A Terrible King

All I felt from the men in the room was judgment, I wasn't sure if it was because I was a woman and men like that can't deal with change, or they just hated me for me but it resulted to me looking at the ground. "No Clara, you are queen you can't be disrespected like this from these old farts! Hold your head up high!" My wolf shouts in my head, I nod putting my head up even making eye contact with a few of them as I went by. Gray finally leads me to the top two chairs at the head of the table, we stand there for a second as the doors are closed. "You may be seated" Gray says in a powerful voice, immediately the men start to take a seat as Gray pulls my seat out. I send him a little smile taking a seat before he takes his beside me, the men begin to take documents out folders they had. "Now I see why the meeting is being held here" one guy was the first to speak looking over at me, they all seem to nod which makes me start to feel intimidated but my wolf growls. "Yes, your safety is one of our top priorities" I smirk looking him dead in the eye, showing him I wasn't scared of him or backing down. "Let's proceed with the meeting, my mate and I had arrangements that have been pushed back, we would still like to attend them" Gray says nudging me a little with a smile. "I like that side of you" he mindlinks me causing me to also smirk, I don't know where I got the confidence to even speak in front of all these guys. "We have a few subjects we need to discuss, the most pressing matter is that of the whereabouts of Rupert Bynes, due to the recent attack" one of the other men say, we're gonna be talking about Rupert? Maybe I'll hear the answers to the questions I've wanted to ask Gray but didn't, kind of my own fault really right? "Unfortunately, his whereabouts are unknown to us at this moment, we are slowly building a case on Mr Bynes" Gray says, leaning forward placing his hands on the desk interlocking his fingers. "Slowly?" Another man questions him, I might be imagining this but it sounds like these guys rehearse what they're gonna say beforehand, they never talk over one another, it's crazy. "There have been many factors contributing into the case being delayed, we cannot interview or question many of the victims as they are mostly all still in hospital getting treated, my adviser has not been able to leave his sick mate who got injured in the acciden-" Gray explains but is immediately cut off by another man, again with the rehearsed parts! "I strongly advise you sir, to immediately call your advisor back to work immediately, he is no use to you sat beside his mate in a hospital room" he says which immediately makes me give him a look, Josh is doing the right thing by staying with Daisy, that's where he should be no shadow of a doubt. "He requested to return to work but, I ordered he stay with his mate" Gray corrects him which instantly makes the entire room erupt in annoyed mutters, I guess they didn't rehearse that part. "You did what sir, you have ordered your advisor to stay away at the most critical time in this investigation, the best place for him right now would be away from his mate, who actually caused this whole incident to happen" one man says just as another man injects for a second. "We will expand on that fact after" he says writing a note on the paper in front of him, I whip my head around looking at Gray for a second getting quite worried for Daisy. "He should be here doing the job you appointed him to do, by keeping him away you are putting the lives of your people at risk by your neglect, but mostly importantly you're putting your own mate's, the queens life at risk" this man begins to claim which immediately makes anger slowly start to boil in my body "as you said, you are unaware of Rupert Bynes whereabouts, for all we know he could be a few miles away plotting his next attack, if it was your father sat there, well he wouldn't be sat there he would be out hunting this guy and probably already caught him" he shouts which makes me jump a little, I take a final glance to Gray he just looked at the ground, now they've hit a nerve in me. "Now, I don't wish to offend you by calling you this whatever your name is, but I can only assume that you're rather slow sir, not physically but mentally" I join the conversation making eye contact with the guy, he sends me a confused look taking a glance to the other men "if you haven't realised sir, the kings father isn't king anymore hasn't been for quite a few years, so I don't really understand why you all seem to bring him up as often as you do" "We are just saying ma'am, that his father would be dealing with this situation differently to how the king is" one speaks up which makes me smile, I already knew how to shut this one down. "Of course, the king and his father are two very different people who do things dramatically different, which quite frankly, I'm so glad the king isn't like his father" I say fully sitting forward staring at all the men, they seem to shift in their seats as I spoke "from the stories I have heard about his father, he was an evil man and you might not want to hear this, but a terrible king" I say knowing I was gonna start hitting a nerve in them. "His father was an excellent king, while he just lets his workers get weeks off to stay with their mates, his fathers staff were always in and ran when he called" one says trying to defend the king, but only further proved my point. "And why do you think all his workers ran at his beck and call, they were terrified of him, they all knew what evil things his father would do if they were to disobey him, you claimed the king was putting his people in danger, when his father hurt and killed his people" I say as one went to speak but I held my finger up, I wasn't finished "now let's not forget the reason we're having his meeting about Rupert, his father went and burned this guys house down killing his mate, now you're gonna sit there and claim he was the best king this place has ever seen, he was an evil man that only cared about himself" I say which immediately makes most of the men start moving the papers around them frantically. "This is the first meeting I've been in and it's quite clear to me what the issue is, you were trapped under his fathers reign of terror that you've become brainwashed to his way of thinking, your judgments of what's right and wrong and what's makes a good king are flawed, I might have to persuade the king that maybe it's time to start looking for new younger people to fill your roles" I smile looking at each of them whose eyes go wide staring at him fully shocked. "We would have to try and persuade the king to not do that" one says his voice just the voice of worry, oh it's working. "I think my ways of persuading the king will be much more effective than yours" I smirk looking over at Gray who was sat back in his chair smirking, he sends me a wink before I look back at the men. "Okay as you wish ma'am, we won't force his advisor to return to work until his mate is fit enough on her own" one man quickly says, the shakiness in his voice was telling that I won "now onto the next item on the list" the guy says looking up at the rest is them for help. "Yes, it is about the building case on Miss Daisy Johnson, for her involvement on the recent attack" another says turning the pages of the stacks of papers in front of them, I take a worried look to Gray who sits up. "What case?" He asks looking at the man, Daisy had nothing to do with the attack. "She endangered the queen and also aided Mr Bynes in his attack on the castle" he says which makes my jaw drop once that sentence left his lips. "Daisy did not help Rupert at all, she's having to go through major surgeries due to what he did" I say feeling the need to back Daisy up, her screams filling my mind once again. "She is witnessed having a conversation with Mr Bynes just before she entered the castle, then she is seen having a conversation with you ma'am, trying to lead you out of the safely of the castle, where Mr Bynes was located with a explosive" he tries to explain but I shake my head, he forced her to do all that! "He strapped an explosive device with liquid silver to her back, she never tried to lure me outside she was warning me!" I exclaim getting annoyed that they even suggest that. "We have evidence that she was luring you outside ma'am, the guard that was stationed with you was wearing an earpiece, for in the event that for whatever reason he couldn't mind-link anyone if you were in danger, that earpiece picked up Miss Johnson trying to lead you outside and was more persistent when you refused" he tells me, I had to think back but soon remember what she was also doing while saying that. "What the earpiece couldn't see while that happened she was shaking her head, she couldn't openly say what was happening due to what he strapped to her back, right before the bomb went off she tried to tell me but the blast cut her off" I say trying to through to them that she had no choice. "We have no evidence of that happening ma'am, but the fact of the matter is that she still went into the castle, whether he forced her or not, she went in with the intent to lure you out endangering your life" another man joins this conversation, this was just insane! "She had no choice! Are you telling me if you were approached by Rupert, you would just allow him to place that thing on you and you wouldn't go along with what he told you do?" I ask crossing my arms, anyone would it would be terrifying! "Yes ma'am I am saying that, it is my obligation as one of your loyal subjects to project you at all costs, she should have let him explode that device outside away from you where it would have caused a scene and you would have been safe, or just alert someone what was happening and then ma'am, we wouldn't be having this conversation as Mr Bynes would already be in our custody" the man continues, I just shake my head but he wasn't finished "due to Miss Johnson's negligence, she risked your life then and now as we still no closer on finding Mr Bynes" he says, I take a quick look to Gray who's eyes were already on me, I take a look to the floor not wanting the men to catch on at what I'm about to do. "Can we fight this?" I ask Gray through mind-link, I didn't want these men thinking I didn't know stuff. "It is possible my love, but it will not be easy, once a case such as this is opened, it cannot be closed until a full completed investigation is conducted" he replies also through mind-link, I mentally sigh feeling terrible for Daisy. "Can we wrap this up?" I ask having enough with all of this meeting and the men, Gray agrees sitting up straight. "You may all be dismissed, the queen and I have other meetings we must attend" he tells the men who immediately, get out their seats and basically run out the room. Once the door was closed I stand up out my chair just walking around, how did that meeting turn out like that? How can they say Daisy is at fault when really she's the victim? And how in the heck did I get the courage to talk to those men like that?! "I am so incredibly proud of you my love" Gray smiles pulling me towards him, placing his forehead on mine "the way you held your own over those men, you're queen side made an appearance" he says answering that last question, I smile looking into his eyes. "What's gonna happen to Daisy?" I ask looking him in the eyes, it seems as I have no evidence that she was trying to tell me other than me saying she did, they had evidence that could find her guilty. "We will fight this with Daisy, I've mind-linked Josh that we need to see both of them to discus some things, Daisy is being discharged as we speak so we will meet them in a few hours at their home" he smiles which makes me nod, at least I can see Daisy and tell her how badly him gonna fight this "now until then, I was promised some persuading" he smirks pulling me towards the side door, I just smirk rolling my eyes following him.