"Where is Lauren?" Alec asked Lauren's maidservant, Sally, when he returned to the castle by the time of dinner but didn't find Lauren at the dining table.
"I haven't seen her this evening, milord. I saw her return earlier this afternoon but I didn't see her leave after that. I was busy with the chores," answered the maid.
Alec nodded and went upstairs, thinking that Lauren must have things to do outside and would be back anytime soon.
Inside their bedroom, he poured himself a glass of blood wine and sat in front of his desk. He visited the small villages near Hayford cemetery earlier that afternoon with the councilmen under his wing to search the villagers' houses. He thought that those black mages who attacked them in the cemetery last night could be from the nearby villages.
