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.copy right hot novel pub