Destined for Greatness ✔️

Chapter 9

Security at the castle had been tight from the start, but since Corbin had waltzed right into the courtyard it was neigh impossible even to sneak into the garden at night. That being so, Jade had taken refuge in one of the towers instead.

The castle had four towers, all much higher than the eight towers on the outer curtain walls. One of the towers housed the council room, another held the archive, and the other two, as far as Jade could tell, were just used for storage. She had snuck into one of the latter two. Her guards were waiting for her at the bottom of the endless, winding staircase.

The tower wasn't cleaned with any regularity, since no one usually came there, so there were cobwebs covering the ceiling, thick layers of dust coating every surface, and an altogether dishevelled and eery atmosphere. Jade quite liked it. It reminded her of home, where no one ever bothered to clean either.

It wasn't practical to store large items so high up, so there were mostly boxes lying around. Jade didn't dare look into them, though she was curious. The last thing she needed was to be caught digging around stuff that wasn't her own.

The sound of footsteps reverberated through the staircase and Jade turned her head towards the door. She couldn't pick up the mind of whoever was nearing, and her guards' thought told her that Prince Aaron was coming up. Seconds later, the door opened to confirm it.

"Of all places, you had to pick the tower," he said. He closed the door behind him and wiped his hand on his trousers, glancing around him with his nose wrinkled and his brows drawn down. He looked very much out of place. His neatness made the rest of the room seem even more dilapidated – Jade included.

"Disgusting," he said, muttering the word to himself more than to her. He turned and froze. "Do you have a death wish?"

Jade was sitting in the window, one leg dangling outside and one inside the room, her back resting against the side of the sill. The view was breath-taking. As far as the eye could see, there were only hills and woods, with the occasional group of buildings scattered throughout the territory.

Aaron inched further into the room, keeping his eyes pinned to the floor. "Get down from there."

"You should see the view."

He grumbled something unintelligible and halted in the middle of the room, feigning an interest in the boxes at his feet. "I'm serious, Jade. Get down before you take a fall."

"I won't take a fall. You do remember I scaled up the side of the wall once, don't you? Heights don't bother me. Unlike you." She chuckled, watching his forehead scrunch up further. He crossed his arms, his muscles rippling underneath his brightly coloured jacket. Good Goddess. Forget the view of the territory. She had something far better to look at.

His gaze flitted up to her for just a second, his grey eyes swirling in equal parts annoyance and anxiety. Then he averted his gaze to inspect the rest of the room.

"I am not afraid," he said, enunciating every word with utmost precision, as though it had been a miscommunication that had made her believe he was afraid of heights, rather than his general behaviour whenever he came near a window. "I am merely cautious. Now for the love of the Goddess, would you come down?"

She contemplated dangling her other leg out of the window too, just to vex him, but she reconsidered. Much as she loved to see him squirm, she didn't actually want to give the poor guy a heart attack. "What are you doing here anyway? It's the middle of the night."

"I was working late and was just about to head to bed when I passed your guards downstairs. They told me you were up here. Why are you not asleep in your room?"