Chapter 36, Flo

UNEDITED-

Florence's POV-

I knew something bad had happened, I felt it inside.

A gut wrenching feeling came over me. I quickly ran to where I had left Annabelle, there was no sign of her... I traipsed through the woods following her tracks.. it didn't take long for me to smell her blood. I know it's hers.

I glanced around noticing a bloodied snapped arrow on the floor, picking up the arrow head I can already smell what it's coated in...Aconite.

I did my best at finding more tracks but there were none.. I wasted no time. I ran in the direction of the palace, that's where they must be heading.

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I spent days and nights searching the forest on the way to the palace. The only sign of them were faint whiffs of blood in the air, mostly masked by a strong sickly scent of Aconite.. By the time I'd arrived at the palace I realised I was too late.. there was already word in the street that the king finally had his mystery Lycan girl...I was devastated, left with no other choice but to return home. I could only imagine what state she was in.

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Allies sometimes come in the most unlikely of places.. the same can be said of mine.. the daughter of the man who murdered my parents.

At first I had hated seeing how close Annabelle was with the princesses. I thought all royals were bitter, selfish and arrogant and full of greed. It seems I now have been wrong three times over..

Mavello is smiley and chirpy nonstop, despite how tiresome it gets..

Bea is.. well she is stubborn and bossy but she has a drive to do what is right.. I have to admire her relentlessness.

And Annabelle. She may not be royalty in this world but she is in another.

I think she would make a fair queen, a far cry from those with power in this world.

I practically begged Marcus and Gigi to help me.. to help Annabelle. But they claimed the risks were too great. Despite them asking why I am all of a sudden taking an interest in something, they still don't know that Annabelle is mine.

I thought it not important to tell them since they won't help anyway..

I approached Bea when she was visiting Mav one evening, about a month after Annabelle had been captured. The desperation had become too much, clutching at straws I had no choice, I know that they care about her so what harm could it do? No one else was going to help.

I waited for her to be alone before I made my proposal. "Beatrix?" I asked from a few feet away.. she quickly turned to face me...

"Ugh please don't call me that.." she visibly cringed at her own name..

"My apologies.. I just wanted to ask you something"

I said trying to make this as short as I possibly could.

"Well what is it?" she said turning back to the pile of wood she was taking logs off.

"Do you know where Annabelle is?" I blurted..

she sighed letting her shoulders drop, now looking to the ground.

"Please if you know anything-" she cut me off looking back around..

"You want to attempt to rescue her?... by yourself?" she paused.. "Are you a fool?" she asked in a plain tone..

"I need her" I admitted out loud before I could think. Desperation became me.

In an instant she moved towards me, grabbed my hand and pushed up my sleeve.

Of course it was the wrong one.. I see why Annabelle gets on well with her.. they are very alike.

She quickly took my other hand forcibly rolling up my sleeve revealing a part of my mate mark.. I don't know why I didn't pull my hand away.. maybe I wanted someone to know what I was going through..

She released my wrist and took step back.

"I see." she whispered into herself before facing me again, "Well this changes everything." she grinned.

I found out later that Bea had been trying to come up with her own ways to free Annabelle.

Like me she didn't have the help of anyone else, 'her' soldiers loyalties lie with the king.. and her allies are the king's allies. We would need to put our heads together to come up with a plan. We have no resources but we also have no choice.

Bea informed me that every 'new addition' moves location every two weeks. We have a short time frame, we need to get it right the first time or they will know we are coming and make it much harder.

We might never have a chance again.

I never thought I would find myself missing Annabelle this much. The worst thing about all this is not hearing anything. Aside from the fact we know he has her.. there is nothing else to go off. We still don't even know who brought her in..

I made Bea tell me everything she knows about the different treatments each new addition goes through.. A small part of me wished that I hadn't.

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It took a few weeks to come up with a plan.

At first no one knew exactly where Annabelle was being kept. Bea gave me a list of all the known compounds that the king owns. I spent weeks scouting each one and crossing it off my long list.

With each location I drew a line through, I felt myself falling further into darkness.

I was running in circles, revisiting locations just to make sure she hadn't been moved.. it was frustrating to say the least..

I felt as though I was already mourning her.. I dreamt of her often.. it was always the same dream.

A dark cold cell, I could just make out the delicate features of her face in the darkness, she looks scared...tired. She's always sitting in the corner. The rattling of the heavy chains echoing off the walls as she readjusts them on her wrists.. the dream would only last half a minute but it felt so real, everytime I woke up more motivated to find her.. I needed to find her.

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I finally felt relief knowing that Annabelle was safely tucked into the trunk of Bea's carriage.. I made my way out of the servants exit. Inhaling a deep breath of relief as I got outside the door, letting loose the tension in my chest that had been building up since the day I felt my world turn upsidedown.

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NOTES--

Hey reader, I hope your doing well.

I write as an escape from the real world, and I post my writings in hopes that for a little while, you get to escape with me.

This chapter is short and probably not as detailed as I would usually write. I just wanted to add this point of view. I hope you enjoy.