MALIA’S POV
Seeing how desperate they were, I had no other choice but to just accept the whole thing. Judging by the fact that I had no other thing to do in the palace other than wallowing around my room and getting invited for breakfast, I could safely say that perhaps coming in for training every other day might not be that much of a bad idea.
At least I would have something to keep my mind off lots of unhealthy thoughts while at the same time, getting myself fit and enhancing my skills in the field. Not so bad definitely.
With a newly found purpose, I strode out of the entrance and made it back toward the path I had come from. Finding my way around the pack wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and soon, I was making my way into the palace.
I took the stairs I vividly remember taking the other day with Ryder but immediately I was at the top, that was where the issue set in. There were far so many corners for me to choose from and I could not remember which one exactly to take.
I folded my hands in front of my chest and observed. I refused to agree with the fact that I had just forfeited my way and I don’t know where the heck to follow.
My gaze flickered to the group of guards gathered around a specific corner who were already staring at me and talking between themselves. They have probably noticed how much of a sour numb I was among the moving crowd and might approach me soon.
So to prevent that, I moved away from them, taking the entire opposite of where they camped, and moved the hallway nearest to me. I hastened up my pace when I felt hurrying feet behind me but it turned out to just be some group of men, rushing to get somewhere and not the guards like I thought.
I need to stop the overreaction. I am like everyone else and have done nothing wrong. Why was I getting so unsettled because of the guards when I was not a criminal?
I reached a dead-end and had to turn back to go through another hallway. I did this with a few more hallways before finally coming to terms with the fact that I did not know my way around the palace.
I halted in the middle of the moving crowd, with no idea what to do or even where to start from. I ran my hand through my hair several times all in an attempt to get myself to think of a logical way out of this.
“What to do, what to do?” I mumbled multiple times to myself, trying to come up with the solution to my problem. Do I just approach the guards and tell them I have lost my way and I was a part of this palace?
“You seem lost to me” The sudden sound of a familiar voice caused me to veer around so quickly that I almost knocked myself down but managed to get a hold of the wall before I could make a fool of myself.
“Ronan?” I called to make sure I was on the right person.
“Yeah, that is me. You still can’t get your way around the palace?” He toasted away my statement like it was nothing and shoved in the topic he thought was more interesting to talk about at the moment.
“Are you kidding me?” I arched my brows most unnaturally. “You just disappeared for days. Four days to be exact and all you seem to care about is whether I was lost or not?”
“Well, that is an important thing to talk about too, right? I mean you should be worried that you are lost which is why I was pressing in it”
The dead glare I gave him caused him to shit himself up real quick and raised his hands into surrender.
“Waoh…. easy there young woman. Don’t give me that look”
“Where on earth have you been for the past four days? No calls, nothing. You just disappeared just like that” I deposited my hands on my waist and took a protective stance, ready to blast him for what he did.
” I do realize that I have wronged you. I promised to show up after a day but I didn’t. I am deeply sorry about that and I am here to express just how sorry I am” He still had his hands up as he spoke.
We got weird looks from around the passage but I gave no heed to them. He angered me with his unexplainable absence but I realized that this was not the right place to punish him, especially not when he was the beta of the pack.
“Show me to my room” I still glared at him while speaking.
“Gladly” He finally smiled and took a random hallway while I followed behind him, a soft smile tucking at my lips. His smile is just so contagious.
In no time, he showed me to my room and explained why he was absent and couldn’t reach out to me. It turned out there had been a crisis just outside the pack which he had underestimated, but when he reached there, he found out that it was all beyond what he had anticipated, which was why he stayed that long just to kill the flame.
“I had breakfast with your brother this morning?” I suddenly spoke out of nowhere as we sat and talked over a cup of tea.
I don’t know if it was just me but his face changed real quick, following my statement.
“Really? On what grounds?” He asked. I scowled in confusion.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked with genuine curiosity.
“Listen” He combed his hand through his nicely-trimmed beards. “Just stay away from him. If you want peace in your life. Stay away from my brother!”