Alastor hurriedly stalked off to the guest room where Eva was currently residing. His pace quickened as he caught sight of her door and he instantly grabbed the knob, twisting it open.
As he ran inside, he scanned the area for any sign of the girl. There was no way possible that she had escaped since nobody could either teleport into this room or teleport out. There were no windows or balconies to escape from which the Queen had made sure of herself.
Seeing that the bed was uninhabited, he looked behind the curtains and scratched his head wondering where she could've gone.
Aha! He hadn't checked the bathroom yet!
His steps were a little hesitant this time as he knocked on the bathroom door and waited. After a minute or so, he banged again and when he received no answer in return, Alastor twisted it open to see that the door was unlocked.
The sight that welcomed him made his eyeballs almost pop out of their sockets. With a loud gasp, he quickly approached the bathtub and tried to wake Eva up by shaking her shoulder. She was still breathing but he let out a hiss at how cold the water was and realized that she must have fainted because of its freezing temperature.
Grabbing a towel from nearby, he wrapped her up in a cocoon and picked her body up in his arms. With fast steps, he placed her on the soft mattress and covered her with a blanket up to her chest.
After he made sure that she was comfortable, Alastor ran and ran until he saw Diana entering her room. Seeing her made his anger return in full force but this wasn't the time to argue. Eva was still out cold and might have gotten hypothermia if she remained wet any longer.
"Call the physician!" he yelled and saw Diana's eyes narrow at him.
Spotting a maid from nearby, he called out to her and instructed in a stern voice, "Go and call the royal physician and make sure to tell the Queen that Lord Alastor is calling her."
The maid nodded hastily before scurrying away and out of his sight.
"What's wrong?" asked Diana, and Alastor couldn't help but glare at her.
"You are what's wrong! The misery you just put her through, Eva decided to drown herself in the bathtub!"
Diana's eyes widened notably. All she had done was tell her that her mother and sister were dead. Why did it cause such a big blow, she asked herself. Was it too much of a shock?
"She's dead?" she questioned, and was happy and afraid at the same time. Happy since she had succeeded in getting rid of her and scared to see how the Queen would react to the news.
She had done everything possible to get rid of the girl. Tried to marry her off to that foolish lord and made her slip and fall too many times but that witch never died, did she? But Diana still had hope that this time might have been the one.
"I'm going to call the physician to check her if she's already dead? Are you insane?" exclaimed the man beside her and she covered her ears at his loud voice, feeling disappointed.
"Ok, ok, I get it. Maybe I went a little overboard this time," she admitted, but Alastor continued fuming until he saw the Queen arrive in the corridor with a tensed expression.
"Why are you both looking so gloomy? Did something happen?" Isabella asked and looked from Alastor to Diana as if wondering who would answer her first.
"Evangeline tried to drown herself," Diana stated in a few words and the Queen let her jaw drop in shock. She hadn't thought that Eva might have been the suicidal type!
"Where is she now? She isn't..." both the women's heads turned towards Alastor who slowly shook his head.
"She's still breathing."
"Well, that just means we have to hurry our plans," Isabella stated, and Alastor looked up with a question in his eyes.
"What do you mean?"
After exchanging a meaningful nod with Diana, she spoke, "I mean that after she wakes up, we might have to get you two married within a week after which you'll be able to take care of her by yourself."
Alastor swallowed and reluctantly agreed. It made sense. If she tried to kill herself again and he wasn't there to save her, who knows that she might actually die?
"Within a week then." the trio decided amongst themselves and then departed to Eva's room where they found the physician already checking her up.
"Is she going to be okay?" Isabella asked, and the physician stood up, dropping a bow in respect or perhaps fear.
"She was extremely close to getting frostbites in some parts of her body but luckily she was saved in time. The fireplace should be blazing at all times and she should be fed warm meals to bring her temperature back to normal. She will go through a high fever when she wakes up so I have prescribed a few medications to the maid. I shall take my leave now, Your Majesty."
Isabella nodded and waved her hand, dismissing him. Her eyes fell on the girl lying on the bed. She was looking gaunt, her usually plump lips were now chapped and almost blue. Her now dried hair was spread across the pillows giving her a look of a sleeping beauty who needed the kiss of her lover to wake her up.
The memories of her sister came flooding back in her mind as Isabella dragged her gaze away from the unconscious girl. Revenge, she thought and smirked, felt sweet.
She remembered the days of her past vividly and could still feel the pain and anguish her sister had put her through. She had stolen from her and now Isabella had kidnapped her daughter as a form of revenge. It felt good but her sister was no longer here to see her daughter going through misery. But it was no problem, Isabella thought as she exited the room, the girl would live her life trapped and suffocated with Alastor as her husband. She would follow Isabella's orders and the Queen had already decided the slowest tortures for her in the upcoming future.
Even though she was grinning from ear to ear, Isabella still remembered the times she and her sister had played together in childhood. It had always been her elder sister who had got her out of messes and accepted the punishment on Isabella's behalf. But her betrayal was too big and too painful for the Queen to bear and she didn't have a forgiving bone in her whole body.
She had decided to take revenge and she wouldn't back out after waiting for so long.