Chapter 112
RYKER’S P.O.V
Due to everything that had happened lately, I had come to the conclusion that anything was possible but the last thing that I expected to happen was for Camilla to tell me that a vampire told her where to find the blood. As she explained what she meant, I was just left with further confusion. Was he dead? Did they want us to know that they had killed him? Were they trying to tell us that he was alive? There were so many unknown variables and the more I tried to deduce it, the more frustrating it got.
We managed to get back into the palace just as it was getting very dark. The physician was waiting at the door for us and I felt my heart clench. I had never enjoyed giving bad news to families. I could see the trepidation on Camilla’s face so I reached out to squeeze her hand softly.
“You can go up, I’ll talk to him,” there was instant relief on her face but it quickly morphed into concern for me. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it. I have done this more times than I care to count.”
She sighed and nodded. I waited until she had walked away before I told the physician what we had found. To see a grown man break down like that, it was gut wrenching. I felt his pain as if it were my own. I had daughters, I couldn’t imagine hearing that there was a possibility that they were dead. I would have lost my mind instantly. I wanted to comfort him but there was nothing that I could do. I couldn’t conjure his son out of thin air no matter how badly I wanted to. The physician passed out after his breakdown and I ordered the guards to make sure that he got to his room safely and that he was well guarded.
Once I was sure that he had been handled appropriately, I made my way up the stairs and towards Audrey’s room. Camilla was trying to tuck her into bed when I walked in and her entire face beamed up. I allowed myself to take it all in and I pulled her into my arms. She was speaking but I could vaguely hear it. I just wanted to know that she was safe.
“I love you, princess,” I whispered and she smiled as if I had just placed the world in her little palms.
“I love you too, daddy.”
We tucked her into bed and I went to see Aurora as well. I just wanted to look at them. I wanted to bask in their presence and be reminded that my children were safe. Camilla never said a word throughout the entire process, she just stood to the side and gave me
Chapter 112
the much needed peace and privacy that I craved.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked as soon as we got into our room and I shook my head. She stayed quiet and I heard her slowly move until she was standing behind me. “Are you sure?”
“I think it is better if I don’t,” I could tell that was not the answer she was hoping for and she was disappointed but she said nothing. I turned to her and pressed a small k*ss on her lips. “I am fine, Camilla. Right now, I just want to forget about everything and be with you. Is that okay?”
She nodded and that was the end of it. She just curled into my side and allowed me hold her tightly. Sleep didn’t come early for me and when it did, it was plagued with my worst fears- that we would lose this and they all would die.
By the next morning, I had a lot to do. While Camilla went for her training, I made my way to see the physician. He was in a near catatonic state and he could barely speak or give me answers but I did leave with some new information about what his son was swearing and the paths he would usually take. I gave the information to the guards who were responsible for finding the boy. I would have gone with them myself but as the king, it was banned.
Instead, I went with another group of soldiers to go and analyze the spot where we found him. Upon getting there, I immediately realized something that I hadn’t before. There were no signs of a struggle. Excluding the blood, it was almost as if he vanished without a fight. There were no broken twigs or fallen leaves. It was perfect and nearly untouched.
“Go maybe five miles from here and see if you will find any signs of a struggle. I don’t think he was picked up from here,” I ordered some of the guards and they immediately rushed to do as I asked.
I started analyzing the blood splatters better under the light and I realized it was poured in a weird angle. It was almost as if someone had just splashed blood over the area. There was no way for me to tell if it was human or not but I somehow doubted that it was. It was almost as if they had gone through so much to establish a fake abduction site but the question was why? Did they want us to stop looking for him? Did they want us to assume he was dead?
“Your majesty, I found something,” I heard someone yell and I instantly rushed over to the sound of the voice. As soon as I got to the clearing, I knew. “Is this enough of a struggle?”
The bushes were sc attered and some of the branches of the lower trees were broken. I
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could tell that there had been a fight here. There was no blood at all leading me to believe that they wanted him alive and not dead. Now the question was to whether they wanted to use him for food or if they wanted to extract information from him. Neither was pleasant and I couldn’t bear to think about what he could be going through.
“This is good work,” I clapped the guard on the shoulder. “At least we know he is alive. That has to count for something.”
Since we had found the abduction site, we took a step back for the spies. They were the ones who would comb it from top to bottom in the hopes of finding anything that would help us find out where they had gone. While they did that, I returned to the palace. As much as I would have liked to stay with them, I was determined to finish reading that book and to find out whatever it was that the king knew about Alastair.
I had three books left so I locked myself up in the comfort of my office and began reading.
Most of them were about himself and his powers which just showed me how much of a narcissist he was. I wanted to get out of his head as soon as possible. It was almost unsettling to read. I could have never imagined that someone could be so full of themselves. I had gotten to the last book and I was beginning to think it was a wasted effort until I started reading. I had never thought there would be a reality where I would feel bad for Alastair until I got to the end of the book. It started with little name droppings here and there. He would talk about going to see Alastair in the mountains but never mention why or what he was going to do.
He even spoke about bringing Alastair to the palace in the dead of the night when no one would see them. it wasn’t until the last few pages that he finally revealed everything and by the time I was done reading, I was in absolute shock.
“I led Alastair into the woods today. I told him that we were supposed to broker a deal to make things better for vampires. He hates his stuffy little cave but he had to have known I was never going to do that. Once we were away from his vampires, I blasted him with a flame so hot that his leg was charred. They heal quickly but fire is one quick way to dispose of a vampire.”
“I should have disposed of him but I wanted to see him suffer. I gave him night lock. It is the one thing that I know works on him. He isn’t like the others, he is older, more powerful. He told me his story. He told me that night lock was the only thing that would work on him. The effects of night lock can last for decades. My only hope is that I am long dead before that happens. He won’t be able to get revenge on a ghost.”
“He should be happy anyways. If he doesn’t get better- if the goddess decides that he doesn’t need to get better- then he will finally be able to see his precious mate. Maybe
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ALA
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in the next life he will not experiment with blood magic. It was his fault and I was simply repairing the balance of the world. I did nothing wrong.”
I could barely move my legs as I stood to my feet. I carried the book in my hands and rushed over to Camilla’s office. She was seated peacefully on her desk with a pile of paper in front of her. She didn’t even notice I had come in until I was standing in front of her. She immediately dropped everything to focus on me.
“Did you find the boy?” she asked and I shook my head. “Is he dead? Please tell me that he isn’t dead.”
“He isn’t dead, but this isn’t about him,” her brows furrowed in confusion and I placed the book on her desk with the page opened. “Read that, what can you see?”
It took her longer than I would have liked to read the paragraph and by the time she was done, her eyes were as wide as saucers.
“Alastair is the first vampire,” she whispered and I nodded. I still couldn’t believe it myself but I had come to realize that anything was possible in this world. “My father double crossed him and now he wants us all to pay. How could anyone think of double crossing someone over a thousand years old?”
“He was over confident that he wouldn’t be caught and that Alastair would be
incapacitated for long. But keep that aside there’s one more thing,” I reminded her. “We now know two different ways to get to him. We know how to kill him.”
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