Chapter 138
CAMILLA’S P.O.V
Christine left very early the next morning and if anyone had any questions about where she was going, they kept it to themselves. She assured us that she would be back as soon as possible and it wasn’t until after she was gone that I realized just how much she helped us with Aurora. Audrey was in school but Christine spent most of her time with Aurora and I didn’t even realize it, carrying around an infant while trying to work was another special kind of dedication.
“Do you want me to take her for a while?” Ryker asked but I shook my head. I was just getting the hang of things and he had a lot more on his plate at the moment.
“I can take her, don’t worry,” I assured him as I looked down at her. “She isn’t as frolicky as I thought she would be. I’ll just put her in a bassinet while I work.”
“Camilla,” there was something in the way that he said my name, something raw and exposed that had me looking up at him.
He didn’t say a single word, he just looked at me and I didn’t realize when I handed her over. He needed her comfort and presence a lot more than I did and I didn’t even notice. His eyes thanked me when his mouth couldn’t and he placed a kiss on my forehead. It was at times like this that I wished I could help Ryker, times like this that I wished he would let me into his head and allow me comfort him the way he does with me but Ryker is nothing if not proud and he loved to do things by himself. He loved having a firm grip on everything including his emotions and it didn’t matter how much I tried and probed, he would only reveal his cards when we were ready.
I didn’t know when my hand touched his bicep in encouragement but I gave him a small smile and turned on my heels. I could feel his eyes on me as I walked away and all I could do was hope that he would be fine. I had to speak to some of the maids and guards to find out what I could about Alara. Christine suggested that it might help.
When I got to my office, the head maid was waiting for me. I didn’t know her name and if she had told me then I had forgotten it. She was an older woman with dark brown hair that was tied low at the base of her skull in a bun. Her eyes were kind but sharp and she reminded me of that kind aunt who would give you cookies but also smack your hand if you were playing too/rough.
“Your majesty,” she bowed the moment she noticed me walk in. “I was surprised to receive your summon. What can I do for you?”
“Please sit,” I waved my hand in the direction of the chair and I saw her hesitate.
Surely, she had figured out that if it was something little, I would have just asked about it but the fact that I asked her to sit meant that it was of importance- at least to me. She sat down and kept her hands clasped in front of her. She wouldn’t look me in the сус but I knew that she was definitely paying attention.
“You were the one who gave Alara a place to work with the maids, right?” I asked and she nodded.
“I was told that it was at the behest of his majesty. If I had known that he didn’t order that then I would have.”
“He did,” I cut her off. “We asked for her to join so she wouldn’t be idle but that isn’t why I am here right now. I want you to tell me about her. There is no one in the entire palace who would know her as well as you do.”
“We weren’t friends, I barely spent time with her outside of work,” she tried to explain. “I would only know her in a professional setting.”
“Not quite, you see, you spend the most time with her because you govern what she does at work and I know that you have been trained to notice tells in people. That is how you know the right people for the right jobs because you have watched them for so long. What can you tell me about Alara?”
She sighed before speaking. “I haven’t known her for very long but she has always been weird. She would always disappear at the oddest hours and I remembered seeing her leave or return from the castle very late at night sometimes.”
“When was this?” I asked and she wracked her brain for a while.
“This was while the discord with the vampires was ongoing. I always thought it was insane and she had a death wish but she always came back unharmed. I assumed she just took a walk around the palace or lingered by the edge of the woods so she wouldn’t get caught.”
I marinated on her words for a minute. What could Alara possibly have wanted outside the palace in the dead of night? It had to be important if she was risking getting killed. by vampires for it?
“You don’t have any idea what she was doing?” I asked and she shook her head.
“I was always curious but not/curious enough to risk dying that is for sure. All I know is that she was also very secretive. She was always passing notes and writing them using lime juice so they couldn’t be read. She is crazy smart and manipulative as well, she would get the other girls to do her chores and never do theirs in return. She had her ways of just convincing everyone that she was good and to an extent, I could argue that she is but that manipulative streak keeps me on edge.”
“Why didn’t you mention any of this before?” I asked and she shrugged. “Wouldn’t it have been easier if you didn’t have to worry about her?”
“Your majesty, half of my girls are nightmares. I have dealt with people worse than her. I knew I could handle her.”
“But not before she drugged my mate,” I drawled and she, bowed her head. “Has she ever shown any interest in him in the past?” The woman hesitated as if she wasn’t sure if her next words would offend me. “Speak, there is nothing you could say that would shock or throw me off guard right now.”
She opened her mouth to speak then closed it and leaned across the table. When she spoke, she made sure that her voice was as light as a feather so that no stragglers would overhear.
“A lot of the maids have eyes for his majesty, it is nothing new,” she began slowly. “Most of the time it is idle talk because everyone knows that he will not look away from you but Alara had always said that she felt something between them. I just thought that she was being delusional she wouldn’t be the first one. So many of my girls have tried to flirt with his majesty but he barely even notices and they give up after the first or second try.”
“She didn’t,” I deduced and she nodded. “You have been of great help, thank you.”
She stood to her feet and bowed. She walked away until she was at the door but paused with her hand on the knob. She turned back to me with a sad smile on her face.
“I know that my opinion might not mean much but I would like you to know that I don’t believe he touched her. Most of us do not, we all know her and we know him.”
I didn’t know what to say. I was grateful for the vote of confidence and I didn’t completely feel like an idiot.
“Thank you.”
She walked out leaving me to process everything that she had just said. Alara was smart and manipulative meaning that we had to beat her at her own game. Also, if she wrote secret notes then there was a possibility we could find them. However, we only had one chance to do it right. If we messed up and she got wind that we were onto her, she would destroy all of them and thereby destroy any evidence we could possibly have on her.
I was about to leave to tell Ryker what I had figured out when I heard some ruckus outside my office. I decided to investigate only to see Alara screaming at Steven who was trying to pull her away. As soon as they saw me, they all froze. They bowed although Alara’s was more mocking than anything.
“Finally, they wouldn’t let me in to see you,” she pouted and I raised a brow.
“For good reason too, you can take her away. I don’t want to see her.”
I turned to go back into my office but she wasn’t willing to go down easily. She fought against their hold and it was her next words that had me freezing.
“I thought you would like to bond since we are going to be in each other’s lives forever.”
“Excuse me?” I asked and she smiled once she realized she had gotten my attention.
“I am just saying, our kids will be siblings and that means we will always be around,” she was grinning from ear to eat. “It would be better for everyone involved if we could be friends. I don’t have anything against you but it is obvious that you have a bone to pick over what happened. It just happened, you know, passion got in the way and-”
She trailed off when she noticed me coming closer to her. I grabbed her by her chin and forced her to look at me. She had a smug look in her eye that pis*sed me off.
“You seem to have forgotten something so let me make it clear. I am still your Queen and although I might not want to kill you until this dilemma is solved, that doesn’t mean I will not take your tongue if you speak to me like that again.”
I saw fear flash in her eyes. “You wouldn’t, you are too kind hearted.”
“I think you give me far too much credit,” I pushed her off. “Try that again and I will be taking a souvenir.”
