Filed to story: The Rejected Werewolf Princess (Camilla & Tyson) by Didi Adeyemi >>
“I know that,” I mumbled under my breath. “I just don’t know how to.”
“You’re going to have to learn, Camilla. This is your kingdom and until you start acting like you own it then no one is going to treat you like Queen. Those men in there respect power and authority. You need to show them that you have it and you are here to stay. Do you understand me?”
I knew he was right but that didn’t mean that I had to like it. I decided to change the subject instead of answering. “Where were you yesterday? I searched for you everywhere.”
He rubbed the back of his n*eck sheepishly. “I was in the library but I lost track of time and I fell asleep. By the time I woke up, it was almost noon. I rushed over as quickly as I could.”
I narrowed my brows in confusion. “I checked the library last night. It was one of the first places I checked when I realized that you were missing.”
He looked around to make sure no one was listening before whispering. “Come with me.”
We put Aurora to rest in her room first before Ryker led me towards the stairs. I had no idea where we floor were going but I knew he wouldn’t hurt me so I decided to trust him. He led me towards the top which was mostly unused. The only room that had been occupied in the last century was my father’s room. I had never been in there and I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to.
Ryker led me past what used to be his room to a large and elaborate tapestry. He looked around to make sure that we were alone before pulling at one of the edges and to my shock, it opened to reveal a narrow hallway. I turned to Ryker in confusion.
“How many secret passages does this palace have? Were you exploring the tunnels?”
“This isn’t a tunnel. You have to go in.”
I hesitated at the mouth of the hallway. “How did you even find it?”
“Christine showed it to me,” I was shocked. I had asked Christine where Ryker was and she just shrugged in response. I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off. “I made her promise not to tell you so you didn’t demanding to help me. Just come in and see.”
end up
I huffed and made my way into the narrow hallway. I kept both hands on the wall to guide myself but it was more of Ryker’s hand on my back that led me. The hallway wasn’t as long as I expected it to be. Within minutes, we were standing in front of what had to be the largest library I had ever seen. My mouth fell open in shock and I turned to Ryker.
“What is this place?”
“Welcome to the secret palace library. It has everything on anything including forbidden texts.”
CAMILLA’S PO.V
The library was amazing. The shelves were as high as the ceiling which was more than three times my height. It was chilly and I assumed that was because the books weren’t exactly books, they were scrolls and bound parchments. I was almost scared to touch anything because everything looked ancient like it was going to fall apart if handled wrongly. I couldn’t fault Ryker for losing track of time here, I would have too.
It was lit up by torches on either side and all the windows were closed but there was still a breeze blowing through. The walls were pure cement and there were only two tables that I could see. The crest of the kingdom was etched on each shelf and on the walls. I couldn’t help but wonder how many people actually knew about it.
He led me with a hand on my lower back to a table where papers were arranged in a neat pile. I could tell that was where he sat because it still had his faint scent around it. As we got closer, I noticed some of the drawings and writings on the texts and I realized that he was reading about vampires. I turned to him with a raised brow and all he did was shrug as if it were no big deal.
“Were you able to find out anything?‘ I asked and he sighed.
“Not exactly. Vampires aren’t like us, they’re immortal and they can have one king for a millennium. It is unusual for them to document about their leaders so that others don’t realize who they are. I tried going as far back as the last war but I couldn’t find anything about his identity. I’ll keep searching but I doubt we will find anything here about them.”
“Have there been any vampires so far who have done things like this in the past?‘ I asked and he shook his head.
“None that I have found,” he ran his hand thrugh his hair in frustration. “Our best bet is to find the vampire king and request a meeting with him. He is the only one who can keep his subjects in line.”
I bit my bottom l*p as I debated what to say. All we could do was keep searching because fighting vampires was bad enough, but fighting vampires that we knew nothing about was even worse. I picked up the closest text to me and stuffed it under my arm,
“I hope we can take them out,” I murmured. “This place is too stuffy for me to stay in all day.’
The corner of his l*ps tilted up. “You’re the Queen, you can do whatever you want.”
We picked out a few books that we thought would help and returned to our room to ensure they were kept safely before making our way to the dining room to spend time with our daughters. When Christine saw me, she must have immediately known that Ryker had told me about the library because she offered me a small apologetic smile. I narrowed my eyes at her playfully and she laughed.
Dinner was long and fun. I hoped after dinner he would forget about practicing but Ryker was nothing if not disciplined. I tried to argue that we had to read about the vampires but he was adamant that it could wait. Audrey joined us this time and we spent our exact hour outside and despite my protests, I ended up having fun. Audrey made demands and she squealed whenever I got it right. It felt relieving to not have the burden of powers on my shoulders and to be able to use it for something as miniscule as entertaining my daughter.
While we were packing up to leave, I felt a cool breeze at the back of my n*eck. I straightened instantly and turned towards the woods behind us but it was too dark to make out anything. I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching us and I started in that direction but Ryker’s hand wrapped around my wrist pulling me to a stop and snapping me out of my thoughts.
“What’s wrong?” he asked and I glanced towards the woods but Ryker grabbed my chin and turned me to face him. “Look at me, what are looking at?”
“Nothing, I just thought-”
I began in that direction again but Ryker wouldn’t let me go. I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the woods. I knew there was something there and I could have sworn that I saw a flash of red in the trees.
“Camilla!” Ryker rarely said my name unless it was important. “Where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I thought I felt something there. I felt it that day with Damien and Riley.”