CAMILLA''S POV


    I didn’t hesitate before rushing into the nearest carriage. My heart was pounding in my chest and my hands were


    mmy as I tried to keep them stable in myp. It hit me that I hadn''t told anyone that I had left. I hadn''t even aske


    anyone to watch Aurora. I was just so concerned and so much in a panic that I forgot. I quickly mind linked Christine


    and thankfully, her wall was down.


    “I need you to watch Aurora,” I didn’t even give the chance to exchange pleasantries. “I promise to exin when I am


    back but-"


    “When you are back?” she asked and I hummed. “Where did you- you know what? Never mind. Exin when you''re


    back but if Ryker returns before you and he loses his shit because you aren''t here then that''s on you.”


    Iughed. “I can handle my own mate but thank you.”


    I broke off the mind link the exact moment that the carriage stopped. The principal was waiting outside the school


    gate for me and she had a somewhat panicked look on her face. I tried to keep my face stoic and not let her know


    that I was equally in a panic. I squared my shoulders and gave her a small smile as I approached.


    She bowed. “Thank you foring here on such short notice, your majesty. I apologize for the urgent tone in the


    message but I really needed to make sure that we had this handled.”Content bel0ngs to N?vel(D)r/a/ma.Org.


    “What exactly is the problem?” I cut her off and she opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it at thest


    moment.


    “I think you should juste and see for yourself”


    That statement never meant anything good but I still refused to panic and followed her into the school. The student:


    were in ss so the halls were empty. She led me to her office where Audrey was seated. As soon as my daughter sav


    me she rushed into my arms. I couldn''t keep my stoic face even if I tried. I wrapped my arms around her and ced


    soft kiss on her forehead.


    “The principal said I did something bad,” she whispered to me. “I didn''t do anything. I was just making a pretty


    picture”


    Picture? What the hell was going on. I gave my daughter a small smile and smoothed her hair back before turning to


    the principal. She had a seat for me and one for Audrey and once we were both seated, she slid a piece of paper ove


    to me. I wasn''t sure what it was meant to be.


    “We asked her to draw her family,” the principal exined. “We were expecting a simple picture of just you, her and


    her father.”


    I looked at the picture again, there were at least eight people in the picture but it wasn''t the people that caught my


    attention, it was the little details she added to each of them. I turned to Audrey.


    “Can you point out everyone to me?” I asked and she nodded.


    She was quick to point out herself then me. I should have guessed it was me because she added little swirls to my


    fingertips presumably to mimic water. She pointed out Ryker next but for the life of me, I couldn''t figure out what


    that thing was behind him.


    “Is that a shadow?” I asked and she shrugged. “Audrey, what is that?”


    “I don''t know,” she mumbled but I knew she was lying. “That is Aurora.”


    I stopped her again. “What is that in your sister''s hands? It looks like a stick.”


    “It''s a bone.”


    I was taken aback by that response. “Why is there a bone in your sister''s hands?”


    “I don''t know, it just felt right,” this time, I knew she was telling the truth. “The other people are aunt Christine, Uncle


    Juan and the twins.”


    My brows furrowed. “What twins? Audrey, what the hell are you talking about?”


    “They''re having twins.”


    The principal was looking at me expectantly and I could understand why she called me now. Yes, Christine was


    pregnant but no one knew anything about any twins. I turned to the principal and gave her an apologetic look.


    “She has an overactive imagination, I''m sorry if this worried you. She was probably drawing her ideal family or some


    funny variation of it,” I was lying through my teeth but it seemed enough to set the principal''s heart at ease.


    “Okay, I as just worried that there was something else at y,” she crossed her arms in front of her. “Seeing as schoo


    will be over in a few minutes anyway, I think it would be alright if you were to take Audrey home right now. She will


    not be missing much.”


    “Thank you,” I reached out to shake her hand and she seemed shocked by the gesture. “If there are any other


    problems, don’t hesitate to call for me. Also, would it be possible for me to take the drawing with me?”


    “Of course not, please, it is all yours.”


    After exchanging our goodbyes, I walked with Audrey to the carriage. I waited until we were alone in the carriage


    before I turned to her. “I''m not upset with you but I need to know what this means. Why did you draw twins and wha


    is that thing behind your father?”


    “I saw the twins in my sleep,” she said almost immediately. “They''re very fun to y with, there is a boy and a girl.”


    “Wait,” I ran my hands down my face. “you saw a vision of Christine''s kids?” she nodded. “How do you know that they


    are her kids?”


    “I just know,” she shrugged. “I don''t know mummy.”


    “it''s okay, what about the thing you drew behind daddy?” she went silent at that. “Audrey, you can tell me” She


    shook her head. “If I tell you then bad things will happen. You can’t know, mummy.”


    “But”


    “Please don''t make me tell you,” her eyes welled up with tears and I cursed. I pulled her close to me and wrapped m


    arms around her as tight as possible as her tiny shoulders shook with sobs.


    “You don''t have to tell me,” I whispered and that seemed to be the only thing that calmed her tears. It took a few


    minutes to calm her down and wipe away her tears. “I don’t want to scare anyone else so you cannot say anything


    about the twins, alright? Don’t say anything about the picture, I will handle everything”


    The rest of the ride was held in silence. I had the drawing folded up in my hands. I didn’t know what to do with it but


    I needed to show Ryker first. He always knew how to handle things like this without panicking. She could be wrong, I


    was holding onto that reality but if for any reason Christine had twins then I had to worry about everything else in


    the picture including the bone in Aurora''s hands and the shadow behind Ryker.


    We were getting out of the carriage when I heard rushed footstepse over to me. I turned just in time to see


    Ryker grab my face in both hands. He ran his eyes over me for any obvious signs of injury before letting out a sigh of


    relief.


    “I''m fine, we are fine,” I tried to assure him but that did little to calm him as he did the same thing to Audrey.


    “Where did you go? You didn’t tell anyone where you went. I came back and was worried as hell. All I was told was


    that you rushed into a carriage and ran off. What were you thinking?”


    “I was told there was something that needed to be urgently discussed about Audrey. I didn’t think, I just left,” his


    eyes instantly went to our daughter but I grabbed his arm. “We will talk about it inside. Let her get changed and have


    lunch. It is not a conversation that we can have out here.”


    Christine offered to help us take care of Audrey while we spoke and I showed him the picture and exined


    everything that had happened. He stared at it for a full minute and I could tell from his eyes that there was


    something that worried him.


    “What is it?” I asked but he said nothing. “She won''t exin what anything is except the twins. She says she saw


    them and-"


    “If she says she did then she did,” he cut me off and my brows furrowed. “We need to figure out what the bone is in


    Aurora''s hand and why.”


    “Aren’t you the least bit worried about the shadow behind you? She refuses to speak about it. Maybe you can try


    talking to her, she might-"


    “No,” he said simply. “We live our lives with shadows behind us on a daily basis, Cami.”


    “This is different. I don’t know how to exin it but I can feel it. There is something wrong and we need to-"


    He cut me off with a soft kiss on my lips. It was at that moment I knew for certain that he was hiding something from


    me. There was a reason he didn’t want me digging into the drawing about him. There was a reason he wanted to


    brush it off- he knew it, Audrey knew it but I didn’t.


    “Ryker,” I began but he took the drawing from my hands and folded it neatly into his pocket. “Are we really going to


    pretend like-"


    “I have to run now, I need to meet with Riley. She was trying to get my attention before we left”


    “Where did you go?” I asked and he stilled. “You haven''t said a single thing about why you left. Did you find


    anything?”


    His eyes gave it away but once again, he lied. He shook his head. “Nothing, it waspletely empty. I just wanted to


    make sure of it.”


    “Ryker-"


    “I''ll see you during dinner.”


    Without waiting for a response from me, he walked out of the room leaving me in perpetual silence.