Destined for Deception ✔️

Chapter 25

"Jade. Jade."

The urgent, unforgiving tone of the voice calling out to her woke Jade up from her slumber. She was sitting huddled in the corner of her cell, her legs drawn up and her arms wrapped around her stomach – at least for as far as that was possible with her hands still chained together.

Her butt was so sore she hardly dared moving. Cerise hadn't been wrong – this cell was a far cry from the luxury she had gotten accustomed to. Back in the day, she would have been able to handle these conditions better. Aaron had made her go soft. It was the truth. She suddenly remembered her conversation with Corinne, when Corinne said she had lost her wild ways to this life. Jade hadn't realised it then, but the same was true for her. She was used to lavish meals served without any effort on her part; she was used to soft mattresses and thick covers; she was used to good shoes, comfortable fires, chairs. She was spoiled. That was the truth of it. She was spoiled and now she had to pay for it.

Mikayla was standing in front of her cell, her hands linked behind her back. She regarded Jade with a look that she couldn't quite place. Something purposely stoic, like she was numb on the inside.

"I went to Midnight Moon," she said.

Jade's heartrate picked up anxiously. She got to her feet, groaning as her entire body protested. Her limbs were stiff and cold, and she was hardly able to move them at all, leaning heavily against the rocky wall to give her stability.

"Did you see them?" she asked, latching her gaze onto Mikayla again. She knew the answer. What else would have Mikayla struggling so hard to maintain her emotions?

"Do you have any idea what kind of risk you exposed me to? I was lucky that Cerise was gone yesterday, so that she could not read my memory of our conversation, nor the result of it, namely that I went." She lapsed into silence for a few seconds, and Jade didn't try to speak. She leant against the wall, slowly moving her legs to try and get some feeling back in them. She was thirsty and hungry and exhausted. She missed Aaron – missed him so terribly that sometimes it made her nauseous. Was he scared for her? Was he going days without shaving again, simply because he was looking for her so desperately? Was he lying in their big bed at night, staring at her empty spot?

"I saw them," Mikayla said. "I felt like I was looking at an illusion."

"Did you speak to them?"

"O, no. They never even knew I was there. They're exactly what I imagined they'd look like now – and Goddess knows I've spent hours imagining it. I've spent hours imagining being in Mason's arms again, and hugging my daughter. I have wasted fifteen years on what-ifs and if-onlys, and all this time, they were out there."

"I'd say I don't know what you're going through, but I kind of do. It's a lot to process."

"Only I don't have time to process," Mikayla said. "In a few hours, Cerise will return, and then she will read my memories and know what I have done. She will know that I know that she lied to me for fifteen years. And if she lied to me, she probably lied to everyone."

"I wouldn't put it past her."

Mikayla stepped forward and fumbled with the key, sticking it in the lock and opening Jade's cell door. She walked in, closing the door behind her.

"I am going to do something crazy," she said. "It must be the most stupid thing I've ever done. It's foolish and naïve." She halted in front of Jade. "Restore my memory."

It was a risk, indeed. If Jade wasn't who she portrayed herself to be, if she turned out to have ill intentions, Mikayla was setting herself up for trouble. On the other hand, what choice did she have? Jade was the only one who could lift Cerise's manipulation, apart from Cerise herself – and Ryleigh and Corbin, but they were out of reach.