Destined for Vengeance ✔️

Chapter 37

Jade paced Ryleigh's room – from the door to the window and back, and then back again. She'd been doing that for about half an hour, waiting for Ryleigh to return from wherever she'd run off to. Austin's room, most likely. Her scent trailed there.

At last, the door clicked open and Ryleigh sauntered in, coming to a halt when she saw Jade.

"Morning, sis. What's up?" She pushed the door closed with her foot and walked to the closet, throwing it open.

"I need to tell you something."

"Alright." She shot a glance over her shoulder, then turned back and picked a pair of trousers from the closet, as well as a shirt.

"I was going to tell you sooner, but I didn't know how you were going to react, and I feel like this is another one of those decisions I have to make on my own, but I really need to talk to someone and I don't know the others very well yet, and I trust them even less, and –"

Ryleigh draped her clothes over the back of the desk chair. "That's a really, really long sentence. Try breathing."

"Right." Jade drew in a gulp of air. She wasn't sure how to tell Ryleigh about Aaron's request. She probably wouldn't react well to it.

Ryleigh pulled her nightgown over her head and reached for the shirt. Jade gazed at her naked back and at the scars running across it. There were claw marks tracing down her shoulder that Jade hadn't seen before. She guessed she'd earned them when she saved Austin's life.

"Ry, Aaron has asked me to move into the castle." She pushed the words out as fast as she could, holding her breath in anxious anticipation of the outburst that would undoubtedly follow.

Ryleigh donned her shirt. "I know." She took the trousers and hopped around a bit to pull them on.

"What?"

"O, come on? Who am I?" She closed the button of the trousers and pulled them up higher – they were too big. Or she was too small. "It's surprising that after all these years, you still think you can keep secrets from me. If you must know, Aaron talked to Ellis about it, and I read his memory of it days ago."

Jade blinked. "And you didn't say a word?"

"I was wondering how long it was going to take before you came to me. Longer than I expected, so kudos for that." She picked up a brush and positioned herself in front of the mirror, roughly brushing her hair and grimacing when the brush got stuck on the knots.

"And you're not angry?"

"I'm not happy, but I know how you work. The louder I say no, the faster you run towards yes. I think it's a terrible idea, but I also think terrible ideas are your forte. Ouch. Damn it." She tugged the brush from her hair and tossed it onto the bed. "Never mind."

"Thanks for that." Jade exhaled slowly. "You really think it's a bad idea?"

"Honey, I give you a week."

"A week before what? Before I come running back with my tail between my legs? You know me better than that."

"No. A week before you're dead."

She said it with such calm conviction that a chill slithered down the length of Jade's back, all the way down to her toes.

"I can hold my own."

"Yes, if you know where the danger is coming from. If you move into the castle, the danger will be coming from everywhere. Every single person you'll meet there is an enemy, most of all your mate's parents. You can't close an eye – not ever. The moment you let down your guard, you're dead."