Catalina

CHAPTER IV

Catalina's Point of View

As per the queen's orders, they quickly scrambled out. When the last of the warriors closed the door, silence surrounded the room. This meeting was nowhere near done.

She stared in disbelief at the two figures before us. When mama's eyes landed on me, she shook her head as if letting me know she'll take care of it.

The queen then trudged towards my parents, eyes glistening in anger. Everyone seemed to be on bated breath as she stopped in front of my mother. She raised her hand just as quickly as father pushed mama behind him, shielding her away from the queen.

"Salvino," She blew out, "How is this possible? We all thought you were dead!"

My father didn't speak, his expression going grimmer by the second. When the queen didn't get a reply, tears slowly trickled down her face. "Please, tell me what happened, I-I just want to know why. Don't I at least deserve that?"

My heart went out to her cries of agony. She lost a mate and a father to her children because of us. I'm amazed of how she endured that pain for so long. I peeked at the king beside me, he must possess great power to carry the burden of his title at an early age.

"I'm sorry." It was my mother who whispered. She left my father's side and stepped forward with tears of her own.

None of us expected the actions of the queen when she lurched forward and hugged mamá. They were now on the ground sobbing and exchanging apologies. I wanted to comfort them, but my arm was still in captive by the king.

"Would you let me go now? With what you just witnessed, it's blatantly obvious that we mean no harm." I suggested.

He slightly tilted his head, gazing at me. It felt like hours before he let me go without a word. I muttered a 'thank you' and grabbed Mateo who was watching our interaction with an inscrutable expression.

When they both calmed down the queen pleaded again, "Please? It's been years, yet there's still some questions that the investigators can't answer."

My father finally gave in with a sigh, "You have every right to know, I'm just sorry it was under these circumstances."

The queen shook her head, "You must have your reasons. We should take this conversation to a more secluded area of the palace. Dominic?" The queen called.

Beta Lee immediately came to her side, "Yes your majesty?"

She rolled her eyes in amusement, "You're going to be my son-in-law yet you still can't call me by my name. Can you go ahead of us and tell everyone near the premise to avoid the board room?"

"Certainly." He bowed down and left the room.

Though I felt relief that it didn't escalate into a fight, I still felt tense about the revelation that's about to take place.

A dominating presence brushed past me. It was the king eyeing me suspiciously. I didn't break eye contact, playing along his silent challenge. I mentally scoffed, if he thought I was intimidated then he was absolutely wrong. Even my brother couldn't win a staring contest against me.

He clenched his jaw when he saw I didn't waver and continued on his path. All of us followed and entered an oval-shaped room with a long table and seats aligned respectively.