Chapter 262 Made It Worse

Chapter 262 Made It Worse


Ryder’s POV

I didn’t sleep. Not even for a second.
I lay there the entire night staring at the ceiling, turning everything over in my head until the thoughts blurred together and still refused to make sense. What happened at dinner kept replaying whether I wanted it to or not. The looks, the tension, the way the room reacted… the way I reacted.
And that was the part that wouldn’t settle.
Me.
With power.
With her power.
That wasn’t something I ever asked for, and it sure as hell wasn’t something I was prepared for. I’d spent my whole life relying on control, on precision, on knowing exactly what I was capable of and how far I could push it. This? This wasn’t controlled. This wasn’t trained.
This was something else entirely.
And I didn’t like it.
Brianna hadn’t wanted to leave.
She argued it at first, stubborn as always, refusing to move from the bed even when I told her I needed space. It took longer than it should have, a back-and-forth that neither of us enjoyed, but eventually she gave in with a frustrated huff and left me alone.
I thought that would help.
It didn’t.
“You should’ve let her stay.” Ronan’s voice cut through the silence, steady and unimpressed.
“I needed space,” I muttered, dragging a hand over my face as I shifted slightly against the mattress.
“To do what?” he shot back. “Overthink everything until you convince yourself to run again?”
I didn’t answer. Because he was right.
“Don’t do it,” he warned immediately, catching the direction of my thoughts before I even finished forming them. “Not now. Not when she needs you.”
I rolled my eyes. “It would be easier,” I muttered under my breath.
“For who?” he snapped. “You?”
Silence stretched for half a second before he continued. “When things get hard, you run. That’s your solution?”
I pushed myself up abruptly, irritation flaring. “Enough,” I scoffed.
But the truth of it sat there anyway.
I got up before I could think about it any longer, moving through the motions of getting ready without really paying attention. Brianna had asked me to meet her for breakfast.
I didn’t go.
On purpose.
The conversation we needed to have, the weight of everything sitting between us, the way my temper had been sitting just beneath the surface, I wasn’t in the mood for it. Not yet.
So I stayed. And I waited.
“She’s going to show up,” Ronan said, almost amused now.
“I know.” I sighed as I shook my head.
“She’s going to be pissed.” He stated the obvious. “You’re both out of control,” he added with a quiet laugh. “You’ll burn the place down.”
I didn’t find that nearly as funny as he did. Before I could respond, the door opened.
I didn’t turn around to check. I knew exactly who it was.
Her scent reached me before anything else did, familiar and grounding in a way that made it harder to keep my walls up.
The door clicked shut behind her, her footsteps light as she crossed the room, and still she didn’t say anything.
She just came over and dropped onto the sofa beside me, letting out a slow breath as she slumped back into the cushions.
I kept my gaze forward, not looking directly at her but aware of every movement beside me.
“She’s not mad,” Ronan said.
I didn’t believe that.
“She understands,” he continued.
That I hesitated on.
“She just doesn’t want you to shut her out.” He sighed. 
That part hit.
I frowned slightly. “How do you know that?” I asked him.
“Zia,” he replied.
I paused. “You’re talking to her?”
“Yes.” Me said quickly. “They get it,” he added. “They know it’s a lot.” He let that sit for a second before finishing. “She’s going through the same thing you are.”
That stopped me. Because he was right. I wasn’t the only one dealing with this. She was tied to it just as much as I was. More, if anything.
Running now wouldn’t just be about me.
I exhaled slowly, the tension in my chest easing just enough for me to finally turn toward her. “Princess,” I said quietly.
She lifted her gaze to meet mine.
No anger.
No frustration.
Just… waiting.
“I’ll accompany you to dinner,” I continued, a faint smirk pulling at my lips despite everything. “We’ll go together and deal with that group of arrogant assholes as a team.”
Her lips twitched slightly at that.
I reached up, cupping her cheek and turning her face fully toward me, holding her gaze steady. “A united front,” I added, my voice dropping.
She leaned in without hesitation, her lips meeting mine in a slow, soft kiss that didn’t carry urgency or tension, just reassurance.
We pulled apart gradually, my forehead resting against hers for a brief moment as everything finally felt… steady.
“Thank you, Ryder,” she whispered.
She pulled back slightly, her eyes still locked on mine, but something changed in her expression. She was more serious now.
“Earlier,” she said softly, “at breakfast…”
I watched her carefully as she continued, noticing the way her fingers tightened slightly in her lap.
“I overheard Cass and Atlas,” she added. “They think someone is here to cause trouble.”
That didn’t surprise me. Not with everything going on. But the way she said it I knew there was more.
“After breakfast,” she went on, her voice quieter now, “I went into the main sitting room.”
She paused. Not because she forgot. Because she was choosing her words carefully. “I didn’t go all the way in,” she admitted. “I stayed back.”
My brow furrowed slightly. “Why?”
“They were talking,” she said. “My parents… Kevan… just them.”
Another pause. Longer this time.
“She keeps circling it,” Ronan muttered.
I didn’t say anything.
Just waited. Because whatever this was it was important. 
Her breath hitched slightly. “My father,” she started, then stopped, swallowing hard before continuing. “He… he had a vision.”
That caught my full attention. I straightened slightly. “What did he see?”
Her gaze dropped to her hands, her fingers tightening together.
“I’ve never heard her like this before,” Ronan added quietly.
“He saw us under attack,” she said finally, her voice barely above a whisper.
I felt my jaw tighten. “From who?”
“Not just your father’s men,” she replied, shaking her head slightly. “Covens too.”
That wasn’t good. Not even close.
“It was bad, Ryder,” she continued, her voice trembling just enough to notice. “It wasn’t controlled. It wasn’t organized. It was a total mess.”
Her eyes lifted to meet mine again. “And we were there,” she added.
I reached out, tilting her chin gently to keep her gaze on me. “Did he see us fighting?” I asked.
She nodded once. “We were,” she said. “But not the way we should’ve been.”
Something in my chest tightened. “What do you mean?”
Her expression shifted again. “We weren’t helping,” she said quietly. “We made it worse.”