Chapter 228 - With new eyes

"Cam, about earlier... I really am sorry... I handled that completely wrong from the start." He held her hand as they walked the moonlit path leading back to the palace. Ales had quickly apologized to Cam's long-time friend and insisted on learning all he could of the strange girl with the horrible reputation about town. "I didn't realize she had it so hard..." He frowned as he kicked at a stone on the path. "I suppose I did... I guess I just never thought of how such things affected her... She's been painted as a monster for as long as our people have lived on this island. The tales of her sinking sh.i.p.s and killing entire families date back so far... I guess I just assumed... well that she was a monster..." He met Cam's gaze. "I guess I figured if she wasn't what they say she was then why would she stay and put up with it?"

Cam frowned, "She's trapped on this island. That cave, it's more than just her home... it's her prison." Cam motioned around them. "This entire island is... well technically if the council had their say she'd never leave her cave, but lucky for her Raven doesn't mind going against their order."

Ales scrunched his brows. He had insisted on walking them back, offering to carry several dresses Cam had outgrown and insisted Jos take. "You know if you really want to help her... if we really wanted to help her... instead of having her mask her identity, have her come as is. Let it be known that she is the best friend of the crowned princess and prince. The people would be too afraid to say anything to her inside the palace, and eventually would see that she's just a normal girl with otherworldly problems." He shrugged. I'm sure if she told people half of what she explained to me tonight, they would understand and look at her in a different light." He stroked his chin. "We could talk to mother about it..."

Cam smiled brightly up at him. "Do you mean it?!" She squeezed his arm tightly, resting her head against his shoulder.

"Of course, I do." He said as he stopped and turned to her. "I would do anything to see you happy, besides I honestly like your friends they both seemed oddly nice... and definitely anything but dull." He chuckled.

Cam sent him a devilish grin, her eyes twinkling mischievously up at him. "So, are you going to admit it?"

"Admit what?" Ales asked, captivated by the ethereal glow of her pale hair and skin in the moonlight.

Her smile widened. "Admit that you were jealous this evening."

He narrowed his eyes at her trying to hide his own wide smile. "I believe you planned that! You knew that I would be!"

She shook her head. "It truly hadn't dawned. I feel so completely yours that it hadn't crossed my mind. Besides Jos still smelled mostly like herself so it was easy to forget she wasn't in her normal form unless looking directly at her. I was more fascinated... and I thought you should be the first to meet her since you are both important to me and a big part of my life now. I didn't want the first time you met to be at the coronation."

He nodded as he tugged at a lone, bouncy curl. "Understandable... and yes... I was very jealous." He bent and placed a tender kiss to her waiting lips. "I love you, Camilla, and do not plan to ever share your affections with another man that is not of my own flesh and blood."

She smiled up at him lovingly. "Are we already speaking of children and we're not even wed yet..." She teased.

Ales's smile faded as he released her and fumbled around awkwardly in his trousers pocket. His cheeks were red as his eyes returned to hers. "I wasn't going to do this until the night of coronation but Cam..." He lowered to one knee at her feet. "Camilla, I have loved you since the first day you were dragged into our palace." He smiled up at her as he took one of her hands. "I realized nearly a year ago that my life would never be complete without you by my side. Your smile is the one thing that always brightens my mornings, your cheerful words always get me through the most dreaded of days, and your beautiful face has always chased away the darkness from my dreams." He opened the hand he'd pulled from his pocket. The gleaming of a diamond caught the moonlight and reflected it back in a radiant spectrum. "Camilla, will you marry me? Will you be mine forever and always?"

"Yes! Yes! A thousand times, yes!" Happy tears filled her eyes as she watched him slide the ring onto her finger. Once it was in place, she threw her arms around his neck and showered his face with fevered kisses. "I love you, Ales! Only you forever and always!"

***

The day of the coronation was nearly upon them. Cam stared down at the ring Ales had given her over a week ago as the seamstress made the final adjustments to her gown. Something about the ring kept troubling her, but she couldn't seem to put her finger on it. A light tap at the door drew her attention away from the dazzling ring. "Come in." She called out.

Reighley walked in, a bright smile lighting her beautiful face. "It looks simply breathtaking, dear." She said as she walked around Cam taking in the magnificent dress. "Oh, and I see the adjustments to the ring suited you as well." She said lifting Cam's hand.

Cam nodded. "Yes, it has..."

Reighley frowned as she moved her attention away from the family heirloom to the girl's perplexed expression. "What is it, dear? You're not having second thoughts about all this, are you?"

Cam's eyes widened and moved to the queen. "Oh no! I love Ales very much. My dreams have truly come true... but..." Her focus moved back to the ring. "Is it common to give someone a ring like this if you like them? Or is it only for someone you plan to marry?"

Reighley tilted her head. "Well, it all depends... It isn't unheard of that men shower a woman they are interested in, in gifts such as rings." She tapped Cam's ring finger of her left hand. "But if the ring is placed on this finger, then it is usually a promise of such things as marriage. Why do you ask, dear?"

Cam stared blankly down at the ring. "No reason... It's just not common around here is all... and it wasn't in my parent's pack either."

Reighley nodded. "Most wolves believe the mark of a mate is enough. Lyko's family have always given rings as well." She pointed to Cam's finger. "That particular ring belonged to his mother's mother." She smiled at Cam. "And it suits you very well."

Cam nodded keeping up with idle conversation and answering the seamstress's questions until she was finally left alone in her room. Walking over to the small jewelry box on her dresser, Cam lifted the lid and removed the ring Jos had given her for her birthday. So much had happened and felt so long ago now, that she'd almost forgotten the gift. She turned it over in her hand remembering that Jos had frequently worn it on the same finger she now wore a ring just as splendid. Letting out a heavy sigh, she slid it into her pocket and turned toward her bedroom door.

She only knocked once when the door to Jos's cavernous home opened. "Oh, I was just about to come see you. I... well Raven and I... have something for you for a coronation gift." Jos was just about to turn back into her house when Cam's words caused her to freeze in her tracks.

"You were engaged to be married... to the man who hurt you... who abandoned you..." Cam whispered matter-of-factly.

Jos let out a heavy sigh as she turned back toward the open door and Cam. The bright sunlight from outside reflected off the bright blonde curls of the girl causing her to look more angelic than some of the painting she'd seen in some of the many exhibits HE had taken her to... She clasped a hand over her chest as a sharp pain began to radiate from deep within. She looked away as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut against the gleam of the sun on the ring that Cam now held up. "I told you, you could keep it. I have no use for it... It's yours."

Cam frowned as she quickly stepped closer and wrapped her arms around her friend. "I'm so sorry, Jos... How long has it been? When you gave it to me, I hadn't thought anything of it... but now... now I understand what it means to be given something like this and what you must have lost in losing him..."

Tears streamed down Jos's cheeks. She shook her head as she wrapped her arms around Cam in return. "I was such a stupid, stupid fool... Cherish every second you have with your Ales. Never second doubt yourself or his love for you. And above all else never let useless emotions cloud your judgment. The things you lose on those brief moments of upset can haunt you for a lifetime... and that can be devastating if your life is as endless as mine..."

Cam could feel her own tears begin to drip down her cheeks. "I know I'm always asking you to do things for me while never offering anything more than friendship in return, but I promise once I'm queen and your sentence is over, I will help you find the man you've lost."

Jos shook her head. "If he wanted me still, he knows well where to find me... to chase after him would only end in more heartache."

Cam tightened her hold on her friend. "Then I will help you find a new love."

Jos sniffled back tears as she shook her head once again. "Love like that isn't easily replaced as the betrayal of him leaving me so suddenly and never returning or even writing a simple letter, is even harder to forget and forgive." She forced a smile as she pulled away from Cam and brushed away her own tears. "I would much rather spend the rest of my life being a friend to you and watching you and Ales overpopulate the world with blue-eyed, blond-haired babies."

Cam giggled as she wiped away her own tears. "Wolves don't really breed like that, you know. We typically only have two or three... however many it takes to get a male heir, then call it quits. Otherwise, the world really would be overpopulated."

Jos laughed, "That doesn't seem like it would be a horrible thing. Look at all the kids the Gods have had..."

Cam laughed louder, "Yeah and that didn't go bad at all did it! Besides, wolves work in pack systems, and overpopulation, especially of males within the pack, causes problems and conflict."

Jos rubbed her chin in thought. "Fair point..." She sent her friend a wide smile. "But I still can't wait to see the babies the two of you have. They will be the cutest things ever! I want to boop their noses and tickle their little tummies!"

Cam tilted her head. "Have you never wanted kids?"

Jos's light-hearted musings died off. "I had thought of having children once... when I thought myself in love... I pictured what they would look like, what their personalities would be like... Thoughts of what could have been still haunt my dreams from time to time..."

Cam took Jos's hands and gave them a light squeeze. "Tell me about them... about him."

Jos shrugged. "I can't tell you much about him. The man I knew was mostly a lie, but he was the most breathtaking man I've ever seen. He had dark auburn hair that glistened with bright copper streaks in the sunlight bleaching to a near blond in the summer. He was massive, the tallest broadest man I'd ever laid eyes on with intricate tattoos and the gentlest touch..." Her words died off as her expression shifted from wistfully to pained. "It's pointless speaking of him... As I've said. Had he truly loved me he would have come back or in the very least written me."

Cam frowned as she gave Jos's hands another squeeze. "I promise, we'll find him and at least then you can get closure... then your heart can start to heal."

Jos shook her head rapidly as tears began spilling out over her silver lashes. "You're too young to understand... to in love to ever imagine the pain that comes with losing that one person that is the other half of you... My heart can never be repaired. There will always be the broken fragments of heart that his leaving left. They lay right beside the fragments that his dishonesty and other betrayals lay... in the dark recesses that I struggle daily to stay away from..." She clasped her hand over the hand of Cam's that still held the ring. Gently closing Cam's fingers over the ring, Jos gave her a sad smile. "The most peace I've had in years has come from not having that gleaming, constant reminder sitting on my finger..." She shook her head as more tears streamed down her cheeks. "The only thing that would ever come of finding him, even if I had a real name to give you to search for, would be more pain. Cam, I've had enough for one lifetime, I'm not strong enough to go through that torment a second time. I wouldn't make it out..."

Cam could feel tears stream down her own face and drip onto her neck as she nodded. She pulled her hand carefully away from Jos and placed the ring into her pocket. "I promise, I'll never bring it up to you again..."