Chapter 167

Maeve’s POV

Once I was dressed, it was like a tornado of people flooding into the room. At first, I was a bit overwhelmed by the attention, but after a while, I started to relax. The first person who ran to me and wrapped her arms around me was Charlotte. She had tears in her eyes, and she hugged me tightly, nearly crushing me and making it hard to breathe.

I hugged her back, patting her awkwardly.

“Char, it’s okay,” I chuckled as she cried. “I’m okay.”

“I was so scared, Maeve,” she whispered, hugging me even tighter. “I thought we were never going to see you again.”

“I would never let that happen,” Xaden said, his tone deep with certainty.

Char finally released me, and I took a big gulp of air, grateful to be able to breathe again.

“I’m sorry I worried everybody,” I said softly. “It’s all my fault.”

“Let’s not talk about that right now,” Xaden said, draping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close to him.

I nodded, hating that my jealousy and insecurity were the reason I got into this mess in the first place.

“It was my fault,” I heard Maggie saying as she approached us. She was tugging at her fingers nervously and biting her lower lip with tears in her eyes. “I had failed again. I should have kept a closer eye on her…”

“It’s not your responsibility to make sure I don’t run away,” I told her, narrowing my eyes. “None of this is your fault.”

“She’s right, Maggie,” Xaden agreed. “If she really wanted to go she would have found a way regardless. She would have slipped beneath all of us. We thought she was safe, so we lifted security. None of this is on you.”

Maggie didn’t seem certain, but she nodded, still staring at the ground with her cheeks red.

“I’m still so sorry,” she whispered.

I gave her a reassuring smile.

“Honestly, it’s okay,” I told her.

“I believe I should apologize as well,” Nicholas said; he was standing by a few of his men and his head was raised as his eyes poured into mine. I could see the struggle to stay where he was on his face. He wanted to close the distance between us, I was sure of it. But one look at Xaden’s face and he knew better than to provoke an angry wolf.

Regardless of everything that had happened, I was pleased to see him. I knew that he had nothing to do with his father’s antics, or else Xaden would have probably killed him by now.

“It was my father who did this to you. I had no idea what he was planning and I’m ashamed…” Nicholas said, his eyes never leaving mine. “I’m the head commander of the royal army and I missed the signs. I failed you by not seeing this long ago. I should have protected you, but I didn’t…”

“He was your father…” It was the queen who spoke next. “You had no reason to doubt him, none of us did.”

She glanced up at her husband who was staring at Nicholas as well.

“We all missed the signs,” King Arlan finally said. “This wasn’t your fault.”

Nicholas nodded.

“I’ll do a better job at patrol from now on. I’m training my men on how to spot something like this. It will never happen again,” Nicholas said with certainty in his tone.

“No, it won’t,” King Arlan agreed.

“Where is Kenneth now?” I asked, looking around the room as everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

“He’s being taken care of,” Xaden murmured, and I knew by the way he was looking at his father that he didn’t want to say what that meant. If I were to guess, I’d say he was being tortured. “As is Isabelle,” he added, surprising me.

“Isabelle?” I asked, looking up at him. I thought she would have escaped Scott-free being the princess and all. But from the angry looks everyone was exchanging, I was guessing that wasn’t the case.

“She had some pretty messed up videos and photos of you, Maeve,” Xaden said, his tone darkening.

Memories of my time being locked up invaded my head and I remembered Isabella standing over me with her phone pointed directly at me. She was laughing evilly as she took videos of me. I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat and stared at the ground, unable to face any of them. Had they seen all I had gone through?

Xaden hugged me even tighter and kissed the top of my head.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “She can’t hurt you anymore. I won’t let that happen.”

“What about Henry?” I asked. “He’s not going to be happy that his wife is in a dungeon. I’m assuming that’s where she is.”

Xaden nodded.

“That’s where she is, yes,” he confirmed. “And no, Henry is furious. But he’ll have to get over it.”

Just then, the door opened and just as I thought it was going to be Henry, I was surprised to see Mia walking into the room. Some of her warriors accompany her along with her maid, Emily. Behind them all stood Lucas. I raised my brows at him, not expecting him to be walking in with Mia and her vixens. I felt a surge of jealousy bubbling in my chest as I stared at the beautiful Vixen princess, remembering how she and Xaden were with one another.

When she saw, a faint smile lit her lips, and I was honestly surprised to see that.

“I’m glad to see that you are okay,” she surprised me even more by saying.

“Mia helped us search for you,” Xaden explained. I looked up at him with raised brows.

“Did she?” I asked, not sure I truly believed that. The last time I saw her, she was trying to get Xaden for herself. Why would she turn around and help him find me?

“My actions since I’ve been here have been disgraceful and I can’t apologize enough. I am truly sorry, Maeve,” Mia said, bowing her head in respect to me.

I glanced at Lucas who’s eyes were fixated on Mia, a soft and almost fond expression taking over his face. It made me raise my brows even more; was there something going on between them now? I guess I had a lot of questions that I needed to answer, but for right now, I was pleased that she wasn’t after Xaden any longer.

“Thank you,” I finally said after a long pause. “That means a lot.”

After a while of talking and them all catching up on everything, I missed this past week, I was exhausted. I wanted to go home, get into my own bed, and sleep for the night. As if he could read my thoughts, Xaden ushered everyone out of the room.

He mindlinked Beta Taylor to have him get the car and then he took me back to the mansion. Maggie went with us, as did Char. Truth be told, I was glad to have them both with me. As exhausted as I was, I also needed to feel close to people. I had been around people for days and didn’t have my best interest in mind. I felt so alone and scared, and it was nice not to feel like that anymore. They thought it was best that I didn’t go to the palace right now with Kenneth and Isabelle in the dungeon just beneath the grounds.

They didn’t have to tell me twice.

“Can I make you something to eat?” Maggie asked. “You must be starving.”

I hadn’t thought about food, but as soon as she mentioned it, my belly rumbled.

“I would love some food,” I admitted.

“Hey, what’s going on with your hair?” Char asked with a frown as she studied me.

I frowned in response, not sure what she meant. I ran my fingers through it, thinking maybe she meant it was out of place. I knew it was a mess because I had been out of it for a week. I glanced down at my black hair and my eyes widened when I saw streaks of red.

This was the week that I should have done a root touchup with my black hair dye but because I was imprisoned for almost a week and then in a coma for another week, I hadn’t gotten the chance to do that. My natural hair color was starting to shine though; a hair color that I had never actually seen before. Since I was young, my father and Victoria died my hair was black. As I aged, it became my responsibility to keep it dyed.

“Is that red?” Xaden asked, his brows pinched together. At this point, everyone was staring at me with wide eyes as they noticed the red streaks for the first time since returning to the mansion.

“Yeah,” I admitted, my cheeks growing hot. “I guess it’s my natural hair.”

“You’re what??” They all asked at the same time.