SIXTY NINE
CAMILLE'S POV
The guards had an issue letting me in. Especially since I had told them I was visiting the Hector Menard.
But after a lot of back-and-forth bantering, the resolve of the first sentinel guard cracked, and he granted me access on the condition that I would only have a limited time inside and that I would be under strict supervision. I agreed to his terms despite knowing how stifling that would be.
We descended into the dark, musty crypt.
I noticed the air grew colder with each step, sending shivers down my spine. But it wasn't probably the chill air that was giving me goosebumps. It was seeing Hector again. Except this time, he would probably know who I was.
I wondered what he would think. Would he regret putting me through all that pain? Did he regret his choice? Would he wish he could turn back the hands of time and make a better choice?
The faint glow of torches lined the walls, casting eerie shadows that danced across the stone floor.
When we reached another section of the crypt, I noticed there weren't as many torches in the next section. The torches were sparse, many extinguished, leaving only dim flickers in the distance.
"Hector Menard was returned to his original cell." The sentinel opposite me informed before picking up a bright burning torch and leading the way inside the second section.
The first thing I noticed when I entered was how different the air was.
I felt lightheaded walking in. There was also an odor in the air that I couldn't quite place as our footsteps echoed off the walls while we made our way deeper into the labyrinth of passages.
Finally, I reached the chamber where Hector was held captive. The heavy iron door stood before me, its rusted hinges creaking as the sentinel helped me push it open.
Inside, the air was thick with the scent of damp earth and decay.
There was a heavy-duty cage inside the chamber. Hector was sitting in the corner, his hands bound and his eyes cast downward.
Even now that he was healed, he looked like a husk of his former self. His once proud posture was now slumped with defeat, and his face was gaunt and hollow with despair.
"Hector," I whispered, stepping into the dim light of the torch before me.
He didn't look up. I doubt he even heard me. His eyes didn't twitch. They just remained frozen.
Was that what prison did to a man?
The sentinel helped me out by banging his gun against the iron cell.
The sound of the gun hitting against the iron bars was enough to make the ears bleed. So, of course, it derailed Hector's train of thoughts
He looked up, his eyes meeting mine. I saw surprise light up his otherwise dull features, and just as quickly as the light came, it died. He looked ashamed when he realized it was me.
"Camille," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "The guards did mention that you were alive, but I didn't believe it. Especially when they mentioned you were the healer who fixed me up. I guess it is true."
"Would it have brought you peace if I were dead? You and Eva despised me."
"I didn't hate you. You were my mate."
"Do you expect me to even believe that? You discarded me as soon as you could."
"I was in love with Eva at the time. You had already taken her place in the world. You were going to take me too. I didn't want Eva to feel defeated. I did care for you. But not enough. The love I had for Eva then was strong. Strong enough to defeat a match of fate. But I take it closure is not why you are here? Why are you here?"
"I came to see you," I replied. "How are you doing?"
Hector scoffed. "Skip the small talk, Camille. I can smell the anger burning off your skin. You don't have to patronize me. What do you want to know?"
"The anger I feel... It is not for you." I told him.
"I don't deserve your kindness," he muttered, his voice thick with self-loathing. "I've done terrible things, Camille. Things I can never undo. It is okay to hate me."
I shook my head. "Why would I do that? You don't matter enough to dominate my thoughts."
Hector stood up and approached me. The sentinel nearby must have taken that as a threat because he cocked his gun at the approaching prisoner.
"Stay the fuck back, or I'll shoot."
Hector didn't back down. He reached the bars of his cage and stuck his head forward so he could meet my gaze.
"You are a bad liar, Camille. You still hold resentment. I hear it in your grating voice. I see it in the way you look at me. You might have convinced yourself that I am out of mind. But I am not, am I? Do I still haunt your dreams? Do you have sleepless nights sometimes thinking about what we could have been?"
"Maybe I do hold resentment for you. Life in the Dumont mansion was hell, and you were the only good thing I thought I had there. Only for you to turn your back and betray me in the worst of ways. Honesty existed. You could have rejected me the second we found out we were mates and chosen to follow your heart. Why didn't you?"
"Alpha Lucian wanted you to adjust perfectly into the Lily of the Valley. Why would I be a reason for you not being able to do so?"
I scoffed. "You speak so kindly of a man you murdered in cold blood."
"You, of all people, should know that I loved the Alpha too much to do a thing so horrible." He retorted, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes as he grabbed the bars of his cage so tight that his knuckles turned white. "It wasn't me... It was..."
"It was Eva." I completed.
The defeater look he gave me told me everything. But it still wasn't any less shocking. I was taken aback by what I had just uncovered. It made sense. Hector did love Eva. So much that he would treat the bond that we shared with disdain. So much that he would go to prison for her sake. But Eva must not have been able to keep up with the deceit. She only loved herself, after all. They fell out. The only way her secret would remain a secret ultimately was if Hector died.
But I had intervened.
Tears formed at the corner of my eyes. "Eva killed people, and you... You made sure she let her go? You let her walk free among good people?"
"I thought... I thought she was... I blamed Adele."
"You're telling me that she is just as responsible as Adele for the death of my bio father and the infection that is killing the Lily of the Valley pack as we speak, including your father? And you refused to let her pay the price of her crimes? I never liked Alpha Lucien. He was a horrible Dad, but I... I thought you adored him?!"
"I did! But I was in love!"
"It doesn't make things any better, Hector!" I yelled back. "She has done it again. She has taken another person's life, and this is on you!"
A flicker of something crossed his eyes then. "Do not blame me for this. I tried to warn them. Sentinels. The Beta. The Lycan king. I tried to tell them Eva was an evil, vile bitch. But they didn't listen. They thought I was mad. They thought I was trying to fuck with them."
If I could, I would most likely reach for him and slam his head into the pavement because of the rubbish he was spewing. He was removing himself from the narrative like he wasn't partly to blame for this.
But it didn't matter. My ear picked the presence of another. My body moved on its own. I snatched the gun the sentinel directed at Hector and fired at the open space of the iron doors we entered through.
The bullet fired struck the stone wall outside with a resounding clang, echoing through the crypt. The sudden burst of noise startled whoever was hiding behind the iron door because they let out a gasp that they quickly muffled.
"Come out," I ordered.
The guard grabbed back his gun and pointed it at the door this time around. His eyes were wide with fear and confusion. "Is someone there?"
My focus solely on the figure cowering behind the door. "I said, come out," I repeated, my voice low and commanding.
There was a moment of tense silence before the door slowly creaked further open, revealing a figure huddled in the shadows.
They stepped into the dim light of the room, knowing it was the smart thing to do instead of running. I recognized the familiar features of one of Eva's loyal followers.
Amity was her name, if I remember right.
"What are you doing here?" The sentinel demanded, his grip tightening on the gun as he faced the intruder.
The maid's expression turned sheepish. She was clearly caught off guard by the sudden exposure. "I-I was just... I was ordered to... I mean, I was just following orders."
The sentinel wasn't having it. He narrowed his eyes, his patience wearing thin as his fingers lingered on the trigger. "Whose orders?"
A smile formed on my mouth. I didn't expect Eva to break so easily. With what I knew about her, I did expect her to tail me like her life depended on it. Because it did, but she wasn't going to go down without a fight.
So she had sent her ally—a woman who probably knew all her sins and must have willingly participated. But there was one thing Eva was blissfully unaware of. The woman wouldn't want to go down with her. The first sentence she had made told me that much.
I turned to the guard. "She is no threat to us."
I then approached her. "Amity, isn't it? I've been expecting you."