Chapter 16
RYNETH
Everything hurt.
He hurt.
And Lysa…
The bomb rig strapped to her chest would surely kill her.
Why hadn’t she been saved just like the other prisoners?
Daven must have read it on his face, because he murmured next to him, “The chip was the message. She was the one delivering it.”
His hand slid to the back of Ryneth’s neck, fingers firm, holding him there. He drew him in without asking, pressing him close against his side.
Ryneth saw Kylix and Helianth stare but didn’t have the strength to call him out on it. He ignored them all instead and watched outside, the darkness cut by bright lights, skyscrapers sliding past, other hover cars drifting through the sky.
The car rocked on descent, each dip jolting through Ryneth’s spine.
If the holochip was the message and she had delivered it successfully, did that mean they’d keep Lysa alive?
He glanced up at Daven’s face. The other man still held him close, one hand firm at the back of his neck. The city lights cut across his face, but his expression gave nothing away.
The meeting outside the tunnel had been terrifying. To be so close to those who’d captured him.
Had the buyer been lurking as well? He hadn’t contacted him again after that message, but Ryneth felt his presence constantly, like phantom fingers still reaching for him, and the worst part was that he no longer knew if the buyer belonged to Attica, Concordant, or some other nightmare hiding between them.
He wanted to beg Daven to protect him, because Daven had promised. He wanted to scream at him for destroying the one defense mechanism that had kept him alive, for making him this weak, this emotional, this desperate to climb into his lap for the exact same reason.
The wanting made him sick, but heat kept climbing under his skin.
Across from him, Kylix was snarling through his multi-slate. When he flicked his gaze to Helianth, he found him already staring at him.
“Are you all right?”
Ryneth shrugged, but really… he felt terrible. What time was it anyway? He just wanted to go back to his bed and sleep for the rest of his life.
“Did Concordant depart?” someone asked.
“They did, but we have reason to believe they didn’t leave Helion.” Helianth’s amethyst gaze intensified as he kept staring at Ryneth. “When she gave you the chip, did she say anything else? Anything that could help us?”
“No.” Ryneth stared at his hands. He could still feel the phantom heat of Lysa’s jacket under his fingers, the vibration of the tubes that should have killed them all.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her walking away, her silhouette swallowed by darkness.
She had been so calm. That was the part eating him alive.
The calm of someone who knew she was already dead.
“But she said she couldn’t come with me. ”
“They won’t let her go, Ryneth.” Helianth’s voice was quiet.
“Why not?” The question left him before he could stop it.
“Because they’re not done with her. Or with us.” Kylix’s mouth hardened.
Helianth lifted the holochip, blue light flashing across the dark cabin.
“We knew Attica was operating on Helion,” he said, turning the chip between his fingers. “But I don’t think any of us realized how established they already were, or how deeply they’d rooted themselves here.”
Kylix reached over and snatched the chip from his hand. “And that’s exactly why they handed it over,” he snapped. “They didn’t do it to help us. They did it to rat Attica out and watch what we do next.”
Ryneth frowned. “Why?”
Kylix’s jaw tightened as he turned the chip over in his fingers. “I don’t know yet. But if Concordant just snitched on the people who helped them onto Helion, then they’re either trying to fuck Attica over… or setting us up to do it for them.”
“My thoughts exactly. Publicly, they’re giving us proof against a rival,” Helianth said. “Quietly, they’re building a reason to stay in our skies.”
Kylix stared down at the chip in his palm, his jaw tight.
“We use what they gave us. We cut Attica out first, then we figure out what Concordant is really hiding.” He let out a tired breath, then gave them a humorless half smile.
“Let’s get you two home. Then take me straight to Luminary headquarters. I want this processed tonight.”
The driver’s voice came from the front. “Understood, sir. Mirel is already waiting for you there.”
“Mirel? He should be sleeping,” he murmured, almost to himself. For one brief second, Kylix went still, something in his face softening before it was gone.
Light, Daven had been right. The head of the Luminary was moody and a little intimidating, if Ryneth had to be honest.
Kylix slumped back in his seat, already tapping something into his multi-slate. “You did well tonight, Ryneth. If anything comes back to you later, tell us.”
“I’ve told you all I know.” Ryneth looked outside once again. He could still hear Lysa’s voice in his mind. She’d sounded… defeated. Had she been bought as well? And his own buyer… would he still come looking for Ryneth? Or would he stay away if he knew he was protected by the Luminary?
Protected…
Ryneth scoffed at the hopeful thought. It was hope, and hope was dangerous. He’d been the leverage point, that much was sure. The reason Concordant had bothered to speak. And now that they were done with him for the night, they’d handed him right back to Daven.
The worst part was that some traitorous part of him no longer knew if that should have terrified him… or relieved him.
Daven.
Just the name made his stomach flutter and his skin hum.
He placed a hand on the other man’s thigh, soaking in the heat that radiated off his skin.
Daven was always so warm. So strong. So sure of himself.
Even now, he could practically hear the satisfaction in the way Daven placed his own, larger hand over Ryneth’s.
It made Ryneth feel seen in a way he’d never been in his life. It made him want to crawl into his large bed and curl up against the other man.
And that was the problem.
Because Daven was the one keeping him here. The one deciding where he slept, where he went, what happened to him.
Wanting comfort from the same man who kept taking his choices felt too close to surrender.
The hover car slowed, then dipped toward the private landing platform outside Daven’s penthouse. A moment later, it settled with a soft jolt.
Helianth glanced at something on his multi-slate. “Moargan wants us at the estate tomorrow morning.”
“If you have classes, I suggest you cancel them,” Kylix said.
Daven gave a smug little hum as he guided Ryneth out of the car. “We’ll be there. After we’ve had our lie-in.”
A moment later, they stepped into Daven’s penthouse, the door locking behind them. Daven’s hand settled at Ryneth’s back, steering him like he was something fragile and dangerous at the same time.
Arousal stirred at the unspoken promise in those words. Ryneth thought of earlier that night, when they’d been together in Daven’s bed. Of being fucked by the other man for the first time.
It made his hole throb and ache at once. He wanted Daven to hold him again. Wanted him to whisper filthy threats in his ear.
He shifted where he stood.
Stop it, you fool, he chided himself. But no matter how he tried, his body wanted more. Always more of Daven.
The penthouse was quiet when they stepped inside, the dim lights flicking on one by one as they crossed the open kitchen and moved down the hall toward the bedroom. Warm gold spilled over marble and glass, soft against the dark.
Ryneth wondered if it was possible that a place where he’d only been once could already make him feel like home.
He hated that thought the second it formed. Lysa was probably still out there somewhere, and all he could think about was warmth.
“Undress, then get in bed, aethera.” Daven went for the window and switched on the panel with the stars and planets. He turned and raised an eyebrow when he saw Ryneth just… standing there.
Maybe he was too tired to be ordered around.
“Here, let me help you.” Throwing the bottle of lube on the silk sheets, Daven threaded open Ryneth’s shirt, buttons scattering everywhere.
He threw the rest of the garment on the floor, then unbuckled his pants and dragged them down.
When Ryneth was naked, he hummed in satisfaction, then slid open the sheets. “Go and get warm.”
Ryneth was too tired to argue. Too raw to pretend he didn’t want the warmth waiting for him there. He climbed into bed instead, watching as Daven undressed, taking in those strong limbs and broad chest, the fine trail of hair disappearing down to—
His skin hummed as he took in Daven’s cock between his thighs, and some hot, stupid part of him wanted it.
“Aren’t we going to sleep?”
Daven grinned, then crawled behind Ryneth and uncapped the bottle. “We are.”
Slick fingers teased his hole, circling his rim before dipping in. Ryneth barely had time to adjust before Daven worked him open in a slow rhythm that stung and pulled a helpless sound from him. Maybe it only felt good because the sting gave him something simple to focus on.
His eyes stayed fixed on the stars and planets above, letting the pain wipe away every other thought that had been clawing at him.
“So beautiful, aethera,” Daven murmured against the back of his head, his breath giving Ryneth goosebumps. He moaned, rocking back on Daven’s fingers, his own cock fully awake now. “So brave.”
He soothed Ryneth as if he were a child, and that should have annoyed the fuck out of him. Maybe it did. But he was too tired to care right now.
A faint crackle danced over his fingers, blue light skimming his skin.
Daven huffed a quiet laugh and brushed his thumb over Ryneth’s wrist. “So precious.”
“That’s new,” he muttered.
Because his static didn’t answer the way it used to. Back on Düren, it had always come in panic, in corners, in moments when his body thought he was about to die.