Claimed by the vampire prince

Chapter 390: Chapter 390

After the thorough search of the estate had proved futile, Ragnar wasted no time in expanding the hunt. Guards were dispatched throughout the town, sent to scour every street in Amris and the neighboring settlements beyond it. Yet none of it yielded so much as a single clue to where the boy went.

By dusk, when it became painfully clear that Rowen was no longer anywhere on the estate grounds, Ragnar mounted his horse and rode out himself. He spent the entire night searching for the boy.

Rowen was no longer merely his wife’s younger brother in Ragnar’s mind. Somewhere along the way, without quite realizing when it had happened, Ragnar had begun to see the boy as someone who belonged to the small family he was building with Circe. That thought alone drove him through the dark hours without rest.

He rode from one end of Amris to the other, through narrow streets and quiet market squares, through the sleeping outskirts where lanterns flickered faintly outside shuttered homes. His men combed through taverns, and alleys. But every trail ended the same way. With nothing. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

By the time Ragnar finally returned to the manor, the pale light of dawn had already begun spilling over the horizon.

Before he had left the previous evening, Circe had begged him to keep her informed of any progress in the search, whether the news was good or bad. She had made him promise. Yet as he dismounted in the courtyard, exhaustion weighing heavily on his shoulders, Ragnar knew he had nothing to give her.

Despite the tireless efforts of both himself and his men, they had found no trace of Rowen. No witness who had seen him leave. No sign of where he might have gone. And Ragnar dreaded the moment he would have to look into his wife’s eyes and tell her that. The thought alone felt like a knife pressing slowly into his chest.

He handed the reins of his horse to a stable boy before making his way inside the manor. The halls were quiet in the early morning hour, servants moving softly about their duties as the household slowly stirred awake.

Circe was not in their bedchamber.

The sight of the untouched bed did not surprise him. He had half expected it.

She was not at the terrace either, the place where she sometimes liked to sit alone with an open book and a cup of spiced mead while watching the gardens below.

So Ragnar turned toward the library. When he pushed the large doors open and stepped inside, the familiar scent of old parchment and polished wood greeted him.

And there she was.

Circe stood in the vast room, surrounded by tall shelves that stretched nearly to the ceiling. An entire section of books had been stripped from its shelf, the volumes now stacked in uneven piles on the floor.

She was in the process of rearranging them.

Ragnar remained silent as he stepped farther into the room, his gaze fixed on her. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

With a small stack of books balanced carefully in her arms, Circe climbed the sliding library ladder until she reached the top shelf. She reached up to place the books in their new positions before climbing back down again.

Then she repeated the process. Over and over.

She was so completely absorbed in the task that she had not noticed his presence at all.

Ragnar simply stood there, watching.

It did not escape him that she was still wearing the same clothes from the previous day. How long had she been here?

Her movements were precise but mechanical. Her expression was tight, her lips pressed into a thin line.

"Circe." His voice finally broke the silence.

She paused halfway down the ladder.

Her fingers curled around one of the rungs as she turned her head slightly to glance back at him over her shoulder.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

"Why are you rearranging the books?" Ragnar asked when she made no move to explain.

"I wanted to give myself something to do while you were gone," she replied quietly as she finished descending the ladder. "I have never been good at sitting back and waiting."

There was something in her voice, something faint and brittle that immediately tightened something deep within his chest.

Everyone processed fear, and uncertainty in their own way. This, it seemed, was Circe’s way.

Keeping her mind occupied. Keeping her hands moving. Anything to prevent herself from spiraling into the storm of thoughts that threatened to consume her.

The realization made Ragnar reconsider the decision he had made the night before, insisting that she remain at the manor while he and his men searched. Perhaps allowing her to actively participate in the search for her brother would have brought her more comfort than this silent, restless pacing disguised as productivity.

Her tone sounded faintly defeated, and Ragnar suspected she had already seen the answer written across his face. If the search had been successful, he would have returned with Rowen. The fact that he had come back alone told her everything she needed to know.

Ragnar closed the distance between them and gently lifted her chin between his thumb and forefinger so he could properly look at her.

Her eyes, which were usually so bright and alert, appeared dull and heavy with exhaustion.

"You haven’t slept at all, have you?" he asked softly, his voice lowering as he studied her face. "The maids told me you didn’t touch your dinner."

"How could I?" Her lips trembled as she spoke. "How could I when Rowen is somewhere out there... feeling lost and scared?" Her voice cracked on the final words, but her eyes remained dry.

Ragnar had never seen Circe cry before.

And he had the strange, unsettling feeling that if he ever did, it would be the thing that finally shattered him completely.

"That night after we returned from the temple, I was summoned to the cave," Circe began. She had already told him this once before, yet she continued. "I confronted Dena about everything I had learned about her and about my mother. She didn’t deny any of it. I told her I wanted nothing more to do with her. I was tired of the secrets. Tired of being dragged into schemes I never agreed to. I wanted no part in any of it. But I should have known she wouldn’t let it go so easily."

Her voice dropped to a whisper. "This is all my fault."