Chapter 109
CAMILLA’S PO.V
I never would have expected Ryker to be the one to invite a complete stranger to live with us but judging by the way things were. I couldn’t bring myself to blame him. She was currently homeless and her life was in danger. If I knew anything, it was that Alastair wasn’t going to let things slide that easily. He wanted her and I knew he was going to stop at nothing until he got her. We were unable to save her things from the fire so she just sat in the carriage with us.
I watched her during the ride and I could clearly see the sadness etched on her face. I couldn’t blame her considering that she was leaving everything she knew and everything that she had grown up with. I couldn’t imagine how I would have felt if I were in her shoes. I tried engaging her in a conversation a few times but once I realized that she wasn’t really into it, I just let it slide.
Once we arrived at the palace, she was the first to get out of the carriage. She looked uncomfortable and out of place amidst the glitz and glamour of the palace and I couldn’t help but feel for her considering that I felt the same way the first time I found myself here.
“Come,” I told her. “I’ll take
you to your room.”
Her eyes widened and for a second, I thought she was actually going to refuse but at the last minute, she nodded and followed me. She kept a steady pace behind me despite how many times I tried to close the gap between us. She took everything in with wide eyes and I couldn’t help but smile to myself each time she let out a small gasp.
We got to the guest room and I ushered it inside. Thankfully, it was always cleaned so there were already fresh sheets. Her eyes widened to the point of saucers as she took in the room. She ran her fingers over every surface gently in awe. I stayed back by the door so that she could have her moment. There was no reason for me to intrude or make things worse.
“This is amazing, are you sure it is for me?” she asked and I nodded. “Thank you so much. I don’t know what I would have done if not for you, your majesty. I promise to be out of your hair as soon as I can.”
“You can stay as long as you need. Ryker extended the invitation to you. No one will question why you are here,” she looked like she was going to cry so I crossed the length of the room and hugged her. “You don’t have to join us for meals but if you want to then no one will protest.”/
“I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am, your majesty,” she pulled away from me. “I probably reek of smoke. I should take a shower.” She began in the direction of the
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bathroom then cursed. “I don’t have any clean clothes.”
“That is fine, I will have a maid send
you clothes.”
“Oh no, you cannot possibly do that. This is too much.”
I waved her off. “I have more clothes than I will ever need. It is nothing. I want you to be as comfortable as possible. For the duration that you are here, you are a guest of the
crown. Do not hesitate to ask for anything.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything. I know what it is like to have nothing and depend on others. It feels horrible but not everyone is out to hurt you,” I gave her a small smile. “You should get your shower. I hope to see you for dinner.”
I walked out of the room and the first thing I did was mind link Christine to give one of my less elaborate owns to a maid to give to her. I made a me ntal note to send someone to get clothes for her tomorrow. I wanted to make sure that she was as comfortable as possible.
I was so lost in my thoughts about her that I didn’t even realize I had walked past Ryker. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me to a stop. I jumped the moment I felt his hands touched me but I let out a sigh of relief once I realized that he was the
one.
“You scared me,” I whisper yelled as I slapped his chest. “You could have called out to me instead of grabbing.”
“I did, more than once actually, but you didn’t hear me.”
I smiled sheepishly.
“Is she settled?” he asked and I nodded. “Good, the guards returned from the woods and although there was no trace of Alastair, they found the lighter fluid that he used and another vampire.”
“Did they kill it?” he shook his head. “Is it here in the palace?” He hesitated but that was all that I needed. “Can we go talk to him?”
“No,” he didn’t hesitate this time and I frowned. “You seem to forget what happened the last time you were within vicinity of a vampire. Maybe tomorrow I will change my mind but as of today, you will have nothing to do with any vampires.”
“Whatever,” I mumbled.
“I was on my way to check on the guard who was bitten. Do you want to come with me?” despite still feeling slighted about not being able to see the vampire, I nodded.
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I followed him towards the physician’s quarters. The physician was fussing over the guard trying to fluff his pillow and make sure he was as comfortable as possible. He muttered a few words under his breath and all I could make out was cure and blood. I cleared my throat and he turned. As soon as he saw me, he sighed.
“Your majesty, thank goodness you are here. I don’t know how much longer I can keep him alive. He needs blood. The guards told me that you said I had a formula that would work. I had to hound them into leaving because they wanted to learn what it was.”
“Relax, I already gave him some blood. Does he need more?” the physician nodded and I held out my hand without any protest. I flinched slightly as he made a cut. “Is there a particular amount that they need or do you just guess?”
“I’m still working that out but I know they need at least a vial. I think it depends on the wolf and how long ago they were bitten. With the lady, she was bitten merely minutes before she was brought in. With our gentleman here, it has been over two hours.”
I nodded even though I couldn’t understand it fully. “When you figure it out, let me know. We need to keep this as quiet as possible and I need to know how much is required of me.”
“I am doing my very best, your majesty. Once he wakes up, I will let you know and if I find anything, I will make sure that you are the first to know.”
I turned to Ryker who was looking at the guard on the table attentively. There was something in his eyes that I couldn’t place my finger on. It was rare for him to hide his emotions from me but that was exactly what he was doing.
“Where is your son, physician?” Ryker asked suddenly and the physician nearly jumped from hearing his voice. “You are usually attached by the hip.”
“He went into the palace gardens to get some herbs. He went with some guards just to be safe.”
As if on cue, the boy returned and Ryker’s shoulders sagged in relief. “We will be in touch.”
We walked out after that and I waited until we were a distance away before I spoke. “Why were you asking for the boy?”
“I found it weird that he wasn’t by his father’s side. I wanted to make sure that he was accounted for. If anything happens to that boy, the physician will drop everything to make sure he is safe including telling your secret.”
Awareness dawned on me. “What are we going to do?”
“I will make sure that guards are watching them at all times. Alastair is going for them
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first if he wants to know anything. We cannot risk it.”
I felt tired to my bones. I wanted the world to pause for a while just so I could get rest but unfortunately, life didn’t work that way and we had to spend some time with our children. Alara didn’t join us for dinner and we broke the news to Audrey that a friend was going to be staying with us so she wouldn’t ask too many questions upon seeing her. We couldn’t explain everything but we explained the fire and her first thought was to give her a toy to help her sleep better.
After dinner, we took Audrey to bed and returned to the room to flip through my father’s books. Ryker tried to convince me that going to bed was the best idea and as tempting as that sounded, I couldn’t do it. I needed to get to the bottom of things before anyone
else got hurt. I had a feeling that things were only going to get worse.
I managed to keep my eyes open for two hours. I was falling asleep into my book when Ryker called out my name. I ignored him the first time but he called out to me again and this time I made a show of groaning out loud:
“You were the one who told me to go to bed and now that I’m trying to do that, you’re calling me,” I mumbled. “What do you want?”
“I think I found something,” it took a while for my brain to register the words but once they did, I sat up instantly. All traces of sleep had vanished from my eyes.
“What is it? Show me.”
He handed the book to me and placed his finger on a line. It took me three tries to read it right and once I did, my mouth fell open.
“Is that?” I asked and he nodded.
