The Cowgirl Rogue

Chapter 32

"I told you so, Clemson," Corbin said, and Clemson snorted and rolled my eyes. He fell back behind me and to my side while I pulled Hailey all the way behind me. "Well done."

Clemson rolled his eyes and moved to my other side to block her as well. He understood that I didn't want Ryott to see her just yet, even though he was going to know about her later that day.

"Shut up, the two of you," I said with a low hiss in my voice, and they looked at each other before they looked at me. I set my jaw and stood taller while we walked forward, each one of us watching the male coming in our direction.

Hailey stayed silent and didn't peek around me. Her grip on my hand was tight, but I was able to loosen it and have her grab a belt loop instead so that I would be able to have two hands if needed.

"Relax," I said with a small hiss in my voice while I glanced at her before I looked at the councilmember again. "He won't do anything to you. Ok? We'll make sure about that."

She didn't whimper like I thought she would, but she did move closer to me and almost made me trip on more than one occasion.

Clemson and Corbin made sure that the bags they carried for the girl were inside the little circle we made around her and stayed quiet. They watched as we got closer to him, making sure that she was safe.

I studied the male when I was closer to him and noticed that his movements looked a little bit more robotic than normal.

It looked like he was going for a walk but wasn't in control of his body, which could happen sometimes if a Vesper controlled someone against their will and willed them to walk somewhere else.

Corbin poked me in the back, and I had a feeling that he saw it to and wanted to bring it to my attention. He bit back a scoff when I swatted at his hands while we continued down that way.

Finally, we were close to each other, and Ryott didn't even try to acknowledge us, which wasn't normal.

"Councilman Ryott?" I asked when he was about to pass us without saying anything, and he stopped and slowly turned to look at us, not blinking.

His eyes were glazed over, and it looked like he was under someone's control. Slowly, he blinked, but the movement was stiff and unnatural while his face was void of any emotion. "Miss... Rice," he said after he looked me up and down. His voice was different, and it took all of my self-control not to look at Corbin with wide eyes. "What are you doing here?"

He wasn't sneering...

"The king wanted to see me," I replied. "He wanted to go over some documents with me about my... case?"

He stayed silent and didn't move a muscle. He didn't look like he was in pain, but it might be because he didn't try to fight the command that he was under. He just seemed... off, and I didn't like it one bit.

"Because I am still a Rogue?"

Again, he didn't say anything and didn't blink. He stood silent, not active, and I had no idea if he knew what was happening or not.

"Are you ok?" I asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," he said and nodded. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have business to attend to." He bowed and walked away without greeting the other two people with me nor asking what we were hiding nor what paperwork the king wanted to know.

"The king won't know," Clemson said while we watched him leave and as soon as he was out of earshot. "Find out why he is acting like this, and put a stop to it. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Grand Beta," we chorused and nodded. "We will."

And with that, we made it all the way to the castle without incident, but all of us were nervous about the high councilman being under a Vesper's spell.