Chapter Hundred-And-Seventy-Eight
**3rd Person POV**
Several minutes later, a knock disrupted the exchange of emotions between the sisters. Irvette admitted the person in and the maid informed Irvette that Elder Thaddeus was waiting to see her. Irvette thanked the maid and turned to her sister to say, “Take care.”
Elder Thaddeus was waiting for her in her private study. She had thought that he would summon her to her own throne room and indict her publicly as a criminal.
“Elder,” Irvette said as she cleared her throat. The old man turned around to face her. He had an expression of pity for her that Irvette could not understand. She expected the man to be happy. After all, he had suspected that something was wrong with her, with his suspicions proven right he ought to be gloating.
“Your Majesty,” returned the old man. Sometimes Irvette reminded him of his granddaughter who was just about the same age as Irvette and was just as smart and daring. It was comforting that his granddaughter was not part of any elaborate conspiracies but he could not vouch for her future in that regard.
“Elder, there is no need to patronise me. We both know why you are here. Please, you can go ahead with your arrest,” for some reason, Irvette felt a strange sort of peace wash over her.
“Your Majesty…”
“I do plead with you to permit me to see my son before I am taken away,” returned Irvette.
“I'm afraid you are in no position to make demands,” said Elder Thaddeus.
“I understand, Elder.”
“I am not here to make an arrest, Irvette. Elder Davis had always suspected that you were putting on an act and we were going to use it to our advantage. You have surprised us by coming clean and we intend to use your new position to our advantage as well,” returned Elder Thaddeus.
“I don't understand,” Irvette had expected that after they had collected her testimony they would execute her immediately.
“While your actions are distasteful, we understand that you were heavily drugged by your father. We secured a sample of your blood when you returned from the underworld; your body was just weaning itself off a strange substance whose effect is obvious but of which we do not know. It is why your pregnancy was in distress and you did not notice you were pregnant. Prince Harlin would be watched very closely as he grows up to ensure that he has no mental deficits as a result.”
Irvette was surprised to hear this. It made all her acts to cover up seem pointless now.
“Are you implying you want me to act as a double agent?” questioned Irvette.
“We cannot execute you based on what you did when you were under the influence against your own will,” replied Elder Thaddeus.
“But…”
“If you are executed, it will plunge your pack to the verge of political instability and trust me, you've done a lot of work getting us to where we are now. We will not jeopardise that for a misplaced sense of justice,” explained Elder Thaddeus.
“Elder, I have done some pretty horrible things and while you may forgive me, Queen Emily will be sure to tell the world how I betrayed her…”
“Are you an idiot? You told the Queen of… Oh my…. You will… Who else knows about this?” cried Elder Thaddeus.
“Alison”
“And?”
“No one else”
“You will remain here and carry on as though nothing happened, okay? Let me see if I can still fix this. Goodness! Do you really want to die so badly?” railed Elder Thaddeus as he stormed out of her study.
****
It was two more days before Irvette received word from the Elders. This time it was the popular trio that came to see her along with Queen Emily. Irvette wished the ground would open up and swallow her rather than sit through having Emily stare her down with hostility.
“You've got this,” whispered Alison into her sister's ear. Irvette smiled a little and took her seat.
“Shall we begin?”
“Yes, please.”
“Queen Emily, I believe you wanted to say something?” quipped Elder Davis. Irvette was surprised that the Elder had no demeaning look on his face. Today, his face bore no suspicion of her. She knew that amongst them all, he was the most critical of her intentions. Irvette however did not dare to look in the direction of Emily as she was scared of what she would see on her face.
“I will never forgive you for abducting my nieces who are the closest thing I have to children. However, I have been made to understand that you were not in control of your senses or your actions. I must add that you were in control when you asked me to be your son's godmother. You sought then, to exploit your relationship with me for your personal gain. What you have done to me and my family cannot be forgiven but for the sake of Prince Harlin, my godson, I will do my best to consider a reconciliation,” Irvette had not expected that and she could tell that Elder Thaddeus had gotten to her just in time.
“I am too ashamed to say thank you. I will forever remain in your debt.”
“When can you get George again?” asked Elder Walker who wanted to get past the sentimental talk.
“I do not reach out to him; he is the one who finds me when he needs me,” came Irvette's response.
“Then we have to make him need you,” remarked Elder Thaddeus.
“How?”
“We need to give him something that he wants.”
“Like what?”
“Let us not pretend like we do not know what that is. He wants the twins,” Queen Emily said. Everyone remained quiet because it was a touchy subject.
“Queen Emily, we understand they are out of the question. They are important to us too,” it was Lord Edvin who said this.
“We will use them as bait.”
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