkly, “someone has to be punished for letting these spies infest my palace.” 

Fin nodded swiftly, he did not look his king in the eyes as he always did. Cyrus was going to go on a rampage if he didn't give him information and soon. 

After being left alone, Cyrus picked up the orcad off the floor, he held it in his palms for a moment. “I’ll find you Clover, I'll die trying.” He brutally crushed the flower within his hands letting it fall back onto the floor.