Darling's eyes fell on Emily and the same expression she had in the mate test ceremony surfaced again, but this time, a bit deeper. Emily was sitting inside the cart and Darling's look on her almost swallowed her up.
"I met her on my way back," Raguel said. "She needs urgent treatment."
Darling clenched her fingers. "She left the mate test ceremony, against the rules, and I had wanted to tell you—"
"She had told me everything, and it was worth my reasoning." Raguel cut her shot, shaking her head.
It was to make her opinion stand out, and to let Darling know that she was never going to go against Emily.
The council members that comprised about eight ladies, and five men all had the expression of shock on their face. No one was going to ask Raguel to give them details of where she had come from, but where had she met Emily? At which part of her coming back?
"Come over!" Raguel called out to them. "Come look at her in the cart. I'm certain each one of you would get the point I'm trying to serve out."
Each of them took steps to the cart to have a view of Emily. Darling called Raguel to a spot where the other members of the council were not going to hear their voices.
"She gave me no notice!" Darling said in a low tone, but with intensity.
"She was never herself, and the mate test ceremony was too important to her, that was why she gave no notice to you!"
Darling would have argued till all her points were exhausted, but to Raguel, she had to show some respect.
"Do you remember the last event of this kind?"
Raguel frowned. "Leave the last event, I thought I had told you that.... Charles had his own way of doing things in secret."
"Hmmm...." Darling sighed deeply, relaxing the muscles that were almost popping out because of her gritted teeth.
"You have to stand by what I say, you know."
Raguel left to address the council members.
"We should all go to the hall." She turned to face some of the guards, "Put her on a stretcher, and take her inside."
Then to one of the maids, Euphoria precisely. "Call one of the pack healers."
Emily felt she was in a greater trouble, Katie had not whispered into her ears, had not made a presence in her consciousness. Where else could she be?
"Euphoria?" She voiced faintly.
The maid had come to her side after sending for the pack healer.
"You are Euphoria, aren't you?" Her eyes were wide open, going all over her body to confirm.
She had seen her the day she had a meeting with Raguel.
"Did you see her?" She asked.
Euphoria could barely hear what she had said, and she had to lean closer to hear clearly.
"Who is she?"
Emily realized that Katie wasn't someone Euphoria should know, and she had to keep her burden to herself. But.... She had to ask with style.
"Did you see anyone, a young lady in a plain gown? Did you?"
Euphoria narrowed her eyes at her, and her head was trying to make a research for who she was talking about. The only person that came to her mind was the strange lady who had found her naked with Sagio.
"You are with that lady? The one with light ash blond hair, the same as yours?"
Emily mustered the strength she had to lift her body from the stretcher, and a longing brimmed on her face.
"Where is she?" She held a part of Euphoria's shirt
A man dressed in a long gown, who was carrying a box filled with medicine came to them. Emily quickly maintained her usual position of lying like a dead person.
"Take her into the hall for meetings, I will treat her in the presence of the council members."
Inside the hall meant for meetings, there was a rectangular table, and Raguel was seated at one side of it, so her eyes were at the entrance of the hall.
"Darling called for our attention concerning an issue of the mate test ceremony, and we've been waiting for you." One of the council members started the conversation.
Darling was seated at the closest side to Raguel.
The park healer who was going to check on Emily had come into the hall, and she was carried inside for everyone to see.
"We felt you had a problem, no one knew where you'd gone." The lady beside Darling, Priscilla, said, and she rolled open the scroll she was holding. "The lady's case doesn't seem to be a big deal if truly she's sick."
She left her seat to get a better look at Emily, touching her blond hair as though the illness could be felt in it.
"It's obvious, we have no reason to blame her."
Darling frowned. She would have objected if not for the kind of relationship she had with Raguel. Moreover, who wanted to be in her bad books?
"Logan, you are the physician, why not let us know the kind of healness that could make her defile the mate test ceremony?" Damian stood up to speak.
Darling was winking at him, and was stretching her legs under the table to make him sit down. He wasn't looking at her, and all her efforts did not work out.
Logan opened the box he was holding, and Euphoria was of assistance to him. The first thing he did was to put on his spectacle, and he carried a small torch to point into her mouth.
"From her looks, she is going through a lot, but I have to put her through a test to know exactly the kind of ailment that's affecting her."
Raguel stood up from her seat. "Then there is no need for a meeting."
But then, she heard murmurs from the other council members. They had not stood up to speak out their intentions, but kept looking at Darling.
"Anyone want to say something?" Raguel had to ask.
"Darling is the person in charge of the ceremony, and it's supposed to carry so much importance that no one can go against," one of the men said. "Darling, you have to say something."
Darling was rubbing her palms together, and Raguel had fixed her eyes on her. Everyone was waiting for her to speak. She had called them for a meeting, but why was she keeping quiet?
"Actually...." She glanced at Raguel. "If the girl wasn't herself, then we could look past her offense."
The man who had stood up had to sit down.
"If that's the case." Raguel had her eyes go round the council members.
She could hear slight conversations from them, but she wasn't going to address that. Emily had to be cleared off the offense Darling claimed she'd committed.
"The meeting has come to an end." She turned to leave.
"But the test hasn't been done to confirm the lady's illness," Damian made a light protest, garnering the attention of all the other members.
He shifted his seat backward, walking towards Emily. "We should know more about her."
Darling's face sank.
An uproar started among the members, and everything was going to go beyond what Raguel could control.
The pack was governed with rules, and she could only exercise control if she followed those rules.
"Silence!" She banged the table.
The members went silent, and their gaze was fixed on her. She wasn't speaking but breathing loudly that her chest heaved for them to see.
"This is a light case," she said.
"A light case?" Damian narrowed his eyes.
Just then, the door of the hall was opened, and some set of guards dragged a man inside.