It was easy to lose a bit of her mind as she was stuck to doing the same task over and over. By the time she was allowed off, her hands ached from twisting the caps on so many bottles. The work was fixating enough to let her mind wander, but not too far.
By the time she reached her room, William was half asleep on the bed. He had dirt all over his face and his clothes to match. She cringed when she noticed how much dirt he brought on the bed with him. He sat up a little when she came in-he looked utterly exhausted. She bet he near had to work a laborious day in his life before today.
"How was it?" Doris asked as she peeled off her coat that started to smell like the storeroom.
William grumbled a bunch of curse words that Doris chose to ignore. As fit as he was, it still took a toll on him considering he normally had everyone else do things for him. "Most of the men were out on the hunt-I was there alone with one other guy all day and he didn't talk once."
Doris frowned and paced the small area. "The girls told me they want you for the cure as well as the bounty. Apparently they don't know the recipe and they want to make doses of it to sell to those that need it."
William rolled his eyes and laid back against the bed again. "That's it then, isn't it? We can go back to the camp and tell Enzo it was Luna Queen."
"We still don't have proof it was her. All of this is hearsay, don't you want proof when you go back to the palace? That will show it was her who poisoned the soup and-and sent the assassins after you."
Doris didn't want to mention Melody by name, it felt wrong. She was still his lady and he hadn't once mentioned her this entire trip and after what they did together-Doris couldn't deal with that level of guilt at the moment.
"I'm afraid it's highly unlikely that we will find any sort of evidence. These sort of things are hard to prove."
Doris sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. He was right. It was almost impossible for their word to be proven, who would believe them anyway?
Suddenly, Doris felt like a lightbulb had gone off in her head. "Wait, you said a lot of the men are out on the hunt, right?"
"Yes. There were only a handful left behind." William said with his eyes closed. She wanted to push him off the bed and make him take a bath.
"Well, maybe we should explore this place a little more. We haven't met the ones that run this place for Enzo yet, but the map Robbie gave us has all of their offices included on it. What if one of them have some sort of letter or something from Luna Queen or your palace?"
William opened his eyes and sat up slowly. "They wouldn't leave them unlocked."
"No, but we can still try to get inside." Doris stood and went to change from her uniform into something a lot more comfortable to move around in. When she came out, William looked a bit more put together in the sense that he changed and attempted to wipe the dirt from his face.
He looked at her strangely, as if he didn't really recognize her.
"What?" Doris asked.
"Were you always this way at the palace? Breaking into places you shouldn't be?" His tone was a bit more accusing than she appreciated.
"No, I've never broken into anything before. I was just trying to come up with a solution to your problem." Doris turned and opened the door before he had a chance to respond. "Are you coming or not?"
William clenched his jaw and followed her out of the room. She caught the spike of rage that rippled across his face from her words. It set deep in his brows and the stiffness of his shoulders. He wasn't used to hearing her talk back-he would just have to get over it. The only reason she was here was to help him.
He walked ahead of her a little as they went down a few hallways, she quickened her step and gripped onto his arm when she saw a group of girls rounding the corner. William didn't even seem to notice them stare at him as if he didn't have a girl on his arm. It was almost hard to keep up with his long strides and she knew that he knew she was struggling.
"You look suspicious walking so fast!" Doris whispered. William slowed his steps just a tad but her legs still burned.
"I don't know what you mean, I'm just out for a stroll with my wife." He said through his teeth. Doris rolled her eyes and tugged his arm a little to turn the corner.
The hallways were a little brighter and more... put together near the offices. The walls weren't dark and grey, they were pure white with glistening floors. It was like they had stepped into an entirely new building and that was when she knew they were in the right place.
Beyond the sudden beauty of the building, there wasn't a single soul. Their feet echoed off the stone floors and made Doris feel almost more nervous than when they were surrounded by others. It was too quiet and empty, her thoughts were too loud. Why did she feel like someone was watching them?
William glanced over his shoulder before he tried the main door at the end of the hallway. It wiggled but gave nothing. Doris glanced at the map and saw it led to a smaller hallway that broke off into several offices. William banged his shoulder against it, but it still didn't give. Doris took a pin out of her hair and handed it to him. "Try this."
William gave her a long look before he stuck the pin in the keyhole and slammed his hand against it. The door opened instantly and for a moment, Doris forgot why they were even there.
He pulled her inside and closed the door quickly. The hallway wasn't nearly as long as the one they came from, but it had several closed doors that Doris could only guess were for the owners since they looked bigger than their bedroom.
Doris tried one and was surprised to see it didn't even have a lock on it. She pushed inside to see a large desk and stacks of papers sprawled across every surface imaginable. "Dan Walts." Doris read off of one of the papers. "It says he handles the finances. All of these papers are expenses."
"I wonder if he would have the money Luna Queen bribed him with." William peered across her shoulder and reached his arm around her body to thumb through some of the papers.
"I don't think they would keep it in the official records. These all look like business expenses."
William searched through the drawers while Doris looked through every cabinet. When every stone was turned, they went to the next office.
"Shawn Plows. He's in charge of... a lot it seems." Doris furrowed her brows as she read the list. "Transactions, where the goods go." Doris chewed on her lip as she shuffled through the papers. Their offices were already messes, she wondered if they ever had a concern for their information or if they were that confident in the guards around the building. Doris had only passed a couple since she came here. They clearly never expected a wolf to be right in the center of their nest.
Doris and William spent every second searching through papers and books but came up with nothing. It wasn't until they reached the biggest office that Doris noticed something was off.
Everything was in its place, the fire was even still roaring. Doris and William looked at each other and quickly closed the door. A voice echoed in the outside hallway, they ducked into an office they hadn't touched yet and hid under the desk. She hadn't realized she was holding his hand until she felt him squeeze hers.
He put his finger over his lips as they heard the main door open. Two men's voices boomed off the walls and William peered around the wood to see them. Doris held her breath and tried to focus on their words, but it sounded like nothing.
William looked at her and gestured for her to stay still. Doris listened as they went into the office they had just come out of and she suddenly wondered if they had touched anything or left the door open.
"...They caught sight of him?"
"They heard he was at Enzo's camp as a guest." The man spat the words out. "Enzo has been letting his entire royal party stay there."
"How long has it been going on?"
"I'm not sure, probably since he came to the north." A silence followed, Doris clenched onto his arm. "I think we should raid the camp and find him ourselves."