Chapter 103
CAMILLA’S PO.V
I felt extremely weak and exhausted but I somehow managed to open my eyes. It felt like I had the weight of a thousand carriages on me.i could barely lift my hands or even move my eyes but I managed to fixate them on the window outside. It truly was a beautiful night and I couldn’t stop myself from saying as such.
Ryker literally froze. His entire b*dy tensed and he slowly turned to me as if scared that he would see something else. The moment his eyes settled on me, I managed a small smile and he practically threw himself into me. I couldn’t help but smile as he held me tight. It was something I had missed so dearly especially when he peppered k*sses all over my face. He pulled back in disbelief and stared at me as if he had seen a ghost.
“Tell me this is real,” he whispered and tears gathered in my eyes. “F***, baby, I thought I had lost you. The vampire and the physician, they said that there was no cure.”
“There isn’t,” I cut him off and his brows furrowed. “Can I have some water first?”
He instantly rushed to get me a glass and helped me into a sitting position. Once I was a little more refreshed, I told him everything. I told him about my limbo state and what my mother had told me. I knew I sounded absolutely crazy but if there was one thing I could count on from Ryker, it was that he would always listen no matter how absurd I sounded. By the time I was done speaking, he looked lost in thought.
“I don’t know how she fixed the balance or what she plans to do but I’m guessing she did,” I shrugged but Ryker didn’t look convinced.
“There has to be more to it. We will find that out soon,” as soon as he said that, the smile on his face disappeared and he turned to me with hard eyes. “What the hell were you thinking when you went out by yourself? Why didn’t you just wait an extra day for me so we could go together.”
I had expected that he would be upset but I didn’t think he would start yelling this soon. For what it was worth, he looked more scared than upset. I knew he was talking from a place of worry. If anything had happened to me, Ryker would have lost his mind literally and figuratively and I didn’t think about that before I left.
“I’m sorry, I just wanted to help.”
“What do you mean by help? You have done so much already.”
I sighed. “You have been on top of everything since day one. You live for this lifestyle, things are easy for you. I feel like I am in way over my head here and I just thought that if I could figure out something then maybe it would make everything better. It was stupid, I know.”
Ryker went completely silent and then he sighed. He sat at the edge of the bed and pulled me into his side. “There is nothing for you to prove. You are the Queen, Camilla. You have already done more than enough for the people in this palace and every day you risk your life for them. You are the only person who thinks you aren’t doing enough.”
I looked down. I didn’t know if he was saying it just because I was his mate or if he actually meant it. I chose to believe that it was the latter.
“You should rest,” Ryker said finally. “We can talk more about this tomorrow. The vampires have been going crazy over the past few days and I know they are going to do a lot more.”
“You mean, Alastair?” I asked and his brows furrowed. “That’s the vampire king. He was the one who bit me. He’s responsible for everything that has happened.”
From the look on his face, I knew he didn’t know that bit of information. “Rest, Camilla, tomorrow can wait for us.”
That was exactly what I did. I lay my head against his chest and slept. By the time I woke
up, I felt great. When the physician came to see me, he was also shocked to see that I had made a full recovery and advised that I stay another day for observation but I couldn’t. I had spent too much of my time in the past month unconscious. I needed everyone to know that I was fine and we were going to get to the end of things.
Christine came to the physician’s quarters to bring me some clothes and as soon as she saw me, she threw her hands around me. She sobbed into my shoulder and it hit me that this was the first time I had ever seen her cry. My eyes welled with unshed tears and I had to blink in order to stop myself from crying as well.
“I am so glad that you are okay,” she whispered to me. “The girls have missed you immensely. I am sure that they would love to see you.”
“I missed them too,” my heart ached for my children. I felt like such a bad mother considering that I hadn’t seen them in so long and even when I saw them, I was too busy to even spend proper time with them. I just wanted things to settle down so that I could be with them like a proper mum.
I finished getting dressed and the idea was to go to the girls first but the moment I saw Ryker’s face, I knew there was work to be done. I let out a sigh because I couldn’t outrightly complain, this was the life I was born into and it didn’t matter what I wanted, I had a duty to the people first.
“I’ll be sure to see them today, Christine, don’t say anything to Audrey. I want it to be a surprise,” she nodded and immediately rushed out while I turned to Ryker. “What do we have on the itinerary today?”
“A guard’s b*dy was laid out in the town square yesterday and he was completely torn apart by the vampires,” I could only imagine how horrific that was. “The people are terrified and asking a lot of questions. We need to meet with the town heads and the elders to figure out where to go from there.”
My expression soured at the mention of the elders but I said nothing as Ryker led me by hand towards the council room. I was still unsteady on my feet so he kept a firm grip on me to ensure that no one noticed. When we walked in, all eyes turned on us- well, me to be specific.
Everyone bowed and it was the elders who spoke first. “Your majesty, I didn’t think you were joining us. The prince said that you were a bit preoccupied.”
I was grateful to Ryker for telling them that instead of unconscious. I squeezed his hand in a silent thanks and he just gave me a discreet nod back. I turned to the elder who had spoken.
“I had to go on a last minute trip, elder. I only returned late last night.”
“I hope the findings would be useful to us in this meeting. There is already so much happening and a miracle would be preferred right now,” he sounded somewhat genuine and desperate. I turned to Ryker wondering if they had gotten a personality replacement in the past two days but he wouldn’t meet my eye.
The corner of his lips twitched and I didn’t need a witch to tell me that he was somewhat involved in whatever had happened to them. Ryker and I claimed out seats at the head of the table and everyone bowed once more. The elders sat closest to us while the town head sat close to the other end of the table.
“Your majesty,” the first town head spoke, she was the youngest of them all- maybe in her mid thirties and she had bags under her eyes like she hadn’t slept in days. “The people are terrified. They do not know who is next. They need some assurance that they are protected.”
“I understand how they must feel but assure them that we are working overtime to ensure that this horrible man is brought to justice. For now, make sure no one goes into the woods alone at night. They are lurking at every turn looking for a new victim. Their preferred victims are men, so the women are somewhat safe.”
“How do you know that?” her interruption was not to be rude, she was genuinely
curious.
“My impromptu trip was to find whoever was doing this and I did. He does not kill women but he will not spare any man. The men need to be careful until we can bring him to justice.”
She pursed her lips but nodded. For the next few hours, we discussed how we were
going to align the guards to keep watch and reduce the risk of casualties. Even though we didn’t know much, I was able to use a little bit of the information I gathered from Alastair before he bit me.
We finished the meeting after almost three hours and I thanked them all for coming. As they were leaving however, Christine rushed into the council room. Everyone looked at her with furrowed brows but it was the panic on her face that had me sitting upright.
“Everyone, out!” I ordered and I watched them all scurry out. They were curious, it was written on their faces but they could not refuse a direct order. I waited until I heard the door shut before I turned to her. “Talk to me, is there another b*dy? What happened?”
“It’s not a b*dy,” she could barely speak. I could barely hear her voice. She mumbled a few words under her breath but they were unintelligible.
“Christine, what is going on?”
“Audrey!” she finally managed out. “I don’t know what happened but we were playing in the garden and she wanted to climb. I was watching her, I swear I was but I looked away for one second and she fell. There’s so much blood.”
