Filed to story: The Rejected Werewolf Princess (Camilla & Tyson) by Didi Adeyemi >>
“Of course,” I pulled the nearest book from the shelf and turned to Ryker. “Would you like to do it?”
He hesitated but Audrey turned to him. “Please daddy, you do the voices better than mummy.”
At this he laughed and took the book out of my hand. He sat on the other side of the bed and read. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep and when I was sure she was just snoring softly and not dead, I took a step back. I watched Ryker put the book back on the dresser and come to stand behind me.
He wrapped his arms around my shoulder and pressed a k*ss to the side of immediately relaxed into his hold and he somehow held me tighter.
“We have to talk about what happened,” he whispered to me and I shrugged. “How did you do that?”
“I didn’t do anything,” I whispered but I wasn’t fooling anyone. It was so glaringly obvious but also so unbelievable. “I am an elemental. I control water. I don’t heal people.”
“Camilla,” his voice was soft and soothing as if he was talking to a child. “The evidence is staring us right in the face. Look at her.”
“She could have been waking up on her own,” I offered. “We need to ask the physician to ch*ck on her. I don’t want any complications later.”
He just sighed and nodded. “If that’s what you want.”
When we got to the physician’s quarters, it was obvious that he had been waiting for us. He was pacing across the room and immediately he saw us, he let out a sigh of relief. There were multiple books open on the bed in front of him and he looked like: who was seeing candy for the first time.
“Your majesty, that was incredible,” he looked at me as he spoke. “It is unheard of for a royal to have more than one power trait. This is equally remarkable and terrifying.”
I opened my mouth to speak but Ryker shot me a look. They didn’t understand, I didn’t want to have another power. There was already so much and the last thing I needed was to have another power that I needed to master and dominate. I simply crossed my arms over my ch*st and stared at them.
“Pardon me, your majesty, but your daughter was,” he hesitated before saying the next words, “she was dying. There was nothing that could have been done for her. I saw it.”
“That’s not true, she is lying in her bed and she is perfectly fine. She is alive.”
“Now she is, but she wasn’t when she lay there in the field. I don’t know what but you healed her. You brought her from the brink of death,” it seemed to unbelievable to me. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. “Your majesty, if you could walk me around what happened while you held your child. I know it was a traumatic experience but every detail might be the difference between right and wrong.”
The events were hazy but I tried to explain it as best as I could and he made notes. Ryker just stood by my side holding my hand and giving silent comfort. By the time I was doing, the physician sighed.
“I have a theory but I will need your help to confirm it,” he began. “Would you be willing to give a sample of your blood?”
“Why?” I asked and it hit me. He thought it was my blood that had the healing properties. I nodded and he walked over to me with a knife. I watched as he created a small ga sh on my palm and allowed the blood drip into a vial. “Who are you going to test that on?”
“Whoever walks in here next. Hopefully, it’s sooner rather than later. The quicker we get answers, the quicker we an get an answer to our questions.”
I nodded. I was barely listening at this point. I felt overwhelmed. Ryker realized it because he responded to the guard and pulled me out of the room. He walked with me until we got to a deserted hallway and he placed my back against the cool wall. His hand wrapped around my chin and he tilted head up.
“Look at me and breathe,” he ordered and I struggled to do as he had asked. “Do it again, until you calm down. I need you to breathe. You look dazed and you’re sweating.”
“I can’t.”
“Try,” there was sheer power in his voice and I couldn’t help but do as he asked. I felt the knot in my ch*st begin to lighten and he k*ssed my l*ps. “Good girl, how do you feel?”
“It’s too much,” I told him. “There is too much happening all at once.”
“I know baby, but we will get through it. I just need you to trust me. Can you do that?” I nodded. “Whatever happens, it is me and you, okay? Always.”
CAMILLA’S P.O.V
We stood there alone for what felt like seconds but in reality was half an hour. By the time we got out, I was relatively calmer about everything. Ryker and I went back to his office where I found all the books I had taken from the library. They were arranged on his desk in a neat pile and I couldn’t stop myself from running my finger over it slowly.
“Did you read them all?” I asked and he nodded. “Why?”
“I needed to make myself busy. You were unconscious and I needed to feel like I was doing something to help you. I read it to you sometimes, a part of me hoped that you could hear me or something.”
It was the first time he was speaking about what happened while I was unconscious and there was something painfully vulnerable at the way he spoke. It sounded resigned, I had never heard him sound that way before.
“I did hear you, sometimes,” I whispered and he looked up at me. “It was like a limbo of sorts. I could hear sometimes and other times it was radio silence. It was the only thing that kept me sane.”
He leaned forward and pressed a k*ss to my forehead. I didn’t want to think about my time there so I cleared my throat in a bid to change the subject back to the books.
“Did you find anything useful in the books while you were looking?” I asked and he shook his head with a scoff.
“Not at all actually, I got more information about vampires from you than I did from these books but it doesn’t make sense,” I scrunched my brows in confusion so he explained. “If there was a war, wouldn’t it have been smarter for people to document everything they could about vampires? If I knew I had an enemy, I would want to know everything about them and I would keep that information readily available just in case something like that ever happens again.”
“You’re right,” I muttered under my breath. “My mother told me to forgive myself and my father and t would help me get to the bottom of things but I have no idea what she meant by that.”
“Are you upset with him?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t know him well enough to have any sort of feelings about him. I’ve never even asked Christine about him. I just don’t care much.”
“At this point, it is the best lead we have. Do you want to talk to her about it?” I wanted to say no because a part of me was scared about what I would find out but just like Ryker said, it wasn’t like we had many options so I just shrugged.
Instead of forcing her to come all the way to us, we went to her. She was seated cross legged in the nursery with Aurora who immediately started gurgling when she saw us. I picked my daughter up and inhaled her scent to help calm me down. Christine looked confused and curious as to why we were there but she didn’t say a word.
“Is everything okay?” she asked and I nodded. “You came at the right time honestly because she just woke up from her nap.”
“We didn’t really come to see her,” I began slowly and Christine instantly sat up. “I wanted to ask about my father. You met him right?”
She nodded slowly. “I did but not for very long. Why are you asking?”
I shrugged. “I’m just curious about a few things. What was he like?”
She hesitated as if trying to think of her next words carefully. “Honestly, I don’t know. I never interacted with him outside the usual greetings. He was a very private man. I think the only person who knew him well was your mother considering that they were married to each other. He was always locked up in his room. Sometimes he would be in the palace and people wouldn’t see him for almost a week.”
“How did he manage that?”
I couldn’t be gone from the palace for a day before people started asking questions. I found it almost impossible to believe that he could disappear from the palace for a week with little to no consequences.
“He was the king,” she shrugged sadly. “He got away with a lot of shit. From what I saw, he was very charming. Everyone loved him. If he ordered people to jump then they were going to ask how high. He was feared and respected. I don’t know if it was because of who he was or because he could summon enough fire to burn down this entire palace if he was pissed off.”
“Did he have any ties with vampires?” I asked the question that had been plaguing me and she looked up at me.
“I don’t think so. There were never any issues with the vampires while he was ruler. I don’t think I ever heard him talk about it at all,” she slowly stood to her feet. “What are you thinking? Do you think he had something to do with this? Did you see or hear something?”
“No,” I assured her quickly but she didn’t seem convinced. “It was just something I was told. If he had ties with the vampires, where would I find out about it?”
“Honestly, I don’t think you will. His room would be the best place to ch*ck but as soon as he died, it was combed for anything that might be of use. No one found anything. You’re more than welcome to ch*ck it out though. I can take you there.”