Destined for Greatness ✔️

Chapter 6

"How long have you been living here?" Ryleigh asked. She was hauled up with Paige in a room upstairs. Ryleigh was sitting on an uncomfortable wooden chair in the middle of the room, and Paige was circling around her, assessing her injuries. There were four bedrooms, which, of course, wasn't nearly enough. Not only weren't there enough beds, there also wasn't enough space for people not to want to kill each other. According to Paige, one bedroom was used by Colt, Lucia and little Violet, as well as Rose and her son Acer, so that the young ones would be together. Everybody else usually just found a place to sleep at night, be it in one of the bedrooms or the living room, or even the kitchen.

"Well, we got a little nervous when Jade decided to move into the castle. You know Corbin has informants there, so we heard about it pretty much right away, and that's when we decided it was time to go. Just in case. How long ago was that? I think a month or so. Take off your shirt."

Ryleigh chuckled. "You're not even going to flirt with me first?" She pulled her shirt over her head, wincing as every movement tugged painfully at her sore muscles.

Paige parried Ryleigh's humour with a grave look. "That looks nasty. I don't get people. They were already going to kill you; why did they have to hurt you first?"

"Even Royal Wolves need a hobby. Ow! Cold hands."

"Wuss." Paige rubbed her palms together. "Anyway, it took some getting used to, and there were more than a few altercations upon our arrival here. It's a small house and though that means we attract less attention, it also means we're constantly in each other's way. I'm sure you can imagine how much fun it's been."

"Almost makes me glad I wasn't here to witness it."

Paige shrugged and crouched down, inspecting the wound in Ryleigh's side a bit better. She let her hand hover over it, fingers sparking green. Slowly, the edges of the tear crawled towards each other until they met, morphing into perfectly healthy skin and leaving no evidence that there had ever been any injury there at all. Ryleigh winced but stayed still and silent.

"You know," Paige said, keeping her gaze pinned to the work at hand, "I really thought you and Austin would work out. Call me a romantic, but I thought you were happy there."

Ryleigh shot a glance at the door. The last thing she needed was to be overheard by someone while discussing whether or not it would have been better to stay at Midnight Moon.

"Happy?" she said, forcing a laugh into her tone. "What's that?"

All she got in a way of answer was a raised eyebrow.

"Fine. Yes, I liked him, but it was never going to work. We have wildly differing views of the world."

"So what? You rejected him before things got too far?"

Ryleigh hissed when Paige healed the cut running down her temple. Much as Paige's magic worked wonders, it always stung. "No, actually. It was his call."

Paige's hands fell silent. Ryleigh wished they wouldn't. She wished Paige would continue her work and drop the conversation. "But he was so in love with you."

"I really messed up, I guess. I don't blame him. I haven't been on my best behaviour recently."

"But still. For him to give up on his fated mate like that... I hadn't expected it, is all."

"I did. It was a long time coming. We stretched it out as thin as it would go, but eventually we had to accept that there was nothing left to salvage."

"But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt." Paige said the words quietly, wiping the blood off Ryleigh's face with a wet cloth. Ryleigh was silent a moment, trying not to flinch as Paige scrubbed her clean with just a tad too much fervour.