Chapter 134

CAMILLA’S POV

I barely remembered the walk to the council room. I was so lost in thought that everything else felt inconsequential. My mind was a maze and I didn’t know where the exit was. I found Ryker pacing outside the door and as soon as he saw me, relief poured through his features. He reached out for me and I gave him a small smile in return.

“We can handle them,” I assured him.

I wasn’t used to being the strong one. That had always been Ryker’s role. He was the steadfast and secure one that you could always count on. He never faltered and he never second guessed himself but right now as he stood in front of me, there was no trace of that man. The man in front of me was confused and unsure, he was worried and running on a lack of sleep. He was nothing like my mate and it worried me. I had never seen him like this and I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know if he would be able to face the elders.

“I know we can,” he gave me hand a squeeze. “I’m worried about you after this is over. I’m worried about how this might reflect badly on you.”

“Don’t worry about me, I can handle myself,” he opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off. “All of this doesn’t matter right now. Let us go in and face them like we always do- together.”

He nodded and pushed open the doors. The elders were already seated and were in deep discussion with themselves. It didn’t skip my attention that Alara was also in the room. I raised a brow but none of them would meet my eye. They held their breaths waiting for what we would say or do but I chose to ignore it as we made our way to our seat.

“This better be important,” I drawled. I wasn’t going to be bullied into anything. I was their Queen. I was their ruler, they answered to me and not the other way around.

“You know of the whispers already, your majesty, do not make us repeat them,” one of the elders began. “You were both seen and the people are already on edge, this could tip them off. They already have doubts in your relationship as a result of the earlier rumors.”

“Everyone will have doubts, you cannot satisfy the public and as for the whispers, it is an out of context rumor. Nothing untowardly happened and especially not with her. If that is all-”

“That is not what she is saying,” another elder cut in and I turned to him. He looked away from me and placed a hand on Alara’s shoulder. “Remember what we told you, you can speak freely here. No one will harm you.”

“Do not make promises you cannot keep, elder. I do recall telling her that if she wasn’t out by noon then her head would be on a spike and that has not changed, neither has this meeting prompted me to shift up the deadline.”

I could see that they were all shocked. I wasn’t the one who dished out threats. Usually, I couldn’t even be bothered to speak but they would be sorely mistaken if I was going to allow her spread false rumors. Ryker couldn’t be trusted to speak because he couldn’t remember anything.

“Your majesty,” Caius began in a soft tone. “Let the girl speak, please. If you already know the truth then there is no harm in hearing her out. As it stands, she could go to the public and claim that you didn’t hear her out and cause them to turn on you.copy right hot novel pub