Destined for Greatness ✔️

Chapter 25

It was another sleepless night for Jade. She was starting to wonder whether it wouldn't be better after all to share a bed with Aaron. She doubted anyone would dare kill her in her sleep if the crown prince was right beside her, and his presence would ease her troubled conscience. Still, there were plenty of reasons not to. First of all, she still didn't think she had the resolve required to sleep with him and not sleep with him. Second of all, they hadn't exactly worked out their argument of the day before. That was, they'd had one of those half-sentence conversations.

They had been the first two to arrive in the private dining room the night before. They'd stood awkwardly in front of each for a few seconds.

"Aaron –" she'd said, but he wouldn't let her finish the sentence.

"I know. It is fine. I mean –"

"No, I was wrong. I shouldn't have said what I did."

"Fair enough, but I understand where you were coming from."

After that, Aaron's parents had come in, and that had been the end of that conversation. In a way, it was all the solving that was necessary, but she couldn't let it rest yet. They needed to have another conversation about it, and until they did, she was going to keep her distance.

She paced through her bedroom for a while. She wondered what Ryleigh was doing. Was she sleeping? Was she happy to be back at home? Did she still hate Jade, now that that she knew Jade had been right about Corbin? She probably did. Ryleigh never back-tracked on her decisions, including the things she decided to say. She wouldn't take it back.

She sighed and opened the door. Gavin and Danny were standing guard that night. They bowed their heads when she came into view.

"I'm just going to take a walk," she said, stepping out of the room and pulling the door shut behind her.

"May we accompany you, Ma'am?" Gavin asked.

"No, that's alright. If anyone asks, I'm still in the room."

They didn't like the sound of that, she could tell, but they nodded nonetheless.

"Thank you." Before they could change their minds about putting their blind trust in her, she turned on her heels and walked down the hallway.

She told herself she was just going to take a turn through the garden, where it was safe. Thing was, she was sick and tired of the garden. It was a lovely place, and she loved the flowers and the orchard, but she longed to surround herself with more trees than she could count. She wanted to hear the night animals scurry around. She wanted to feel the breeze on her fur. There was no place in the garden from which you couldn't see the curtain walls rising up, keeping her locked in. She wanted freedom. Needed it, yearned for it.

That was why, when she told her feet to go to the entrance to the garden, they carried her to the dungeons instead. It wasn't her fault. Her body was taking her hostage, moving against her command. She had no control. Her wolf had decided it was time to get out.

Besides: what was the harm, really? She'd be back before anyone knew. If her guards kept their words and didn't tell anyone she'd gone, then she'd be able to sneak back into her room before sunrise, and no one would be any the wiser. Aaron wouldn't have a reason to be mad, and she would be better equipped to handle castle life again.

She snuck through the castle like a thief in the night. If someone caught her wandering like that, hiding in the shadows, she'd have some explaining to do. But she had a mission, and she couldn't let herself be stopped. She avoided the guards walking the halls and tiptoed downstairs, to the entrance of the dungeon. She made sure no one was looking, then opened the door and slipped inside, onto the slick staircase. The door clicked shut behind her and her heart started racing.