Chapter 196 ~My Mate~

Chapter 196 ~My Mate~
Darius's POV

I had tolerated the accusations, the questions and the criticism because I understood that they were worried about Camille. I was worried too as she was dangerous, unpredictable and somewhere outside the pack with every reason to come after back again.
But the words Cassius had just spoken to Aria were enough to snap something loose in me that I'd been holding together with real effort. The room was deadly silent now as everyone cowered but he was still holding a trace of the same disdain he'd aimed at Aria a moment ago. Probably pissed at being called out in front of someone he deemed “below” him, however, I simply did not care.
"Is that understood?” I asked, my voice carrying clearly across the room.
Cassius gave a stiff nod, his jaw tight. "Yes, your Highness." The words came out correctly enough, but I could see plainly that he would have opted to do anything but that.
I took a slow breath and steadied myself, working to cool the angry wolf back down to something manageable. It had been getting easier over the past few weeks, this business of reining myself in before it went too far.
"Good," I said once I trusted my voice to stay even. "Now let me make something clear, since we're apparently still confused about certain things in this room." I looked around the table, meeting each pair of eyes in turn before letting my gaze settle, briefly, on Aria. "Aria is my mate, and she was wrongfully accused."
A ripple of tension passed through the room, but I didn't stop.
"She was not responsible for what happened. She was not responsible for Camille's actions, and she did not deserve the treatment she received afterward." I made myself keep going, even though every word felt like pulling something out of my own chest by force. "I was wrong to believe otherwise."
Nobody spoke and I could hear the faint creak of someone shifting in their seat somewhere down the table, the only sound in an otherwise silent room.
"The divorce was my decision," I continued, "and a stupid mistake on my part."
My hands curled against the table at that admission, because it was true, plainly and completely true, and there wasn't a version of this conversation where I got to soften that fact for my own comfort. I wasn't going to let Aria carry the weight of a decision that had been entirely mine to make and entirely wrong from the start.
The room stayed completely quiet, everyone too uneasy to so much as breathe properly, it seemed. I forced myself to keep my eyes on the table rather than search out Aria's reaction, worried that if I looked at her now, whatever composure I had left would abandon me completely.
"Therefore you all still owe her the respect she is due, and you will listen when she has something to say. Is that clear?"
A chorus of "yes, your Highness" moved around the table, quieter and more subdued than usual. My eyes betrayed me and drifted toward Aria anyway, and I found her staring back at me, lips slightly parted, an expression on her face I couldn't quite read. I swallowed hard and looked away fast, feeling entirely out of my depth.
"Now," I said, clearing my throat, "you've gotten the information you came here for. Unless anyone has actual evidence that would help us locate Camille, we're wasting time."
Nobody spoke so I nodded slowly, glancing around the table one final time. "Good." I turned my attention to Gregory, who sat watching me with an expression somewhere between exhaustion and quiet gratitude. "Gregory will continue with his current responsibilities and will not be reprimanded for anything, because contrary to what several of you seem to believe, this was not at fault in any way."
Cassius opened his mouth like he wanted to object, but I kept talking before he had the chance.
"However," I continued, "I will personally oversee the search for Camille from this point forward. I hope that satisfies the council's concerns." I let that sit for a moment before adding the rest. "No one leaves this pack's territory without clearance going forward. Patrols will be doubled at every border. Every guard who had access to Camille during her time in custody will be questioned again, more thoroughly this time, and every possible angle will be examined until we find whoever helped her get out."
Cassius let out a heavy breath, some of the fight visibly draining out of him. "As you wish, your Highness."
"You're all dismissed," I said, and the room emptied out with none of the usual murmured conversation that typically followed these meetings. Chairs scraped back, footsteps moved toward the door, and within a minute the room had cleared almost entirely.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and kept my eyes fixed on the table in front of me, unwilling to look up and risk finding Aria still there, still watching me with that unreadable expression. I was being a coward about it, and I knew it, but I couldn't seem to make myself do otherwise.
When I finally lifted my head, only Gregory remained. "Sorry about that," I started to say but paused, uncertain as to what I was apologizing for.
Gregory nodded as if he already understood. “I will arrange everything you ordered. The new patrol schedules and the second round of questioning will start today.”
I nodded, still not fully looking up. "Thank you, Gregory. For staying patient through all of that."
He waved that off easily enough, already moving toward the door, but he paused just before stepping through it. "You should go speak with her though. She looked like she had a great deal she wanted to say.”
I frowned, convinced that he had to be misreading the situation entirely. "I don't think that's a good idea," I said. "She asked for space. I'd rather not push my luck after finally starting to respect that."
The last time Aria and I had spoken, she'd told me to leave and seemed like she meant it with everything in her.
Gregory shrugged, an infuriating half smile pulling at his mouth. "Suit yourself. But just so you know, I'm almost always right." Then he was gone before I could ask him what exactly he thought he knew that I didn't.
I sat alone in the empty council room for a long while after that, contemplating while replaying the entire moment in my head. The initial plan had been to wait until she was ready and approached me of her own accord.
Still, some stubborn part of me held onto Gregory's words because, because if there was even the smallest chance that Aria actually wanted to speak to me, I would rather take it than continue keeping this gut wrenching distance.