Page 44 of The Rose in the Shadows

“Trying to kill her would imply that I care about her!”

Clay moved quickly, shocking me once more with how fast he could be, and grabbed Camilla around the throat. In the same instant, he pushed her back against the door so hard her head slammed into the wood. Dark hair covered her face as she cried out. I stepped forward instinctively, but Lorelai’s grip on my hand was firm; she wasn’t letting me move. As I looked down at our conjoined hands suspiciously, she shook her head in a gentle warning. She wasn’t just gripping me in comfort, I realized; she was actively trying to prevent me from intervening.

“You might mind how you speak to your Crown Prince when he interrogates you on the attack of one of your Royals,” Clay roared at her as an animalistic snarl rose out of his chest.

Camilla shuddered away from him, but the more she struggled, the tighter he grabbed her until her feet struggled to even touch the floor.

“I didn’t do it,” she cried, gasping for air and ripping at his fingers.

"She almost died Camilla. She was almost killed! I'll see to it that the party responsible is punished."

This was wrong. I didn’t have a particularly fond impression of Camilla, but we had absolutely no evidence that she had anything to do with this! She didn’t deserve to be harmed for a crime we couldn’t prove she had committed.

And would she have even committed it? She had never been very kind to me personally, but the others swore thatunderneath her hard exterior was a good person. If Iris and Lorelai could vouch for her character, then I could trust that. Or at the very least, I could give her the benefit of the doubt.

Clay bashed her against the wall again, earning a scream that echoed through the otherwise quiet room.

“Donotlie to me!”

She whimpered, and it was that helpless sound that was enough to push me over the edge. I ripped my hand out of Lorelai’s.

“Clayton, put her down!” I called.

The muscles in his back stiffened, but he hardly bothered to look over his shoulder at me.

“This is not your concern, Miss Moore.”

This was my concern, though. It wasmyblood that puddled on the floor around his feet. This wasmybedroom, and this wasmydamn life in question. It was every bit my concern. I wouldn’t have this girl harmed on my behalf.

“Clay, put her down.Please.”

He let go of her in an instant, fingers splaying wide. She fell to the floor in a sobbing heap and crawled away from him as quickly as she could. For a moment, though I hated to admit it, it actually surprised me he had listened to me so easily. No one in the room dared to move as even Clay stared down at his hand suspiciously as if he, too, couldn’t believe he had released her. Then, finally, he turned to face me. When he met my eyes, I felt the total weight of his fury now directed at me.

“You have no idea what is happening right now, Miss Moore,” he reminded me, voice veiled with a threat. “I don’t need your advice on how to handle my subjects.”

Camilla looked up at me, her eyes wide and pleading, but everyone else averted their gazes. No one would come to Camilla’s defense… or mine, for that matter. No one would challenge Clay on this.

I turned to Lorelai, who huddled helplessly with Iris.

“Is she telling the truth?” I snapped.

Perhaps if I could definitively prove Camilla wasn’t involved, she would be spared any further harm tonight. Lorelai’s eyes bounced between Clay and me, unsure of what to do. Of course, she wouldn’t simply answer my question. I wasn’t the one with the authority to ask it.

She was waiting for a command from him.

Finally, when he gave a slight, nearly imperceptible nod, she took a shaky breath and focused in on Camilla.

"I didn't put the bag in the room," Camilla whispered again.

It took some time, but eventually, she nodded, once to me and then more forcefully towards Clay. Camilla cried out in relief, letting Kent pull her to her feet and wrap an arm protectively around her.

“Get out, all of you,” Clay ordered. “Miss Moore needs her rest.”

They didn’t hesitate. Iris and Lorelai rushed past me, stopping only briefly to ask me to get them if I needed anything. Kent held open the door to them, waving goodbye to me, and in an instant, they were gone. Rankor guided Camilla to the door as she desperately wiped the tears from her face, as if she was in a hurry to erase the fact that she had cried. She couldn’t erase that fact, though.

None of us could erase what had happened here tonight.

“Camilla,” Clay barked. “Thank your lady for her graciousness and mercy.”

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