Drakkon

Drakkon 2 (Black Jade) - six

Sleep was a welcome refuge from the harshness of reality—those realities for me being the responsibilities I had as a wife and as a mother. Although Meilin and I were in love and happy together, there was a noticeable strain in our relationship after the birth of our daughter. I wasn't sure if I was the problem—my way of taking care of her, or my mood swings—or if Meilin was simply unequipped to handle a screaming baby for all hours of the day. Lanfen told me it would get better, but it was hard to take her words seriously since she wasn't married or a mother. I was sure she was regurgitating something our mother had said to our other sisters, but it was hard to see it getting better. I was tired, constantly. And upkeeping our relationship was hard, especially since he was always away doing his emperor duties.

The afternoon light spilling into the room stung my eyes and I had to blink back rapidly before sitting up rigidly. I had fallen asleep on the couch and judging by my stiff shoulder and neck, it must've been for over an hour. I rubbed the muscles on my neck slowly. I wasn't the type to fall asleep in random places, but I must've been more tired than usual.

Nuo was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't set off panic bells since the nannies must've taken her to her room once they realized I fell asleep. I didn't like how the nannies stuck with me even when I was spending time with Nuo, as if they didn't trust me with my own daughter's care, but I didn't have the heart to tell them to leave. They were taking care of Nuo, so the last thing I wanted was for them to hold a grudge and harm her in any way.

I swept up to my feet and headed to Nuo's nursery. When I arrived there, I was surprised to find only one nanny in the room. She was curled over a man's undershirt with a needle in one hand. Upon seeing me, she accidentally jabbed her thumb and jerked back her hand in surprise.

"Y-Your Highness!" A bead of blood formed on the pad of her thumb but she quickly wiped it on her dress before jumping to her feet, the shirt and needle falling the floor. A flush crept over her cheeks as she picked up the mess. "Forgive me."

"You're fine." I cast a look around the room. Nuo's cot was empty, as was the rest of the room. There was no one in here except for the nanny. "Where's Nuo?"

The nanny pushed back a strand of hair behind her ear. Her curly hair was barely contained with the single hairpin she used to keep it up. "The room was empty when I came here, Your Highness, so I assumed you or His Majesty had her. Is ... Is she not with you?" All the color drained from her face. "The other nannies weren't in here, so I thought they might have taken her. We usually take breaks so I thought—"

My hands shook. "Where are the other nannies?"

"Th-They should be with her—"

"Where?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry—"

I didn't listen to her and was out of the room in an instance. My thoughts were a blur of panic. Where could she go? Did someone kidnap her? Was she hurt? The worst possibilities swam through my mind. Nuo was the princess of the empire and the only daughter of Meilin, so there was value in kidnapping her. Did the rebel army do it? Meilin had many enemies, so did they take her like they took me last year?

The first place I had to go was to Meilin. If there was anyone that could do something, to push things in action, it was him. But with his sporadic and everchanging schedule, there was no telling where he was. He could be anywhere—even somewhere else in the capital. If I couldn't reach him, I would have to find Bohai, and if I couldn't find him, then Commander Lu Hai, and if I couldn't find him ... The list of people below Meilin went on and on as I rounded the corner towards Meilin's office.