The White Sheep's Disguise ✓

Chapter 42

The night before I'm set to return to the palace, I finally swallow down my pride and head to my true home shared with Rylan. I expect him to be there, slumping on the edge of the sofa with a bottle in hand but the entire house is empty, and it's just me, swallowed by the dark. I trip over a glass bottle and frown as it clatters against the wall and spirals, spinning along the wooden floorboards.

Bending down, I stop the slicing dance and fumble for a candle. After sharing dinner with Castiel and Theoden on the final night I'm meant to have with them before another interval, my second to last, I have to brave Rylan's fury and face him. Not seeing him for another two weeks after this will rub him the wrong way, and the more I thought about avoiding him, the clearer it became that if I stay away, he won't see a need to pay for Castiel's remedies. So I must do what is required of me. Put on a smile, ask questions, and apologize for all my wrongdoings.

But I can't do that if Rylan isn't home.

"Rylan?" I call out to the empty cottage once the candle springs to life in my grasp. The flickering flame dances against the walls, shadows growing and swaying along with the harsh twitch of fire breathing.

Another cluster of empty bottles guards the ends of the countertop in the kitchen, and two have fallen and broken near the bedroom door. Cloak isn't the only one that wishes to drown his sorrows at the expense of his liver. Perhaps I took the unhappiness from one and plastered it onto another without knowing. Then again, bringing Cloak here was a mistake. Long hours at the docks gave me time to think about how I was more than happy to show him around when all Rylan wanted was to speak to me.

He thinks something else is blossoming between us besides what the Raven Queen assigned me to do. I can assure him that is not the case, it never will be. I have a strong belief, as does Chaska, that Cloak is in a decent enough mind space to admit to his mother that whatever I'm doing is helping him get through the days. All I can do is hope.

I'll get to leave the palace behind and come home. I won't have to wonder why two weeks feels like two months. Being days away from the queen is more comfortable than sleeping under the same roof, and my old cot hasn't bothered to shift comfortability since I arrived. It's time I leave behind this part of me and serve the experience as a memory instead. A story like my father used to tell—only mine will have truth.

I maneuver around the messy cottage and pick up every bottle I can find, clustering them together on the counter. Rylan hasn't bothered to clean up after himself, the sticky spots along the floor and the twin stain to the previous mark covering the back of the sofa are a direct result of this nasty habit. I fold a blanket balled up in the corner and move his spare set of freshly shined armor into the bedroom, away from prying eyes.

While I straighten the bed, the front door thumps open and slams against the adjacent wall. The glass bottles on the counter quiver, clinking together as someone stumbles through the house on heavy, trudging steps. Rylan screams through his teeth, knocking those organized bottles aside with a sweep of his broad, long arm.

He sends the bottles into flight, most springing to the wall or clattering to the floor in a mess of broken glass. I sigh deeply through my nose, steeling my nerves. Great. He's drunk. Dealing with a prince while alcohol stains his system is one thing, but Rylan is an angry drunk. The distracted fog turns him into an utterly different beast, one unrecognizable by those he cares about the most.

Not wanting to startle the quivering frame huffing over the counter like an angered bull, I ease myself into the main room of the house, clutching a rumpled towel tight in my hands. I need something to fiddle with.

He doesn't look up to acknowledge my existence, or even let me know he registers my appearance in the room. Voice rasped and deep, Rylan says, "Tell me there's nothing going on between you two. Tell me nothing has happened."