Destined for Deception ✔️

Chapter 41

The next day brought Ryleigh back to the castle. By then, the bodies of the fallen soldiers had all been removed from the halls. Outside, at the bottom of the hill, open for all the public, they were building funeral pyres.

Alder received her in his study.

"Good morning," he said. "Thank you for coming. I know you are grieving and that you have a pack to worry about, so I appreciate it."

She nodded and sat down. She had been in his study once before, and that time she had stormed out, slamming the door shut behind her. She could no longer afford such theatrics.

"It didn't occur to me to thank you for pardoning me yesterday," she said, and she imagined Austin smiling down on her approvingly. She was being such a responsible adult.

"You need not thank me. It is I who ought to thank you. You could have killed me yesterday, but instead you chose to release me. Considering our history, I imagine that that could not have been easy for you."

"It was not."

"I imagine you did it for your people. I imagine you are tired of war. I make no illusions that you have forgiven me, nor do I expect such leniency."

"Nor do you deserve all of the blame," Ryleigh said. "I have spent the better part of my life hating you, and hate blinds. I see that very clearly now. It never occurred to me to look at the part we played in our destruction, simply because it was easier to blame you. And I do blame you, you know, but I also understand that we dug our own graves, and that Cerise shoved us into them. You are guilty, but so are we. We have been at war since long before you reigned, and I suppose I simply do not want to continue down that road. I have seen war. I have seen what it does, how much it takes, and I refuse to lose another soul to hate."

To her surprise, he smiled.

"Do I amuse you?" she asked.

"No. I was just remembering the girl who was caught trespassing into my territory and refused to talk for a whole month straight; the girl who held a grand speech at her trial; the girl who escaped from her execution. I am remembering her, while I am looking at the woman who defied her father and sent help to Jade when she was dying; the woman who went down on her knees in front of me to plead for the survival of her people; the woman who killed her own mother to save the people she loved. I never saw that woman in that girl."

Ryleigh stared down at her lap a moment, then flitted her gaze back up to him. "I do hope you still see some of the girl in the woman, however."

His smile widened. "I see a lot of the girl still in the woman. You are passionate, and I am starting to see what you can achieve when you use that passion for the right things."

She crossed one leg over the other, wrapping her hands around her knees. "On that note, I have a request to make, if you will hear me."

He made an inviting gesture. "By all means."

Ryleigh sucked in a deep, slow breath. Had people thought before that she was breaking with principle and culture, then now she was truly throwing everything out the window. But then Ryleigh had never been one for subtle change. She was a radical, and everything she did had to be radical as well.

"I would like for the Shadow Walkers to be officially, legally, reinstated as a pack. In addition, I would like for you to sign our old land back over to us, so that we might start to rebuild our home. I never want my people to live in the darkness again. In return, I will make my peace with you. I will attend your alpha meetings, I will welcome your messengers should you send any, and I will not, nor let any of my people, plot against you. We have been at war for centuries. I propose peace."