They managed to slip back to their room without getting caught. His guards must not have heard them like she first thought-or perhaps they did and they were avoiding them. For that she was more than grateful. The last thing she needed was to be embarrassed to be around his guards.
The next morning, Doris woke to an empty bed. She pulled herself up and bundled in several layers of warm clothes before she ventured out of their room. It was eerie how quiet the house was, she bet the entire village was exactly the same-one big ghost town.
"There she is." Enzo leaned against the doorframe to his room. He looked as if he had been dragged through hell. Did she look that terrible when she woke up? And William still wanted to sleep with her?
"How are you feeling?" Doris reached up to feel his forehead. It wasn't nearly as warm as she expected it to be.
"Much better, though I did have some rather nasty dreams." He frowned. "I think my village burned down and I could only watch."
"Oh my-that's terrible." Doris pressed her lips together and gazed down the hall. "Is anyone else up?"
"You're the first person I've seen today. I was starting to think you all left me." Enzo pulled on a sweater and went to open another bedroom door without knocking. Doris parted her lips to object, but the room was empty.
"That's... strange." Doris went to the next room and did the same. Empty. All the rooms were empty. "Where could they be? The villagers should still be sleeping."
Enzo gave her a confused glance. "Did they take the same thing we did?"
"Yes. William and I handed them out last night, they should be asleep for a day or so more." Doris brushed past him and hurried down the steps. No one was there, the fire wasn't even lit. "Where could they be?"
Enzo took his time getting down the stairs. He looked around curiously. "Perhaps they went to check on them."
"All of them?" Doris pulled on her boots and ventured out into the snow. The fog had lessened and it didn't seem like the storm had stuck around for long, but it was hard to walk through the fresh inches.
Enzo reluctantly followed her out and helped her search through the cabins. Just as she had thought, they were all sleeping and not one person was awake in any of the buildings. Her chest started to feel strange.
Did she remember William's bag being in their room? Or was it only her own? Doris ran to the stables and saw all of the horses they had brought, were gone.
Enzo jogged up to meet her. Once his panting slowed, he seemed to deflate from beside her. "Where have they gone? Those assholes even took my horse."
Doris felt a hollowness enter her chest, she wanted to sink to the floor and disappear. "Do you think they're coming back?"
"I don't see why they wouldn't." Enzo gripped her arm to hold her up straight. She felt as if her world was falling away from her. "Perhaps they were to get something."
"They all needed to go? What would they be getting if the entire village is recovering?" Doris stomped back towards the cabin. Her hands closed into fists at her sides.
"Calm down. Maybe he left a note back at the cabin." Cordelia said gently as if she was trying to tame a bear. Doris growled a little.
"He better have. I don't know why he didn't tell me last night when we were-"
"When you were screaming beneath him? Is that when you wanted him to tell you?" Cordelia purred. Doris wished she could smack her.
"No, when we were going to bed. Surely he could have mentioned that he was leaving... unless-"
"He didn't abandon you, Doris. Don't even go there." Cordelia said quickly. The thoughts already swarmed her mind and started to make her panic.
It would make sense for him to abandon them. He wanted to go back to the palace and they wanted to stay and help. Perhaps he even thought they were much too weak to make the rest of the trip-right?
But, why did he take the rogues too? Surely they wouldn't have wanted to leave their leader, they were only here to protect him and help.
Doris stormed into the cabin and checked every surface of the house for some sort of note from William. She needed a sign that he had thought about her for one second before he decided to leave without waking her.
Nothing.
Nothing in their room or in the kitchen. Nothing in the living room either. Enzo lit a fire and collapsed onto one of the couches. He watched her with steady eyes and she wasn't sure why it only made her more mad.
Finally, Doris sat down across from him and stared into the fire.
"He'll be back." Enzo said quietly, though he didn't sound entirely convinced of that himself. "I'm sure it must have just slipped his mind to mention where he was off to."
"I wonder how he would feel to wake up alone without a reason why." Doris whispered. She tried to block out images of her home life and forget that she knew what it was like to be abandoned. Those feelings crept back up to her like an old broken bone that still made her wince when it was cold out.
"He doesn't strike me as the type of man to tell others about what he's up to much. I would try to be patient." Enzo said gently. He leaned forward to grip her freezing hand. "Although, if you choose to scream at him the second he comes back, I highly encourage it and I would like to watch."
Doris cracked a small smile and turned her head away. "What if he just got impatient and went back to the palace without us?"
"Hmm. I suppose it's possible. But then again-it's not likely at all. He wouldn't leave you in a hundred years, my dear. If you think about any of the things he's done for you since we first met, you would realize that."
Doris sank lower in the couch and closed her eyes. She couldn't ignore the horrible feeling that he had abandoned them in this random village. Even when half of her knew Enzo was right and he would be back soon. But where had he even gone?
Doris stood. "I'm going to check on the villagers again to make sure they're doing alright. I'm not sure what they go through when they're out like that."
"Would you like me to join you?" Enzo asked, but his eyes were already closed as he defrosted near the fire. Doris laughed a little.
"No, stay here. I'll be back soon."
Doris treaded across the snow and tried not to let her thoughts sour her day. He would be back. He had to be back. Why couldn't he just tell her where he had gone?
"He probably didn't want to wake you, is all." Cordelia said from inside her. Doris rolled her eyes. It was hard to have a thought to herself when she knew her wolf was always listening.
"If we did that to him, he would sniff us out and drag us back here by our hair." Doris mumbled. She pushed open the door to one of the smaller cabins and was greeted with sleeping bodies.
The closer she looked, the more she noticed that they were beginning to gain a bit of color back in their cheeks. They didn't look as if they were on the edge of death, but just as if they were a tad bit sick.
"Do you ever stop to wonder why you might be so concerned?" Cordelia hummed in her mind. Doris shifted uncomfortably.
"Because I don't want to be left in a strange village while he goes back to the palace."
"Perhaps it's a bit deeper than that, hmm? Did you ever consider that you might care for him more than you claim?"
"What is that suppose to mean? Of course I care about William." Doris snapped and went back out into the snow to check on the other cabin. Cordelia laughed in her mind.
"I noticed neither of you have said the love word."
Doris stopped in her tracks. "And you won't hear either of us say it anytime soon, I promise you that."
"Why not? Don't tell me you're refusing to speak your truth-"
Cordelia went quiet when they both heard a noise far off in the distance. Doris squinted her eyes to see a row of horses heading her way-with William in the center.