There was only fifteen minutes left before Creatures and Beings class started for the evening, but I wanted to make a run back to my room to change my clothes. I had been in the same ones for days. I desperately needed a shower, as well. If I hurried, I would make it in time. I wouldn’t want to get a strike on my record, if showing up late even counted as one.
I ran through the initiates’ wing, but stopped when I saw one of the doors propped open. Ryker was inside packing his bags. He looked up at me and scowled.
“What do you want?” he spat.
I shook my head. There was nothing I could say to make him feel better about what happened. I knew it was entirely his own fault he had to leave the Chamber of Darkness, but there was still guilt inside me.
“I’m sorry this happened.”
He scoffed and shoved more clothes into his bag. “Nobody’s buying it, Paige. You got exactly what you wanted.”
“I never wanted you to get kicked out,” I protested, taking a few steps into his room. “I just wanted you to leave me alone and let me do my job.”
He stopped and stared. The muscles in his defined jaw pulsated as he clenched his teeth together. His thick brow settled atop his dark eyes.
“Like I said, you got what you wanted.”
I let out a huff. The conversation was not going as I hoped. “At least you still have your family to go home to,” I offered. And I genuinely meant it. I would trade places with him any day if I meant I could be with my son again.
He cocked his head to look at me. The lines in his face displayed the deep anger he harbored inside. He snorted.
“Home? Family? I don’t have either anymore! Once my father found out I wasn’t going to finish my training, he told me not to come home, that I was no longer his son and I should find somewhere else to live because I wasn’t welcome at the home of Alexander anymore.”
My lips parted as my jaw fell open. How could a father say such a thing to his own son? It made my blood boil and my nerves fire off with white hot hatred. Didn’t his father know how lucky he was to have his son? No matter what happened in life, he should cherish the fact that he can still wrap his arms around Ryker whenever he wanted. Instead, he cast him off like garbage because he didn’t have it in him to be a Huntsman.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, my voice a little raspy. “That’s awful. But maybe now you can go out on your own and figure out what you want to do with your life, instead of what your father wants you to do. You never really wanted to be a Huntsman, did you?”
He averted his eyes to the bed where his bag sat. Wetness gathered in the corners as he stared into nothingness. With a quick sniff, he hardened his face again.
“Please, just go.”
I gave a weak smile and nodded. “Good luck, Ryker.”
“You too, Paige,” I heard him say softly once I was out the door.
The Exorcism