Queen (Cats of Felidae Academy #4) - River Ramsey Page 0,2

It had, ever since the ritual, but now even more so. Natalia was gone, and everyone was acting like she was…

No. Ella wouldn’t let herself believe that. Not only because she adored the Empress and couldn’t stand the thought of any harm having come to her, but because of what it would do to Bishop. No matter how distant he was, no matter how much he hated her, Ella still loved him. She always would.

Chapter 2

Ella

Sterling kept his word about delaying Tessa for as long as possible. It was another two days before she called, and Ella was almost relieved to finally have it over with.

The arrangements had been made. She was going to visit the temple to work out the finer details, but as impossible as it seemed, they were going to push through with this. She was going to be coronated as Empress, as if everyone had just given up on finding Natalia. The only thing keeping her from outright refusing was the knowledge that there were plenty of insidious forces within the colony that would take advantage of the leadership vacuum.

It was impermanent, she told herself. When they finally found Natalia, when she came back, Ella would happily abdicate her rightful throne. Then life could finally get back to normal.

Maybe if she told herself that enough, she would actually believe it.

That day, she was struggling in the class with Sterling’s substitute. She’d expected it would be easier to focus, considering she wouldn’t have her infatuation with him to keep her distracted, but it wasn’t. She had felt like there was another hole in her chest ever since he’d gone to the temple, and there was already one in the spot Bishop had left behind.

He hadn’t come back to school, and all Ella’s attempts to reach him had gone ignored.

Axel had been an unexpectedly steadying presence. It was as if he knew she needed him, and had finally stepped up to fill that role. She was grateful, even though she knew full trust was going to take a while to rebuild between them. At least when she was walking the halls with him, no one dared to gossip too loudly. They didn’t have every class together, though, and despite Axel’s attempts to change that, Ella had assured him she could handle it.

And she could. She had dealt with Marissa, and nothing anyone else threw at her was new. She knew what they were all thinking, if only because some of them were uninterested in hiding it. There were even conspiracy theories going around that she was the one who was responsible for Natalia’s disappearance, and she knew the coronation was only going to add fuel to the fire.

Then there was the baby… At least nausea gave Ella an excuse for running out of class whenever her morning sickness overwhelmed her, but she could still feel the stares of judgment boring into her back, even from some of the teachers.

If they had any idea their colleague might well be the father…

Ella was just taking it one day at a time. At least she had Avery. The other queen’s companionship made her first week back at the Academy tolerable, and she was relieved Avery hadn’t abandoned her.

School seemed like heaven in comparison to the looming specter of her coronation. That evening, Axel was driving her out to the temple, and Ella had no idea what was in store.

When evening finally rolled around, Axel was waiting at the curb outside the Academy. Ella sighed, walking over to the door he had opened for her. “You’re not dreading this as much as I am, I take it.”

He snorted. “The sooner you get coronated, the sooner we can actually start making changes to this dump.”

Ella raised an eyebrow. “So you’re more concerned about staging a coup than finding our Empress?”

“I can feel two ways at once,” he argued. “No point in pretending otherwise.”

Ella just sighed, slipping into the car. At least she always knew what he was thinking, no matter how distasteful she found it.

She was silent for most of the drive, and Axel seemed to give up after a few attempts to spark conversation. The closer they drew to the temple, the greater her apprehension became.

She hadn’t been there since the night of the summoning when she had almost drowned, so it wasn’t exactly a nice walk down memory lane. At least, not one she wanted to take.

When they finally arrived, it was dusk and the moon hung high over the temple,