Chapter 83
CAMILLA’S P.O.V
Over the next few days, we managed to weed out a lot of Frederick’s men. A few ran away and the spies were able to track some of them but others escaped into the woods. The entire town was on high alert because we hadn’t heard a word from Frederick. It was unusual of him to remain silent while all of this was happening unless he had some sort of end game in sight and the fact that I had no idea what it was scared me. Ryker tried to assure me that we would be ready no matter what he chose to do but I couldn’t find it in myself to believe that. Frederick had shocked us time and time again, I wouldn’t put it past him to do something that would throw us off our balance. We had put guards at every possible entrance and even in the tunnels to ensure that a surprise attack wouldn’t come from there.
The elders weren’t helpful either because they were content sitting there and shifting blame onto everyone but themselves. I wondered how my mother managed to deal with them for so many years. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to deal with them for as long as she did without losing my mind first.
“Your majesty,” I was snapped out of my thoughts and gave a curt and cold smile to the elder who had spoken. “The townsfolk have been speaking and they are all worried- we all are. I was thinking of the best way to do damage control and maybe another appearance-”
A sharp look from Ryker and I was enough to make him fall silent. His cheeks heated pink and he bowed his head. Sometimes I wondered what they did to become elders. It was clear that they were not brilliant most times. Was it because they were old? Was it a thing they inherited from their parents? Whatever it was, it was clearly not working.
“Do you have a secret dream to see me dead?” I asked and no one spoke. Ryker tensed at my choice of words and although I felt bad for putting him in that position, I felt like I had to talk about it. “I don’t understand why else you would be so eager to throw me out to the wolves when I almost died the last time.”
“The people respond better when they know you are not as terrified as they are. It was a suggestion, your majesty.”
“A rather foolish one,” Ryker shot back. “If appearances matter so much
then why don’t you make the appearance? Everyone knows you speak on behalf of the Queen.” When he bowed his head in shame, Ryker leaned back into his chair. “Is there anyone else who wants to give foolish ideas or are you all out of it?”
No one dared to respond and I couldn’t help but smirk softly.
Ever since he interrogated the moles, everyone developed a newfound level of respect and fear for him. It was amusing to see the same people who had looked at him as an intruder now look at him with respect and fear. I was proud of him especially in cases like this. It was factual that people respected a man more than a woman and it usually annoyed me but lately, I had found an appreciation for it since the man they respected the most happened to be my mate.
The tension in the room was brewing and I could practically smell the fear coming off from the elders and the annoyance seeping from Ryker. I placed a hand on my mate’s arm me ntally signaling him to calm down. He took a deep breath but there was still some rigidity to his shoulders. “The most important thing for now is to ensure that everyone is well fed and catered for. Inform the people to be on the lookout because -Frederick is not to be messed with. Be careful and report anything
suspicious. That is all.”
The words were barely out of my mouth before they rose from their seats and filed out. I rotated my shoulders trying to get the ache out of them. Sitting on the same chair for hours had developed an ache in my shoulders that wouldn’t go away.
“Are you alright?” Ryker asked and I nodded. He narrowed his eyes at me in disbelief and I shook my head.
“Everything is fine, I just wish this would be over. Frederick has
terrorized us for too long and for what? I don’t think the throne is worth all of that”
“That is easy to say from where you’re sitting,” I turned to him and he immediately raised his hands in mock surrender. “Allow me to explain first.”
“I’m listening.”
“You have the backing of the kingdom, you have the crown, you have a family but he has nothing. All his life, he knew he was the son of a king but he lived like a se rvant and in comes this girl out of nowhere. She is the king’s lost daughter and she is celebrated. She is given a crown and
she rules. No one cared that she was raised by omegas, no one cared that she knew nothing about being a Queen. She was celebrated and welcomed but he wouldn’t be. It is easy to get jealous.”
I raised a brow. “it is funny how the tables have turned. A few weeks ago, I was the one defending him while you were ready to crucify him, now look at you.”
“I’m not defending him. I can understand where he is coming from without necessarily agreeing with it and that is all I wanted from you. Make no mistake about it, his actions are wrong but his emotions are not,” I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off. “I think that’s enough talk about Frederick for one day, don’t you think?” I couldn’t have agreed more. I stood to my feet with his help. “We have two daughters we havent spent a complete day with in a while, what do you think?”
We ended up in the palace gardens with the girls. Audrey was excited and beaming from ear to ear. Aurora didn’t really understand what was going on seeing as she was a baby but I chose to believe that she was also happy because she had her cute gummy smile and she made content gurgling sounds every few seconds.
It was an intimate family picnic and I watched while Ryker and Audrey chased butterflies around. My heart felt i ke it was going to explode in my chest. I couldn’t help but think back at what Ryker had said and feel bad for Frederick because he would never be able to experience this if he kept attacking. I didn’t want to feel pity for him especially since he tried to kill me but couldn’t help it. His life was like a tragic play and although I would have liked to believe that if I lived the same, I would have turned out different- I wasn’t sure.
”
“Mummy,” Audrey rushed up to me. “Look at this.” I glanced up and right there on her pointer finger was a beautiful yellow butterfly. “Daddy said it likes me.”
“It really does. I’ve never had a butterfly do that for me before,” I exclaimed and she giggled trying her best to make sure the butterfly didn’t move. “I think that butterfly is your best friend now.”
Her eyes widened. “Can I keep him in my room? I promise to take care of him and feed him.”
You can’t honey,” I said slowly and her face fell. “Butterflies need to be outside so they can spread their wings and have fun. You wouldn’t like it if someone locked you in a stuffy cage, would you?”
She shook her head with a resigned sigh. “Will he come play with me another day?”
“I hope so.”
She looked like she wanted to say more but the sound of heavy running interrupted us. The butterfly took off immediately and Aurora started to squirm in my arms. I immediately rushed to my feet in an attempt to rock her back to sleep when Steven and a few other guards rushed up to us. The panic on their faces had my shoulders tensing.
“What’s wrong?” I asked but they didn’t respond immediately. They went to work packing up the things we had laid out and I watched in confusion. Ryker was immediately at my side holding onto Audrey’s hand for dear life. “Will someone tell me what is happening?”
Steven finally looked up. “We have to get you to safety, now.”
I wanted to know more but I remembered I had kids with me so I forced down my questions and followed him. The guards dispersed into different directions and as we walked into the palace, I was shocked by the utter chaos it was in. people we rerunning around and there was so much noise. Aurora started screaming in my arms and I tried to quiet her down while following Steven. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ryker carry Audrey and whisper some words into her ears.
Steven led us down the stairs towards a large painting and to my shock, he pushed down on the painting and it swung open to reveal a large room with chairs, snacks and Christine. Christine rushed over to pull me into a hug and she took Aurora and Audrey. As soon as she was out of earshot, I turned to Steven.
“What the hell is happening?”
“Frederick and his men launched a surprise attack. It started in the lower town. Apparently, the guards stationed there were spies of his. They are quickly making their way to the palace and we need to ensure that the royal family is safe.”
“How long do we have until they get here?”
“Five minutes tops.”
I cursed. “I could help out with my powers and delay them. How secure is this safe room?”
“It is the best you can think of. No one knows about it except for us and the elders. The elders don’t even know exactly where it is.”
“Good,” it was Ryker who spoke and before I could process it, he pushed me into the safe room. I tried to step out but he blocked the entrance with his b*dy.
“What the hell are you doing?” I whisper yelled and he smiled.
“I’m keeping you safe,” he leaned down to k*ss me and despite being pi ssed at him, I couldn’t help but lean into the k*ss. He pulled away abruptly. “I hope you can forgive me.”
Before I could say anything else, he slammed the door shut.
