Luna of Rogues

Part 22 - Midnight Rendezvous

People were streaming into the courtyard, filling it easily. There was room to move about, just about. At a squeeze, we could fit the entire population of Last Haven in here, but not everyone was attending. After all, someone had to keep watch.

Someone slumped into the seat beside me and I looked up lazily to see Leo, in his usual faded t-shirt and dark jeans. He grinned at me but stayed silent as Fion, Tally, Kyle and even Sophie claimed the chairs around us. I resisted the urge to interrogate him about the town. It was his business, I reminded myself. I just wished he wouldn't be so damn cryptic about it.

Ollie was still working his ass off, until I physically dragged him to our friends and guilt-tripped him into asking Fion to dance. She hunched her shoulders and wordlessly shook her head. I couldn't help wondering if it had something to do with Brandon. She was still skittish around males, but it was getting better all the time.

Once we got to chatting, dancing and eating, the hours flowed like water. With alcohol and good company, time really did fly. It was half-past eleven before I knew I needed some air. The atmosphere had long since calmed, so most people were either slow dancing in the centre of the courtyard or talking in small groups. I wandered up one of the towers to take a breather with a view of the woods.

From the top of the western tower, I could see all the lighting around the fringes of the forest and the floating lanterns on the slow-moving river. A few diligent children had taken it upon themselves to retrieve them by camp and return them upstream. Infinite amusement for them, and a beautiful view for me.

But what I liked most about my high vantage point was the seemingly endless trees, stretching as far as the eye could see, and the ghostly silhouettes of mountains on the horizon. I knew that range well - the Silverstones, we called them. A pale, almost full moon looked down over the world from its seat on a bed of clouds.

I heard footsteps echoing on the stone stairs and tensed, one hand already darting to my pocket knife. However, it was Leo who appeared by the stairwell and I could relax and sit down on a stone ledge which jutted out where part of the parapet had collapsed.

"Alright there, Skye?" he asked, sitting down on the parapet next to me.

"Yeah," I replied automatically.

Leo gave me an unconvinced look. "I'm not sure that in all the time I've known you, you've ever answered that question honestly."

"Of course I have," I scoffed.

"And was that honest?"

"No," I admitted. "But I'm the one that needs to be alright, or how can I help everyone else?"

He leant back in his seat and surveyed me in concern. "By being honest with them."

Oh. Was that what most people did? Mushy-mushy, soul-bearing honesty? I wasn't sure, but it seemed likely, so I decided to give it a try. "You really want to know how I'm feeling, huh?"

"That's all I've ever wanted," Leo replied without missing a beat. "For you to trust me."

"Okay then. I'm angry with myself for making mistakes, some of which got my friends killed. I'm miserable because I'm missing my family. Rhodric hasn't always been here, but Rhys? We haven't spent a day apart since we met." Normally I would have stopped a long time ago. Normally I wouldn't have opened my mouth in the first place. But now I had started speaking, I couldn't stop. Every hurt, every misery of the last few days came pouring out. "I'm worried sick because he's at the mercy of an Alpha. And most of all, I'm confused."

"About Rhodric?" I could have hugged him for that. For just listening, rather than trying to fix all of my problems, as most men tend to do. I didn't need a solution, I just needed a sympathetic ear.