Destined for Disaster ✔️

Chapter 24

"So this is where you hide," Ryleigh said, slipping into the library. Her guards stationed themselves beside the door, pretending not to be there. She planted her hands on her sides and looked around. "There's so many books here."

"It's a library," Austin said, without looking up. He was sitting in one of the comfortable chairs placed in front of the fire place, an old book with yellowed pages spread open in one of his hands, the fingers of the other tapping the armrest.

Ryleigh inclined her head in silent acknowledgement of that fact and progressed. It was a large space, with ceiling-high bookcases lining most of the walls and more cases dispersed at regular intervals throughout the room. She let her fingers trail over a row of books as she walked past one of the cases. All the books were leather-bound and undoubtedly very precious. There were more chairs placed randomly here and there, and a few desks too.

"I wonder how many books are in here," she said, returning to the front of the room where Austin was sitting – still unmoving and with his eyes fixed on his book. "Must be thousands. I don't think I've ever seen this many books before."

His gaze briefly flitted up to her, but he made no attempt to further the conversation and Ryleigh gave up, dropping herself sideways across the chair, her legs dangling over one of the armrests and her head resting on the other. She craned her neck to look at the flames dancing in the fireplace. Austin turned a page, drawing her attention back to him.

"What are you reading?" she asked, wiggling her feet.

"An overview of the greatest battles fought among werewolves in the past five centuries."

"Ah," Ryleigh said, "good stuff."

"It is."

Ryleigh chewed her bottom lip. "You like history, then, huh?"

"Yes."

She nodded slowly, clacking her tongue, then adjusted her position so she was sitting cross-legged on the chair, facing Austin. "Is the one between Midnight Moon and Golden Dawn in there?"

He shook his head and closed the book, keeping a finger between the pages as a bookmark. "No, that battle was too recent. This book is easily fifty years old. The one between the Royal Wolves and the Crimson Claws isn't in there either. Nor the Shadow Walker battle."

"Shame, those are good ones."

"Yes, though the one of the Shadow Walkers can hardly be called a battle. It was more of an execution. I don't think much has been written about that one yet. The Shadow Walkers tend to be very secretive. Tended."

Ryleigh nodded and turned her head back to the fire. "It's funny, you know. You all love King Alder so much and everyone's always saying how kind and just he is, but at the same time he massacred an entire pack. You never hear anyone talk about that. And if they do, it's praise."

Austin looked up at Ryleigh's guards standing in the entrance and dismissed them with a nod. "The Shadow Walkers were dangerous. He had a reason."

"He had a reason to act, maybe, but kill everyone? Men, women, children? I mean, I might be biased because he tortured me for a month, but that doesn't sound like a great man to me. And if I'm not mistaken, lots of people died in the Crimson Claw war too. They were so vastly outnumbered it was laughable. And then I haven't even gotten started about the Night Howlers. I've heard Alder made a pretty big dent in their numbers too. You'd think those packs would stop rebelling. With Alder's numbers, it's really clear that he's not a benevolent king, but a tyrant with enough men to stifle anyone who dares utter a differing opinion. You know, I've heard that King Alder is the king with the highest death toll resulting from war of all werewolf kings the past millennium."