The Shadow Walkers were halfway through dinner when Corbin and Parker walked in. Immediately, all conversation hushed into silence. They were all sitting in what had once been the dining room of the mansion. The original, rectangular table was still there, though it was groaning under the weight of the pots and pans. It was long enough to give everybody a seat, though they'd had to repair a few chairs before they had enough furniture to accommodate everyone.
Corbin sat down at the head of the table, and he was handed food and drink immediately. Parker set himself beside Ryleigh, picking food from her plate. She slapped his hand.
"Get your own food, thief." She shot him a look that was meant to mark her food as her territory, but he only grinned and snatched a chicken leg from her plate, setting his teeth in it before she could take it back.
"Are you looking for a fight, huh?" She showed him her fist. "I can take you, you know."
He snorted a laugh and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Hate to break it to you, Miss Silvered-a-Million-Times, but you're not as strong as you used to be. You couldn't take a toddler."
The comment was supposed to be teasing, but it hit a nerve. She prided herself on her strength. If she didn't have that, she really didn't have anything. He must have noticed that instead of giving him some kind of clever retort she only stared at him. He lowered the chicken leg from his mouth to the table.
"Ry, I didn't mean that."
"Yes, you did." She picked up her fork and drove it through a piece of deer meat, though she didn't lift it to her lips.
"You were injured, Ry. It's not like you had any control over it."
Ryleigh glanced around her. Everyone had picked up their conversations again, seeing as Corbin didn't seem to be in any mood to relay information. Nobody was paying attention to their conversation, and she was glad for it. The last thing she needed was to draw public attention to her bad state.
"Just drop it," she said. She grabbed her cup of wine and sipped from it just so she had something to do with her hands.
"I was just joking, Ry. You could still take most of us."
She shook her head and stabbed another piece of meat with her fork. Stupid Parker. Stupid silver. Stupid health. Stupid illness.
"You'll regain your strength. You know you will. You always do. Come on, Ry, don't be mad at me. I was just joking."
"It wasn't funny."
"I see that now. I'm sorry. You don't usually let my comments get to your head."
He was right, and she wondered why this time had been different. Sure, her strength was important to her, but this was Parker. He was always saying stupid, insensitive things, and she never cared. Only now she did, for some strange, inexplicable reason. Maybe she'd had more wine than she thought.
"You're a jerk," she said, shooting him a glare.
He took the comment as forgiveness, and smirked. "I know. Isn't that what you love about me?" He took another bite of his chicken, then grabbed her cup of wine and took a swig.
She rolled her eyes, but didn't stop him.
He leant a little closer, his shoulder brushing hers. "Bad news." He nodded towards Corbin, who was drinking his wine in silence, tapping his fingers against the tabletop.
Ryleigh frowned. "What's going on?" she asked, loudly enough to draw Corbin's attention, and consequently that of everybody else.
Corbin sat up a little straighter and put down his cup. "Parker and I just went to retrieve some information our informant in the castle has left for us. Apparently Jade got hit with three silvered arrows late last night. She's not expected to make it to tomorrow."
Ryleigh's heart halted. "Jade's dying?" She sat back in her chair, her brows curving slightly, not convinced enough to dip into a full frown. She shoved her plate towards Parker. "What now?"
"Well, here's the funny thing." He was momentarily interrupted when Rose refilled his cup.
"What's the funny thing?" Ryleigh asked. How he could pause for dramatic effect when bringing a message like this was beyond her, but she tried not to sound too annoyed.
"Right. Prince Aaron has sent a message all over the kingdom, looking for – actually, guess. Guess who he's looking for."
"Me," Paige said, her voice quiet. "He's looking for me, isn't he? Because I'm the only one who can – O, Goddess. She'll die without me."
"Quite right," Corbin said. "That's the choice she made. She knew as much when she went to live at the castle. Can't have the best of both worlds. When she chose the Royal Wolves, she lost Shadow Walker privileges."
Ryleigh looked at Paige, who had turned pale and was sitting frozen on her seat, her fork still in her hand. She wondered what was going through her head, and if she was going to defy Corbin and risk getting cut off. She wasn't sure Corbin would actually kick her out, but he was radical enough if his temper got provoked. At the same time, he was in no position to pretend Paige wasn't the glue holding their group together.
"Do they know who did it?" she asked.
Corbin shook her head. "No. Some Royal Wolf, I guess. Someone who doesn't think a Shadow Walker should sit on the throne. She had it coming."
"She's still your daughter," Ryleigh said.
"No, she is not. My daughter was a Shadow Walker. Whoever that woman is, I don't know her, nor do I want to."
"I don't believe you." Ryleigh regarded him, looking for a sign that the news shook him. He was all neutrality. But so was she, and yet she was not untouched. Sure, she hated Jade for deserting her, but she didn't hate her more than she loved her. She hated her so much only because she loved her.
"We are fighting a war," Corbin said. "It's not like Paige can just walk into the castle, heal Jade, and leave. Do you really think that when they have her in their claws, they're going to release her? Someone as unique as her? I'm not trading Paige's freedom for Jade's life."
"What if I wanted to do it?" Paige asked. "Risks be damned. What if I wanted to?"
"The answer is no," Corbin said. He tipped his cup towards her. "And before you get it in your head that this 'no' is the same kind of 'no' I gave you when you asked me if you could go heal the Midnight Moon alpha, let me assure you it is not. It is a definite 'no'. An 'if you go behind my back, I will kick you out' kind of 'no'. Are we clear?"
Paige nodded and her shoulders slumped, though there was still a hint of defiance in her eyes. "Yes, Alpha."
"Good. Ryleigh, are you clear on this, too?"
"Yes, Alpha. Crystal clear." She shot a glance at Parker, who shrugged as if to say Told you it was bad news. And it was, but there was nothing she could do about it. Corbin was right: Jade had made her choice, and it was beyond Ryleigh 's abilities to help her now. She cleared her throat. "Morbid though it is, I think we should use this opportunity."
All eyes turned to her.
"Use it how?" Corbin said.
She leant forward, leaning her elbows on the table. "Well, we promised Alpha Kade that we would give him proof that the royals are bad news for every pack not called 'Royal Wolves'. When I was at Midnight Moon, I had a lot of time to read – seeing as I was pretty much dying most of the time and couldn't do much beyond sitting still. For some reason, I took up a fascination for the law. I think because it makes so little sense and nobody actually follows it anyway. In any case, I read that the Royal Wolves are legally mandated to keep a record of all their decisions."
"Alright, so?" Dawn asked. Most of them had probably zoned out after she mentioned reading. Shadow Walkers were creatures of action. They didn't care for lectures.
"If you would have some patience, I'd tell you. When I read about these records, I figured Alder would ignore this law the same way he ignored most others, but I picked Ellis' brain about it, and he told me that there's actually an archive, and that Alder diligently adds to it, because apparently his predecessors had sworn on the Goddess that they would on pain of eternal damnation. So, the way we're going to prove that the ruling class are corrupt, is by breaking into the archive and stealing all the records."
Her eyes swept around the table, seeing everybody's gazes glazing over in thought. Corbin stroked his chin, considering it – which was more than she thought he would do.
"Breaking into the castle is easy," she said, "even with improved security. We can still use the tunnels and incapacitate the soldiers guarding them, and then we can sneak up into the library without anyone noticing. I've already worked out how we can do that. The only obstacle is Jade. Had she not been there when I went to kill Alder, I would've succeeded. Now that she's out of the running, this might be the only chance we'll get to pull this off."
Silence lingered in the room for a few seconds.
"You're not wrong," Parker said, slowly – as though he was surprised she should've come up with an idea that wasn't entirely insane.
"Not to forget that everyone will be distracted by Jade's nearing death," Ryleigh said. "We can use that to our advantage."
"I am inclined to agree with you," Corbin said. At hearing his approval, the others started nodding as well, muttering their agreement.
Ryleigh smiled. "Then it's settled. We break into the castle tonight."
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A/N: Lots of stuff going on. Leave it to the Shadow Walkers to take advantage of Jade's misery.
Thank you for reading!