Destined for Vengeance ✔️

Chapter 31

When her teleporter delivered Jade to the top of the hill, Jade had to resist the urge to make him take her right back to Midnight Moon. She stood in front of the castle, craning her neck to take it all in. She couldn't even see the tip of the towers – they were shrouded in clouds.

The last time she'd been this close the castle, she'd met Aaron. But even then, she had been at the other side, near the edge of the cliff. And back then there had been no way she'd ever go inside, except perhaps to get sentenced and executed. And now she was supposed to walk through those doors like it was nothing.

Her hand reached up to her neck, but she stopped herself just in time. She wasn't sure why she stopped herself. Well, she did. It was because of Aaron and his overt disapproval. She just hated that she let his opinion get to her. What did he know? He didn't understand what she had to deal with. Especially right then. If she'd thought Midnight Moon had a lot of minds, she had never been to the Royal Wolves. The buzzing in her head told her there were hundreds of wolves inside the building alone – not to speak of the thousands of people living and working around the hill.

"Are you ready, Ma'am?" the teleporter asked.

No, she wasn't ready. She wasn't ever going to be ready. She was going to throw up. Was it a crime to throw up in the royal castle? Or perhaps she'd faint instead. What a great first impression that would be.

"Yes," she said, and she even managed a smile. Her hand fluttered over the fabric of her gown. Aaron had sent a maid to Midnight Moon to bring her and stuff her into the exquisite dress. It was a gentle red and flowed all the way down to her ankles. It had long sleeves, which she was not used to at all. They restricted her movements. At the back, the top was strung together by laces, tied off so tightly she could hardly breathe. She was accustomed to dresses she could step into – simple, cheap ones that no one would lose any sleep over if she tore them while shifting. This was not that.

The maid – a stern woman – had insisted on helping her get dressed, which was another first. She had brought shoes as well. They were low, open shoes that would probably slip off her feet the moment she started to run. But then she wasn't supposed to run.

She'd told the maid she was a wolf and not a doll, but the woman had only looked at her. And so there she was, stuffed tightly into a dress that was too long and left too much room for a chest and backside she did not have. The woman had taken it in and shortened the hems, but she still felt like she might trip. Maybe it was because she rarely wore dresses longer than mid-thigh. Her legs liked having a full range of motion. Her hair was itching too, but she was afraid to touch it. The maid had stuck about a thousand pins in it. Granted: she had looked almost regal then, were it not for that trace of wildness permeating every fibre of her being, and that look of unfamiliarity that marked her as grossly out of place.

"Ma'am?"

She realised she was still standing motionless in front of the entrance.

"Right. Sorry." She wanted to scratch her head – she was pretty sure the woman had stuck a few pins into her brain – but she caught herself. Her feet started moving, and she trailed after the teleporter. He was chuckling at her in his head and predicted that if nothing else, she'd be a laughing stock. A spectacle the entire castle would gossip about for weeks to come.

She set her lips and worked on removing some layers of noise from her head. It was taking too long, and there were too many layers. Removing one of them was like removing one of the torturous hair pins – it wouldn't make a difference. Her hand wrapped around her necklace – Aaron be damned – and she released a quiet breath as the pain washed over her mind and stifled her magic.

There were two gatehouses. The first led her past the first octagon-shaped curtain walls. The teleporter talked to the guards, explicating her purpose, and they were allowed to continue. The second gatehouse led into the castle itself. She didn't get past that one as quickly. The guards' thoughts told her that they didn't usually search ladies, but in her case, they'd make an exception. They did, at least, have the decency to link a female guard to do the honours. It was humiliating, and it didn't help that there were plenty of people walking around to witness it.