Chapter 96
CAMILLA’S P.O.V
I didn’t realize how much pressure was on me until Ryker said those words. I don’t think he meant for me to worry but I couldn’t help it. I spent the entire morning thinking about his words. Loris had to cut training short because my mind seemed to be everywhere else but present. I almost hit him in the face with a stream of water while I was meant to move it from one stream to another.
The bodies were returned to the families today and I couldn’t bring myself to see them. I watched from a pillar while they sobbed into the bodies of their sons. My heart ached for them and I wanted nothing more than to comfort them but my feet couldn’t move. I couldn’t imagine how I would react if I lost a child.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and I relaxed considerably when I realized it was Ryker. His scent crowded my space and I heaved a small sigh. His arms wrapped around my shoulders and he placed his chin on the center of my head. I could feel his eyes on me instead of the family.
“I feel bad,” I admitted. “It is our job to protect them and we failed.”
“This isn’t your fault. It isn’t even theirs. The fault resides with the vampire who killed them.”
“He won’t stop,” I whispered and he didn’t respond. There was no need for him to, he knew I was right. “We have to stop him before he kills anyone else.”
“We will, it’s just taking a little longer than we thought,” he pulled back from me. “One of us should be there to comfort
them.”
Before I could say anything, he brushed past me and walked over to the family. The mother sobbed into his arms and I watched as Ryker comforted her. He wasn’t supposed to touch them and I knew the elders would have a field day if they saw him but I couldn’t help but smile softly. One thing I loved most about Ryker was his ability to be so empathetic without saying a word. He deserved to be king much more than I deserved to be Queen. He would have found a way to sort this thing out. I only wished the vampire king were half the man he was. If he was, he would have known that his subjects were stepping out of line and he would have handled them.
As soon as that thought landed, I gasped. All this time, we had been chasing the wrong lead. There was no way that we were going to find the vampire who was doing this, we needed to find the king. I wanted to inform Ryker but he was too busy with the family so I made my way to the secret library alone. If I was going to find anything on him, it was going to be there.
I pulled out every single book I could find on vampires and put my wall firmly in place so I wouldn’t be disturbed. I couldn’t tell how long I sat there fl*pping through books and trying to figure out who the infamous king was. There were so many texts on him but none of them mentioned his name or even what he loked like. I knew finding him was going to be hard but I never realized it was going to be this hard.
It was around evening when Ryker found me with my head buried in the books. I was so lost in my reading that I didn’t realize he was close until he spoke.
“This is where you’ve been,” he mused and I jumped. He had to place a hand at the back of my chair to prevent it from tipping over. “We’ve been scouring the entire palace for you. Is this payback vrom when I made you worry?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe, maybe not. At least now you know how it feels.”
He peered over my shoulder at the books opened in front of me. “What are we searching for today? Did you find something?”
I explained my theory to him and he listened intently while I spoke. By the time I was done, he had a wary look on his face and I immediately knew that there were going to be complaints.
“This is brilliant but we are working on the assumption that the vampire king is someone who can be reasoned with,” he ran his hand down his jaw. “This man could be over a thousand years old. He might not be willing to listen or even care about what is happening.”
Chapter 96
“He’s the king, he has to,” my brows furrowed. “No one wants a war. If he is up to a thousand years old then he must have seen first-hand the war.”
“Why don’t we handle this tomorrow?” he asked and I wanted to refute but my stomach chose that exact moment to rumble. “Come on baby, let’s get some food into you.”
“Can I get some books first?” I asked and he nodded.
I gathered my books and just as I was about to leave, I got an idea. He mentioned something about the vampire king and the war so I grabbed the books I could see on the war. It was a far stretch but it was one worth looking into.
“Are you ready?’ he asked and I nodded. He grabbed the books from my hand and gestured for me to walk ahead of him. This time, I didn’t hesitate before moving.
I had plans to read after eating but I was so tired that I didn’t even realize when I passed out from exhaustion. The next thing I realized was that I was waking up in bed during the early hours of the morning. Ryker was already up and out of bed at the time and I rushed to get in line with my duties.
The morning seemed to go like any other until we were told during breakfast that there were bodies. It felt like the weight of the world had crashed on me especially since we had planned to spend the day with the girls. Ryker decided that it would be best if he goes to check the bodies while I stay with the girls so as not to arouse suspicion. I wasn’t entirely on board with it but he didn’t give me much of a chance to protest.
I didn’t want to be idle so while I at with Audrey in her room, I was fl*pping through the books I had brought back. I decided to start with the ones on the war and to say there were unhelpful would have been an understatement. Most of them spoke about casualties and how the werewolves won the war but that wasn’t what I wanted.
I was about to give up when I noticed another passage that seemed to be about the vampires. I decided to keep reading and although it didn’t give much, it spoke about how the vampire king didn’t live in the Northern mountains like the rest of them. Although it was a speculation, some believed that he lived in the mountains close to the palace to mirror the lives of the werewolves.
As soon as-I-read that, I tried to mind link Ryker but his wall was up. I mind linked Christine next and she was quick to rush into the room. I showed her what I had found and she pored over it for far longer than necessary. After what felt like minutes, she looked up at me.
“I think we should wait for Ryker,” she said and I frowned. “If this is true, you could be walking into an ambush. It is best if you go with guards.”
“That would look like a declaration of war. I just want to talk to him. I can take a few guards with me but if I carry an entire army which is what Ryker is going to do then the conversation will end befor eit even starts.”
She sighed knowing she couldn’t win with me. “What do you propose then?”
“I need you to watch the kids,” she opened her mouth to refute but I cut her off. “Ryker is busy right now and I am not going
to make him leave whatever he is doing to come to me. I’ll just take two guards and go on horses.”
She still didn’t look convinced but she reluctantly nodded. I grabbed her hands and gave her a small smile.
“Just be safe,” she whispered. “Take some of the best guards.”
“I will. Can you arrange some for me? You know them better than I do.”
She left to organize the guards and I secretly hoped that Ryker would return before she did but he didn’t. I was terribly anxious to go alone but I was the Queen and Ryker was right I needed to start acting like it. Audrey demanded to walk with me to the horses and I couldn’t refuse her. She didn’t want to let me go and if I were smarter, I would have taken that as a sign to stay back.
–“I’ll be back soon,” I promised and she frowned. “When I’m back we can play house again, okay?”
She hesitated before nodding and pulling me into a hug. Christine had to hold her back while I mounted the horse. I explained to the guards where we were going. I was kept in the middle for security reasons and we began the journey. We
had estimated a few hours for the journey and I knew that if all went as planned then we would leave by nightfall.
I
The journey was quiet but I could feel the tension emanating. We were just four in number and I hoped that it wouldn’t be seen as too much. We went deeper into the woods than I had ever gone before and the further we went, the colder it
got. was grateful for the coat that Christine had made me pack. Even if it didn’t completely protect me from the cold, it did a better job than my dress would have.
“Your majesty, do you know exactly what we are looking for? We are almost at the mountains.”
“Just keep going. You’ll know it when you see it.”
We kept going for a few minutes when I felt eyes on me. I couldn’t see them but I knew they were there so I immediately ordered everyone to stop. The guards must have sensed the urgency in my voice because they immediately formed a protective circle around me.
“We can turn back now,” one of them began but I shook my head.
“You’re a long way from home, Camilla,” I heard someone drawl from the woods and I looked to see bright glowing red eyes staring back at me.
