CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
1785 Words
ELINA
On the way home I could feel Camille's gazes piercing the side of my head, clearly, she saw what happened with Bastian on the stairs, and I can only imagine what she must be thinking right now, she probably thinks I am getting carried away by the effect that he has on me, and although she would be a bit right about it, I am not doing it consciously, I would change what happened in the woods and on the stairs if I could, in fact, I would change everything that has happened since I met Bastian.
"Are you okay?" Camille asks me through a mind link, making sure that the driver, who is from the Crimson kingdom, can’t hear what we are talking about.
"Yes, why do you ask?" I answer her.
"Well, I didn't mean to, but I saw what happened before with King Vark," she tells me guiltily.
"He clearly doesn't know about boundaries, he is just trying to manipulate me into forgetting what happened," I reply, and she looks at me sympathetically.
“His beta says he is a good person, he keeps insisting that this is all just a misunderstanding, and even told me that… well, it just doesn't make sense,” she says, and I frown.
"What did August tell you?" I ask her.
"They seem to think King Zane is behind this," she tells me, and I look at her in surprise.
"What?" I ask immediately.
"That is what he told me, well, he didn't say exactly that, but he did start asking me questions about the king, and at one point he hinted that we should investigate him too, since according to them, the king has the means, the power, and the motivation to do it,” she tells me with a shrug.
"That's absurd, Zane would never do something like that, he adores me, and the babies too, plus what motivation could he have for it?" I answer her, and she nods.
"That was exactly what I told him, that King Zane would do anything for you, but he did not seem very convinced, he says that he wants to create conflict between you and King Vark to separate you both," she replies, and I shake my head.
"Bastian is capable of anything but admitting his own mistakes," I tell her, and she purses her lips.
"And what if it wasn't either one?" she asks, more to herself than to me.
"What are you talking about?" I ask her.
"It makes sense for that person to be someone with the power and the wherewithal to create this conflict, so maybe we should investigate powerful people who may have some motive for a war between the two kingdoms," she responds.
"That makes sense, but who could we investigate?" I answer.
"Well, presumably both kingdoms have enemies, even our rogue kingdom has enemies too, we should start with them," Camille tells me, and I nod in agreement.
"But, don't say any of this to anyone," I tell her, and she nods.
So, we continued the rest of the way discussing other kinds of things with Camille, and although the initial plan was to go straight to Crimson palace, I ask the driver to deviate from the road to go to the Rogue castle, so I can talk to my mother about the question that It's been spinning in my head since I spoke to Bastian in the woods.
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"Honestly, honey, it does sound like something your dad would do," she replies sadly after I have told her everything Bastian told me.
"What? Do you really believe that?" I ask in surprise.
“You have to understand that he was probably under a lot of stress and pressure to save Marcus from something he had gotten him into, plus, even though he was talking to your uncle for months, nothing was ever discussed other than your departure from the kingdom, there was no way we could be sure that we would be welcomed into the group your uncle was forming, after all, we were part of the Varkolak kingdom, and that for them was synonymous with enmity,” she tells me, and I shake the head.
"But I don't understand, he could have chosen to save his own life, why wouldn't he?" I ask her.
"If to save his life he had to put us in a risky situation, and drag us into exile with him, then it is more than obvious that he would not do it, I would not have done it either," she tells me.
"But look at you now, you and Elijah are with the Red Army where you were welcomed as members of our community, nothing bad would have happened to you if he chose exile," I tell her.
“We had no way of knowing this at the time, Ellie, besides, you know that the only reason they accepted us with open arms was that you were already an important part of the Red Army, and you asked them to do so, if we had come here before you, they probably would have kicked us out and we would have all been left stranded in the woods, with no choice but to become rogues,” she tells me, and I frown.
"I am not saying that what that man told you is true, because I have no way of knowing, and your father did not mention anything about it when he said goodbye to us, but it is very likely that he made that decision," she adds, and I feel like my head is getting more and more confused.
However, seeing how much this conversation is affecting her, and the fact that my babies must have already arrived at the castle along with the nanny and the rest of my warriors, I say goodbye to my mother and ask her once more to come to live in the palace with me, but she again refuses, because she does not want to be away from Elijah, who is now occupying an important role in the red army.
So I transform and run back to my new home, and as soon as I arrive at the Crimson palace, I first stop by to see the babies in their room where they are with the babysitter, and then I go in search of Zane to discuss some matters that were pending before I left, however, when I arrived at his office and walk-in unannounced, as I have always done since we got married, I find a rather peculiar scene in front of me.
Zane is sitting in the chair behind his desk, while a leggy blonde is sitting on top of the desk, getting too close to him as she talks to him with a flirtatious smile on her red lips.
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