Chaeyoung felt Joohyun’s words like they were almost a physical blow, her legs buckling slightly as she held up her sobbing wife, giving her a gentle shake as she tried to calm her down. Panic was rising within her though, and her voice was hoarse as she looked down at Joohyun with wide blue eyes. “What do you mean? Joohyun, what do you mean she’s gone? I was just up there-”

“She’s not in her ing crib, Chaeyoung!” Joohyun exclaimed, her voice shrill as she gave her a frantic look, “I mean she’s gone!”

Eunhye’s words about how she’d gotten what she came for came to the front of Chaeyoung’s mind, and she opened and closed , her face blanching as she realised why she’d come, and she whirled around to Goeun. “Stop the woman who just left the parlour. Put the palace into lockdown. Don’t let a single car enter or leave this place, and ground all planes. No one sets a foot outside of this palace or country until the princess is found.

She was still giving orders as her bodyguard relayed her own, a radio unclipped from her belt as she repeated Chaeyoung’s orders for every palace guard to hear. Taking hold of Joohyun’s hand, Chaeyoung ran upstairs, her heart pounding in her chest as she dragged her wife back to the nursery, bursting into the room to find both of the babies’ personal bodyguards standing inside the room, Sooyoung holding a swaddled figure with a look of barely concealed worry on her face. She looked up as Chaeyoung burst into the room, rushing over to the assistant and taking the baby off her, before she looked down into the other bassinet. It was empty.

“How?” she tightly asked the two guards. Eunhye had only left the parlour room five minutes before Joohyun had. Even if she’d made it up to the nursery in that time, she wouldn’t have managed to get back out again.

“No one entered the nursery between the time you left and Her Highness entered, Your Majesty,” one of them said, giving her a stiff bow, “I swear it, on my honour.”

“Well she didn’t just ing disappear!” Joohyun exclaimed, her voice hysterical as she ran a trembling hand through her hair. “She was here not half an hour ago! You were bloody in here with her.”

She directed the last part towards Chaeyoung, who froze as she looked at Joohyun, a look of understanding dawning on her face. “No. No, no. I didn’t see- she was holding Taeyoung. I didn’t check-”

“What do you mean you didn’t check?” Joohyun sharply asked.

Ignoring her, Chaeyoung ran over to a wall, pushing against it as she recalled Eunhye’s talk of secret passageways. Chaeyoung knew of a few - the escape routes in her own suite, the ones from her office and the throne room - but she hadn’t even checked the ones for the nursery. Her mom knew about it though, and the nanny had been gone when Chaeyoung had arrived at the nursery. Eunhye would’ve been escorted out through the side doors, one of the main entrances of the palace, and she wouldn’t have had time to whisk her granddaughter out of the palace in that time. She would’ve had to do it before, and stalled long enough to ensure that the baby was long gone from the palace by the time Chaeyoung had even realised her daughter was gone. She’d played right into her mother’s hands, making her leave the nursery, letting her keep talking.

“The passageway,” Chaeyoung desperately said, pushing uselessly at a section of the wall.

Moving along the walls, she kept pushing, her breathing turning ragged as she tried to find the hidden door, choking on silent sobs as she tried to swallow them. Joohyun was swearing and snapping at the guards behind her, on the verge of hysterics as she accused them of aiding Eunhye in the kidnapping. Ignoring her, Chaeyoung flashed from one part of the room to another, Taeyoung cradled in one arm as she fumbled for hidden seams with the other hand.

“What’s going on?” Jennie anxiously asked from the doorway, her face pale as she stepped into the room, a frightened looking Taehee hovering behind her.

In short order, the matter at hand was explained to the two women, and Taehee had taken hold of Taeyoung, drawing Joohyun over to the velvet sofa and forcing her to sit. Chaeyoung was at a loss of what to do, feeling her heart torn in half with fear, watching as Jennie purposefully walked over to one of the armoires holding a manner of baby items. It was firmly planted on the ground, and Jennie reached through to the back, pushing against the wood, which swung open to reveal a yawning pit of darkness.

“I found it when I was helping redecorate. Thought it would be better to hide it, so it was less obvious,” Jennie said, giving Chaeyoung a grim look.

Rushing over to it, Chaeyoung paused for a moment, turning to look at her wife and quickly walking over to her. Dropping down to her knees, Chaeyoung reached up to cup Joohyun’s face in her trembling hands, wiping away tears as her wife gave her a broken look. Letting out a shuddering breath, Chaeyoung brought their foreheads together, holding her close for a moment as she listened to Joohyun’s stifled sobs.

“I’m going to bring her back,” Chaeyoung firmly said, her voice uneven and thick with emotion, “okay? I’ll bring her back, and I- I’ll find her. She’s going to be fine. You just- promise me that you’ll stay here.”

“I’m coming with you,” Joohyun said, her voice cracking as she stubbornly insisted.

Shaking her head, Chaeyoung gave her a pleading look as she pulled back. “Please, Joohyun. I don’t want our little girl left alone. One of us should stay.”

“Then I’ll stay,” Joohyun said, her willing agreement taking Chaeyoung by surprise, “but you have to promise me something.”

“Anything.”

Joohyun took one of Chaeyoung’s hands off her cheek and pressed something small and cold into it, a flat look in her bloodshot eyes as she gave Chaeyoung an unreadable look. “You’ll do whatever it takes. Whatever it takes.”

Looking down at the pistol nestled in the palm of her hand, Chaeyoung curled her fingers around it, swallowing the lump in as went dry. Did she have what it took to kill her mother? If the need should arise. With a glance to her left, she took in the finely crocheted blanket nestled in Taehee’s arms, and she knew with deadly certainty, that she would do anything for her children. Turning back to Joohyun, she gave her a stiff nod, her face crumpling slightly, but her resolve firm, and she quickly pressed her lips against her wife’s, trying to put as much love into it as she could. Reaching out, she gently cupped Taeyoung’s head, and then climbed to her feet.

Stepping towards the armoire, Chaeyoung found her way barred by Jennie, her sister giving her a cautious look. “Chaeyoung, you can’t go.”

“Get out of my way, Jennie.”

Reaching out to gently take her sister by the shoulders, Jennie gave her an insistent look. “Listen to me! They’re not going to let the queen go after her! They’re not going to let you set foot outside of this palace. Get every single guard, get the ing military and homeland security. But you need to stay here.”

She knew that her sister was right, but Chaeyoung couldn’t bear the thought of idly sitting in the palace, waiting for news of her daughter’s fate. Eunhye didn’t want to hurt her, that much she knee, in her bones, but her mom had no intention of bringing her back either. Chaeyoung couldn’t let someone else do it for her. No one else knew who they were dealing with, the deep nature of this secrecy, they didn’t know where she would go, or who she really was. No one but the people gathered in that room, and Hasun, knew.

“You’re right,” Chaeyoung said, and Jennie’s shoulders drooped in relief, but Chaeyoung gave her a grim smile, “but I promised my wife, and I promised I’d always protect my children. So I need you to move out of my way, or I’ll have Goeun move you for me.”

With a quiet laugh, Jennie stepped aside, shaking her head as she gave Chaeyoung an exasperated look. “I thought it was worth a shot at least.”

“Really?” Joohyun tearfully snorted.

Jennie paused for a moment, a thoughtful look crossing her face before she gave her sister-in-law a wry smile. “No. But if something bad happens, I’ll feel better knowing that I tried to stop her.”

Darting in to kiss her on the cheek, Chaeyoung gave her a tight smile, “and I love you for it. Please stay with-”

“I won’t let either of them out of my sight.”

“Your Majesty, I’d like to request permission to take precedence with this,” Goeun said, stepping up to Chaeyoung’s side and staring at the ominous tunnel leading away from the nursery.

Nodding, Chaeyoung watched her bodyguard slip into the gaping passageway, a tiny flashlight illuminating the suffocating darkness, and with a sparing glance at Joohyun, Chaeyoung followed after her guard.

The tunnel was dusty and narrow, built from the same neatly cut yellow stone as the rest of the palace, and she hurried after Goeun, following the beam of light as hulking figures followed after her, their own lights illuminating the passage. They followed it all the way down to a corridor in the West Wing, coming out into the empty hallway and pausing for a moment. Chaeyoung knew that they would’ve had to take another secret tunnel, probably one leading down to the basement, and out through a service tunnel, but she wasn’t sure where all of them were. It was a massive oversight on her behalf, because although her and her security detail were informed on all of the ones that would’ve been useful to them, they didn’t know where all of them were, and her mom clearly had the upper hand here. Still as her guards milled around, their sharp eyes trying to spot a doorway like the one they’d just come out of, Chaeyoung realised that there was a similar panel of wood on the other side of the hall.

Walking towards it, she paused as someone called out to her. “Your Majesty.”

Turning, she watched as Yujin strode down the hallway, a vaguely pissed off look on her face as she was trailed by a few of her own guards and a few of Chaeyoung’s. “What’s the meaning of this? I’ve been detained in the foyer for five minutes.”

Waving away the guards doing their best to stop her with their words, unwilling to so much as lay a hand on the Queen Mother of Gutrin, Chaeyoung took a few steps towards Yujin. “Sunyoung’s been taken. By our… mutual friend.”

“Let’s not waste time on secrets, dear,” Yujin scoffed, looking mildly startled by the news, “your mother was here?” At Chaeyoung’s nod, she let out a heavy sigh, tutting as she gave her a dour look. “One day, your mistakes will be your undoing. Say what you want about me, and your mother, but we always think two steps ahead.”

Bristling slightly as her cheeks reddened, already barely hanging on by a thread as the fear of losing her daughter filled her, Chaeyoung felt even worse as embarrassment wracked through her at her failure to protect her family, from her own family. “I’ll never make this mistake again, I can assure you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go.”

“Go?”

“Go and find my daughter.”

She turned around and made for the panel she’d seen earlier, pushing on it and hearing a satisfying click as it swung inwards on creaky hinges. Feeling somewhat relieved that they were on the right path so far, although they hadn’t made it outside of the palace yet, Chaeyoung waved Goeun through. She was about to follow her, stepping over the threshold, when a protest behind her made her turn and look as Yujin stepped up behind her, her height even more so menacing than that of her guards.

“You cannot seriously think that you’ll be of any use out there? What’re you going to do? Sit in the back of a car while your guards follow fake leads? Get the military, create checkpoints at the border of the city. Let them comb the countryside for her. She won’t stay in Glaston City, that much is for sure, and you’ll have no chance of finding her. Stay here. Go to Joohyun and let your staff do their job.”

“My child is missing,” Chaeyoung snapped, on the verge of tears again as the words hit her like a slap in the face.

“And I’ve had mine taken from me too,” Yujin prudently replied, “Joohyun was five. She was gone for four hours, and my national guard did their job while I enjoyed a nice glass of brandy and made sure Seonho was tucked into bed.”

“That’s because you don’t love her!”

She couldn’t see Yujin’s face, but she felt her stiffen, her tone turning frosty as she grabbed Chaeyoung’s shoulder and turned her around, giving her a push into the dimly lit passageway. “If you think that I don’t love my daughter, then you have a very narrow view of love. I didn’t say I’ve always loved her in the right way, but I’ve always put her best interests first. Your mother and I have that in common.”

Her voice was low and hollow in the hallway as her heels clicked after Chaeyoung. “What’re you doing?”

“Well if you won’t go back inside, then we’re wasting time arguing, so I might as well come with you and see my granddaughter back in my daughter’s arms. The way I see it, I’m no longer the worst mother in existence, so I might as well capitalise off of that.”

Letting out a snort of laughter, the hysterical sound bubbling up before she could stop it, Chaeyoung shook her head, a slight smile gracing her lips in wry amusement. Yujin wasn’t wrong; compared to Eunhye, she was positively nurturing and sweet. It struck Chaeyoung again at how she’d been so wrong. She had never even considered her own family, not even Hasun, although she’d had reason to there, and she felt ashamed at how quickly she’d been willing to throw Joohyun’s family under the bus. Especially now that Yujin was offering her help.

It was an uncomfortably quiet walk through the passageway, turning cornes and walking down steps as they moved deeper into the dank coldness beneath the palace. Chaeyoung was all too aware of how much time was slipping by, and considering the fact that there was no confirmation that they’d stopped Eunhye or anyone else with a newborn, Chaeyoung assumed that she’d slipped out of the palace before they’d managed to enforce the lockdown. She was b with unbridled anger when they reached the basement and made for one of the service tunnels. All of the secret passageways came out into the cold cellar beneath the palace, the panelled walls hiding a number of doorways, and she cast a look around at the collection of dusty boxes and crates, holding supplies and deliveries that hadn’t been taken upstairs to the kitchens or wine cellars yet.

They took the main service tunnel, the wide space able to fit a whole truck through it, and broad sweeps of Goeun’s flashlight illuminated the dank tunnel, until tiny fluorescent lights came into sight. They followed the asphalt, the damp patches of water and oil catching the light as they walked on and on. Chaeyoung wanted to curse how big the palace was, filled with the thought of being too late to find her daughter. She should’ve know that her mom was after more than just a conversation and a chance to see the babies. She should’ve known, and she was kicking herself for her stupidity.

Still it wasn’t long before they made it to a gated underpass near the gates of the palace, the gate, two large doors crafted out of two feet of steel and all but impenetrable. There were guards with rifles outside, much like every other entrance in the palace, but they turned their attention to a small door set within the confines of the tunnel, unguarded and leading down deeper into the bedrock of the city. It was another five minutes of walking before they started climbing back up, and Chaeyoung found herself stepping out into a comfortable foyer, the black and white marble floor stretching out beneath her feet as she stepped out from the cupboard beneath the curving staircase. A chandelier cast a halo of light over them as they all blinked at the brightness. It was a safe house just across the street from the palace, an old building that was typically empty, and kept fully stocked in case they needed to slip out unnoticed, yet still near enough for them to be close to the guards crawling over the palace.

“She’s not here,” Goeun said a moment later, her flashlight having briefly illuminated the front sitting room, while the other guards fanned out to check the other rooms on the bottom floor.

“Of course she’s not,” Yujin huffed, “what idiot would sit around waiting, knowing that she could be discovered at any moment? The real question is where would she go from here? She has limited resources. Everything that once belonged to her would’ve been claimed upon her death, and is now in your possession. She couldn’t have bought anything here, because she’s been in Baltia for over a decade, relying on her sister’s fortune and that God awful anti-monarchist hate group to fund her.”

Chaeyoung pulled her phone out of her pocket, her fingers trembling as she scrolled through her contacts and found Hasun’s number. She pressed call and listened to it ring three times, before it was answered. “Where is she?” she asked, skipping the niceties.

Her aunt paused for a moment, “what did she do?”

“Don’t act as if you don’t know.”

“I don’t. I promise you, I don’t know. I knew she was going to do something, but I wasn’t sure what. That’s why I was coming to tell you to be on your guard. She wants something, and I’m not sure-”

“My daughter,” Chaeyoung tightly replied, “she wanted my daughter. And she has her. So if you know where she is, or where she’s going - if you’ve ever loved me for even a moment, like you say you have - tell me where she is.”

She heard her aunt’s indrawn breath and soft sigh, the knowledge that she had to choose between her sister and her niece, and Chaeyoung had to strain her ears to listen to her reply. “She’s not coming back to Baltia with me. I saw that she had two train tickets for the Breton line.”

Hanging up without another word, Chaeyoung turned to Yujin, her face taut with anger and her blue eyes burning with fierce determination. “She’s going home. Moonstone Palace.” Turning to Goeun, she gave her an urgent look. “Get a car. Break the windows and hotwire it if you must. Just get the first car you see and get me to the train station immediately.”

Everyone was a flurry of activity, and the guards outside didn’t seem surprised in the slightest as the queen emerged from the modest townhouse. They were as much on alert as the palace guards, and they bowed as she passed by, following after Goeun as quickly as she could, her bodyguard running over to the first car she saw parked on the curb. It had tiny little Avalonian flags attached to the front of it, and she barked an order to one of the guards on post outside the front doors of the house, catching the keys that were thrown towards her. There were too many of them to all fit inside the car, and Chaeyoung and Yujin crammed themselves in alongside five