The Thread Of Fate

Chapter 50

Three weeks had passed since I'd returned to Chant. There hadn't been any contact with Dominic, Leo, Jace or John. It also meant that nothing drastic had happened and so I held on to hope.

I had been successful in keeping myself busy as well as healthy. Physically, I felt better than ever. Ferra and Cleo took care of everything I ate whereas Maria made sure I exercised enough without exerting too much pressure on myself.

It was still too early to tell if I was pregnant or not but we were being cautious regardless. After much consideration, I'd trusted Beluh with the information. She had proven herself to be loyal in the past.

Cleo and Ferra were extremely busy and I didn't want them to stretch themselves too thin. Occasionally, they still gave their inputs as far as my food was concerned but they also gained a decent amount of time for themselves once Beluh knew. She herself was quite knowledgeable in that department.

Work wise, most ministers had been cooperating pretty well. There were a few exceptions. One rather, Jamon. The man had an intense amount of dislike for me and would oppose any and every suggestion I gave. From something as small as collecting reports of how the states were doing to important matters such as national safety.

This time, I didn't have Dominic or Leo to back me up. Maria was helping Dahar train and look over the covert operations whenever she wasn't taking care of me. While they supported me, their verbal opinion wasn't as strongly heard by others since they weren't official council members.

Maria had asked me to not pay much heed to him. To tell him off whenever I felt like it. He wasn't more important than my health, she'd said. Though he irritated everyone on the council, I sensed that they gave him his due respect because of his seniority and experience.

There were times when I relented to keep order in the council but it had been getting a bit much lately. I didn't know how to put him in his place because it was desperately needed.

I had never wanted to be queen. I'd wanted to live a simple life, alone and safe but here I was. The way I acted, reflected on Dominic. I couldn't step aside and let someone else take over because there wasn't anyone trustworthy, experienced and had enough time on their hand. I felt responsible. My decisions affected thousands of people.

About a week ago, Jessica had arrived. While I thought her unannounced presence in Chant to be strange, I didn't pay much heed to it.

"Jace isn't just your cousin! He is the prince of Ralia, you can not send him letters when you like!" Jamon screamed at me. He'd been yelling at me since the beginning of the meeting, not listening to a word I said.

Ariadne had been worried about Jace and had begged me to send him a letter stating that we had leads on her location if nothing else. She was recovering well but wasn't done healing completely.

Maria and I had decided to wait a little before telling her about my condition. We needed her to get back to normal before we did that. She already had enough things to worry about and I didn't want to pile on to that.

Besides that, I understood her concern for Jace and had decided to send the letter. Since the states were on high alert, I'd put forth my decision in front of the council and had asked for ideas as to what the safest means of communication was.

Jamon had seen this as an opportunity to make me look like an idiot. His motives were a mystery. He couldn't have been so outspoken just to make me look bad. I didn't understand why all the other council members had been so silent about his outbursts.

Gina, who had been one of the most vocal and just people on the council had been quiet ever since we returned. While Hara was away  perfecting an antidote to the Deskan venom, Cleo had been present in every meeting. She just looked extremely uncomfortable with Jamon and kept reminding me to be calm. Jessica was frowning but never spoke a word.