Destined for Greatness ✔️

Chapter 15

"My memory's a bit all over the place right now, but I thought you'd be taller," Ryleigh said, finishing her inspection of him. "I'm a bit puzzled, I'll admit. I got myself into a huge mess for this?" She gestured towards him.

Austin frowned, and so did the others. "You thought I'd be taller? You already knew exactly how tall I am."

"And why are we discussing height at all?" Ellis said. "You're behind bars. Perhaps we should focus on that."

"You were at my execution, right?" Ryleigh asked. She furrowed her brow. Had she altered her memory of her execution? She didn't think she did. Her brain was a big pile of chaos. She'd erased so much, she didn't rightly know what had remained the same and what hadn't. She didn't like being in such disarray, but it was worth it. If she hadn't, facing Austin would have been much more difficult, and Goddess forbid he should know as much. Now she felt nothing. Well, she felt anger, but that was such a default emotion that she hardly noticed she was feeling it at all.

"You know we were," Ellis said.

"You don't remember." It was Jade who spoke then, her voice soft and slow, as though she was processing as she talked. Her lips parted, brows creeping further down over the bridge of her nose. "Did you make yourself forget?"

The Midnight Moon brothers looked at each other, then at Jade, then at Ryleigh, then back at Jade. "Forget what? Us?"

"No," Ryleigh said. "That would've been stupid. Not recognising you would be too big of a risk. I just made myself forget –"

"The good stuff," Jade said, nodding slowly. "Just like you did fourteen years ago, when you didn't know how to deal with the trauma. You made yourself forget how happy you used to be. It took me months to convince you to restore your memory. And now you've done it again."

Ryleigh shrugged. "It worked back then and it's working now." If she didn't know any better, she wouldn't recognise Jade as the same little girl that had dragged her through her trauma all those years ago. She didn't look like herself. She was dressed in a gorgeous light-green gown that complimented her eyes, and her hair was put up, with little pearls shimmering at the tips of the pins. She looked as immaculate as her mate. It wasn't the Jade she knew. But then the Jade she knew would never have betrayed her.

"I don't follow," Ellis said. "You made yourself forget all the good things about us? Why would you do that? Shouldn't you forget the bad stuff, if anything?"

"No," Jade said, when Ryleigh just smiled. "If she forgot the negative things, only the positive memories would remain, and that would only make her feel the pain more sharply. This way, she gets to hold on to her anger without feeling the searing loss. Tell me, whose idea was this? Yours, or Corbin's?"

"Does it matter?" Ryleigh asked.

"Yes. He wants you focused on this war and nothing else. He doesn't care about your wellbeing. He just wants to turn you into a monster."

"He didn't turn me into a monster. He saved me after you got me arrested. And now you've done it again. How does it feel working for the enemy? Or should I say, how does it feel sleeping with the enemy? I'm half surprised the dear prince hasn't marked you yet."

"If you turn Corbin in, the others will go free," Jade said. "King Alder has promised that."

"O, and you believe him? That's cute. You were always naïve, but never this stupid."

Jade shook her head. "I am not here to discuss my actions. I am here to get through to you. Ry, Corbin's been lying to you. He's been mind-controlling you ever since he came to speak to you at Midnight Moon."

Ryleigh blinked. Of all the lies Jade could have given her, this one was truly ridiculous.

"You might hate us now, but you don't get to slander us. You know as well as I do that Father has honoured our promise all these years. He wouldn't have mind-controlled me. Besides, he didn't need to. He knew things would end up this way, even when I was still in denial. He knew it was a matter of time before I'd be back."

"No. He knew you wouldn't come back. He knew you could be happy at Midnight Moon. That is why he manipulated you. You said yourself that you felt like you had no control over your thoughts. He did that. He made you replay your memories of the battle over and over again, to drive you to insanity. Think about it. When did you start spiralling?"

"After I dove into the river with a feral wolf to save my ex-mate's ungrateful ass." She kept her gaze pinned to Jade, but from the corner of her eyes she saw Austin shift uncomfortably at the statement. He was so easily affected by other people.

"No. That's when the nightmares started, maybe, but it only escalated after Corbin came to Midnight Moon."

"You are wrong, and you do not get to speak about our father like that. He wouldn't manipulate me. Not me."

"Yes, he would. I know you're his favourite, and I know he loves you, but we both know he loves the cause more. Just think about it. If he was sure you wouldn't come back, and if he was sure he couldn't win this war without you, do you really think he wouldn't have resorted to drastic measures?"

"Drastic measures, maybe, but not this. Do you really think I wouldn't have noticed if he'd put a spell on my head?"

"If it were anyone else, you would've. But you trust him. And I think deep down, you did know, but you didn't want to believe it. You saw the signs but you wrote them off, and so did I."

Ryleigh shook her head and scooted back against the wall, crossing her legs under her. "No."

"Yes. And that is why he told you to erase your own memories. Because he might have had you back home, but you were still thinking about Austin, and about Midnight Moon, and about me. You were grieving, and it was distracting you from the mission. If he cared about you more than he cared about the cause, he would have given you time to work through your loss the healthy way, but he doesn't, and that's why he wanted you to lock your pain up."

Ryleigh pressed her lips together. Had Jade been standing any closer to the bars, she would have strangled her.

"Look, if you don't believe me: let me prove it."

She barked a laugh. "And what? Let you inside my head? What for? So you can mind-control me to give up Corbin and the others? Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

"You know I would never do that."

"Do I? According to you, Corbin didn't honour that promise either, so why would you? No. Father might be a jerk and an opportunist, but I trust him more than I trust you. You stay away from my mind. I will fight you with everything I have."

"I don't want to forcefully lift the spell. You know how much that hurts. You've seen Corbin do it to our enemies often enough. I don't want to hurt you."

"Right. That's why you had me arrested. Twice. You would've let them execute me. Don't tell me you care. Don't feed me lies. I am not stupid enough to fall for it. You made your choice, so stick with it." She turned to Austin and Ellis. "As far as the two of you go: I appreciate that you wanted to take a crack at me, but if there was ever a moment that I would have let myself be influenced by the likes of you, that time is over." She straightened up further, lifting her chin. "Tell Alder to send the silver next time." 

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A/N: Ry is being her usual stubborn self, but Jade is not backing down this time. 

Thank you for reading!