Chapter 128
CAMILLA’S P.O.V
You could not have pulled Damien away from Christine even if you tried and believe me- we tried. He was determined to stay by her side and he never let go of her, not even for us to look over her and make sure she was fine. She looked relatively unhurt and she told us she was good but I still wanted a professional to look after her just in case. She rode with Damien back to the palace while Ryker and I got the girls who were wide awake but her quiteted down and were not saying a single word.
By the time we got to the palace, the sun was beginning to rise and I was shocked when I noticed who was waiting for us. I glanced over at Ryker to see if he had noticed her as well and his jaw was set. There was relief in her eyes when she saw us but that relief quickly turned into hurt when she looked past us and saw Damien and Christine. She stared and blinked twice before disappearing back into the palace and it was at that moment that I knew I was done with everything.
With Aurora in my hands, I made my way over to Damien. “You better have a fucking good explanation because you are about to blow this entire thing to filth.”
“I don’t need to explain anything to-”
“Yes you do,” I cut him off. “You aren’t playing with toys, Damien, you are playing with people- with lives and you have the rest of the morning to get your story together and figure out what the hell it is that you want because this afternoon, you have to give answers.”
He looked pissed but he said nothing because he must have finally come to terms with the fact that I outranked him and I reserved the right to order him around however I saw fit. He nodded tensely and he made to go forward with Christine but I held out a hand to stop him.
“She goes alone,” I ordered and he opened his mouth to protest but then Ryker was instantly by my side.
“You have done enough for today, Damien, Christine goes with us and she goes alone. Why don’t you focus on fixing whatever it is that you just broke with Riley.”
“There is nothing to fix, I did nothing wrong.”
“Do you really believe that or are you just saying that to make yourself feel better?” I asked and thankfully, he didn’t answer.
We led Christine into the palace and she was completely quiet. She stayed close to us but she never said a single word. I looked her over and there was just pure exhaustion on her face.
“Why don’t you go freshen up?” I asked once we got to the top of the stairs. “I just need to clean up the girls and then I’ll be with you, okay?”
“You don’t have to come and check on me. I’m fine, just focus on your kids.”
“I know you are, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll be there in an hour or so.”
When she realized I was not going to budge, she nodded and I could see the ghost of a smile on her face. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she wanted to be cared for, she just didn’t know how to ask for it. Ryker and I left her side and focused on our girls. I was thankful that Aurora was a child meaning there was a huge likelihood that she would not remember what happened but Audrey was older and she had already been through one traumatic thing. I didn’t want to think about what this could do to her.
We didn’t ask her any questions about the vampires because we didn’t want her thinking about it yet but as soon as I started to bathe her, the words began pouring out. She told me how they stopped them and whispered that they weren’t going to hurt them. She told me how she was blindfolded then given something so she would fall asleep and the next thing she knew, she woke up in the water.
“I’m sorry” I whispered trying to keep the tears at bay. “That must have been so terrifying and I am so sorry that I couldn’t stop it.”
“I wasn’t scared,” she said finally and I raised my brows.
“You weren’t?”
She shook her head. “You have water powers. I knew you would save me. I wasn’t scared at all.”
I couldn’t explain how those simple words brought tears into my eyes and I pulled her into a tight hug which she wasted no time in reciprocating. Once she was clean, I put her into a comfortable nightdress and carried her to bed. She already started falling asleep in my arms and for the first time since she was an infant, I held her until she fell asleep. Ryker met me holding her, he had Aurora in his hands because he had cleaned her up.
Together we held our daughters for far longer than necessary before finally placing them in their respective rooms.
Once we were sure that they were sleeping, we quietly made our way outside. I had barely shut the door before Ryker spoke. “How bad do you think this is going to be?”
I knew he wasn’t referring to the issue with the vampires. “Honestly, I don’t know. From the get go, I knew it was a recipe for disaster but it seems worse now because Damien cannot seem to make up his mind.”
He smiled sadly. “He has always been like that, wanting to eat his cake and have it too. I can talk to him if you want.”
“Later and we will both do it,” I cut him off. “For now, I just want to get cleaned and see my cousin. Goddess knows what is going on in her mind right now.”
It took me another half hour to get cleaned and make my way into Christine’s room. I was in a flowing white nightdress when I knocked on her door and it took her f9ve minutes to open it. I knew she was debating whether or not she should bother but I was relieved when she did. She led me over to her bed and as I looked around, I realized that I didn’t enter her room much- perhaps that was something that needed to be rectified.
“What is going on?” I asked softly and as soon as the words left my mouth, she broke down in tears.
I was stunned because Christine did not cry, she was the strongest woman I knew and yet she had been reduced to a blubbering mess. I wasted no time in pulling her closer for a hug and she leaned into me for comfort.
“I feel like such a terrible person,” she mumbled into my shoulder.
“You’re not, you didn’t ask for all of this. You are the most selfless person that I know. You have done so much for us even without us asking. You are not a bad person.”
“Yes I am,” she pulled back and wiped at her tears. “I should have rejected him myself when I knew he wasn’t going to do it. I should have tried to put an end to this but I didn’t because I wanted him to change his mind.”
I stilled. “What do you mean?”
“I tried to be happy for them, I swear I did, but a part of me hoped that he would look at me and change his mind. A part of me hoped that he would see that I was good for him, you know. I wanted what you and Ryker have and I know that doesn’t make it any better but I wasn’t thinking”
“Christine,” I began slowly and she sniffled. “It is not crazy or wrong of you to want to be loved and I don’t blame you for that. You cannot take the sole blame for this because you never went out of your way to try to sway his decision. Damien is the one who got into a relationship with Riley and he is the one responsible for being faithful to her.”
I didn’t know if I was being biased just because of who she was to me but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to let her shoulder the blame for this. She was not at fault. She tried her best to stay out of their way and she didn’t deserve any of this.
“I’m just tired” she said after a beat of silence. “I am trying to imagine how Riley feels and I just feel so sad for her?
“That shouldn’t be your concern right now. What you need is toest because after what you have been through, you deserve it, okay?”
She nodded and was silent before asking “Can you stay with me please?”
“Of course, you don’t have to ask.”
I sat by the headrest while she lay her head on my lap and I stroked her hair softly until she fell asleep. Even after she was sleeping, I couldn’t bring myself to leave just yet because I knew how much she needed that comfort.
By the time I finally left her room, I was drop dead exhausted and I could barely see ahead of me. I got to my room expecting Ryker to be asleep but he wasn’t. He was pacing by the door and as soon as he saw me, he let out a sigh of relief. I opened my mouth to start explaining what I knew but he stopped me.
“You have spent the entire night comforting people, let me comfort you for once, okay?” he said and I nodded. “Good, we can talk about all of this later. I know it is a cluster fuck right now but you need to realize that we cannot do anything about it. This is between the three of them and the best we can do is offer advice.”
“I know, I just don’t want to see anyone hurt,” I mumbled as he led me towards the bed. “There are at least two people hurting tonight as a result of this.”
“I know, baby, but the thing is, this is a matter of the heart, we would be lucky if any of them gets out of it unscathed.”
