Chapter 197
RYKER’S P.O.V
On hind sight, I shouldn’t have kissed her like that but I was too impatient. I hadn’t seen. my mate in months and seeing her standing alive in front of me was like a breath of fresh air. I had tried to believe that she was alive but a part of me had started to lose hope and finally seeing her standing there with her warm eyes, I couldn’t stop myself. Her lips were soft to touch and she stiffened against me. For a split second, she kissed me back then it was as if something slammed into her because she pushed me off.
“What the hell?” she exclaimed taking a step back from me and my brows furrowed. I turned to the others in the room and the two women who I assumed were mother and daughter were staring at me with wide eyes. Christine had a sad look on her face. “I get that you might be the king or whatever, but you cannot go around kissing random people.”
“I am the king? No, baby, you’re the Queen, I’m your consort.”
Her eyes widened to the point of saucers and she opened her mouth to speak but Christine jumped in. She cleared her throat and grabbed my arm. “Is it okay if I pull you away for a second?”
She pulled me away before I could even ask any other question. She pulled me to the corner of the room and her next words threatened to snap my reality. “She doesn’t remember anything.”
“What do you mean?”
“She was asking me about Tyson. She thought he sent me to get her,” she explained and I saw just how much this was hurting Christine. Her eyes were welling with tears and she managed to wipe them away before they dropped. “I don’t know what happened when
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she fell off that cliff but she might have lost a part of her memory. I don’t know if it is short term or not but she has no idea who we are and that means she doesn’t know the girls.
either.”
I cursed loudly before turning back to my mate. She was whispering with the other women and I felt a pang of possessiveness and jealousy in my chest. I was the one she whispered with like that, I was her confidante and now I wasn’t anymore. I turned back to Christine.
“What do I do?” I asked. “The elders need to know she is alive or they will go on with the ceremony. We have a few days left. She has to return to the palace.”
“I know, I just don’t know what we can do. She might not even agree to come with us. She seems to like her life here.”
I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. “I’ll figure something else.”
I made
e my way back to the center of the room and I didn’t fail to notice that Camilla took
few discreet steps back from me. I tried to pretend like it didn’t hurt, but there was a hole. in my chest that I knew only she could fix. I wanted nothing more than to pull her into my arms but I couldn’t. I was going to scare her if I tried that.
“I apologize for kissing you like that. I was under the impression that you remembered everything. It was never my intention to make you feel uncomfortable,” I began slowly and I saw the guarded expression relax a little. “As it is right now, I am about to upend your life here because you cannot stay here.”
“And why not?” the younger woman asked and I leveled her a look that had her shrinking back. Once I was sure that she wouldn’t be a problem anymore I turned to Camilla.
“You are the Queen, Camilla, and the kingdom needs you. You have been missing for a few months and they are about to declare you dead and hand it over to the next person. You need to return to your subjects.”
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“Who would it go to?” she asked. “Wouldn’t it go to some
Stant relative?”
“It would go to our daughter but seeing as she is too young to rule, I it until she is old enough.”
have to hand
She blinked twice before placing her hand against the side of her head. “I think I need to sit down for a while.”
I helped her into a chair and to her credit, she let me help her. She placed her head into her hands and for a full five minutes, she didn’t say a word. I began to panic that something had gone wrong but Christine kept me in one place. That didn’t stop me from watching her carefully and trying to discern what it was she needed.
“What if I don’t want to return?” she asked carefully and I stilled. “Being Queen seems like a lot of work and I don’t remember anything. I might just make things worse. Wouldn’t it be better if I just continued pretending to be dead?”
I had to breathe deeply before responding. “What about the girls?”
“I don’t remember them. I don’t know the last thing about being a mother. I think they will be better off without me. They have you and her,” she gestured to Christine. “I’m sure they love you both. They’ll be fine without me.”
Even as she was speaking, I could feel the hurt in her words. She had on an iron clad expression but I could feel the longing deep in the mate bond. I cocked my head to the side and analyzed her. She might not remember us but the truth was that she still felt for us. Nothing could possibly change that no matter how much she wanted to.
“Let’s make a deal,” I offered and she turned to me. “You get to come back with us for a year. All I am asking for is one year and if you don’t remember anything or want to stay then you can leave. We will fake your death or whatever and you can return to this life.”
She didn’t say anything but I could tell that she was seriously contemplating it. “You
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swear that I will return and you will never come looking for me again?”
+5
“I swear it on our bond,” the words hurt to speak and I could feel my wolf clamoring in my head but I locked him out.
I had no intentions of letting her go. She was only speaking like this because she didn’t remember. I was certain that a month in the palace was more than enough for her to regain her memories again. It was just a matter of time and I just needed her to agree to come with. She turned to the other woman and a look passed through them.
While they silently spoke, I tried to analyze the other women. The younger one reminded me a lot of Christine. She had that fierce and protective nature about her. It was clear that she wanted to protect Camilla but would otherwise do whatever she wanted. The older woman was a lot harder to get a read on. She had a neutral expression on her face and her eyes were cold towards us but warm whenever she looked over at Camilla.
“Fine,” Camilla said after a moment of deliberation. “But, I have a condition.”
“Name it.”
“Marie and Peggy have to come with me. I won’t leave them here. If I have all this power that you say I have then they deserve to partake in some of it. After all, they have been watching over me since I was pulled out of the water.”
“Fine, they can come. I suggest you start packing your things. We leave for the palace tonight.”
She swallowed deeply and nodded. I watched her leave with the women and I had to fist my hands to my sides to stop myself from reaching out to drag her back. As soon as she was gone, I buried my face into my hands and sunk into the chair she had just evacuated. Her scent was everywhere and it was both a blessing and torture. Her scent had been stuck in my head for the past few months, now it was around me and I couldn’t even touch her.
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“Ryker,” Christine began but I held up a hand to stop her. I just needed a second to bask in
the scent.
I exhaled deeply after a minute and looked up at her. “I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure this is a wise idea?” she asked. “The girls will not know the difference. They will not understand that their mother lost her memory. They will be expecting Camilla. What will we do about that?”
“I don’t know, Christine, for fucks sake. I don’t always have the answers. I am trying to take this one step at a time. I have never dealt with a mate who lost their memory before.”
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to put any pressure on you,” she placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure everything will sort itself out. You don’t have to worry about it.”
I didn’t move from that spot until evening. Christine left to purchase extra horses for our new companions. It wasn’t until I was told that Camilla was around that I finally dragged myself out of the room. She was a sight to behold but I could see that she was a bit worried. I couldn’t blame her. She was going to a life that she couldn’t remember and it was daunting.
When she saw me approaching, she tried to hide her fears but I had already seen it. Marie and Peggy were a few feet away so 1 knew we had a bit of privacy.
“It was brave of you to agree, thank you for that,” I told her and she smiled.
“I can definitely see why I would have picked you. You are nicer than most of the males I remember,” she said simply and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. It was refreshing to see her with a bit of a bite. “I’m not going to act like I am not worried as hell. You said we have a daughter. How do I do this? I don’t remember her.”
“We have two daughters actually,” I corrected and her eyes widened. “But I will be here the entire time. You and I will be together and I will remind you of everything you need to
know as the need arises. Before we return however, I need to tell you about some…
powers.”
“I can control water, yeah, I found out,” she threw it out like it was no big deal. “If we do this, do we have to pretend like we are actually mated?”
“You know we are mates,” I said dumbly and she nodded.
“I can feel the bond. It feels weird but it is there. Do we have to-” she trailed off.
“We only do whatever you want to do. We take this at your pace, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay then, let us do this.”
