Chapter 31
Seren
A minute before the door to the room opened and Rykr strode through, Ciaran at his heels, I’d felt the bond between us hum, alerting me to his proximity.
I stared at him in his Vangar leathers, my heart lurching at the confirmation that it had been him I’d felt—and the fact that the sight of him was doing unacceptable things to my imagination.
“Nice of you to join us,” Amahle said from her spot over on the bed. I tore my focus away from Rykr, my cheeks warming.
Amahle’s gaze drifted to Ciaran. She sat straighter, more alert. “What’s wrong?”
I frowned and peered at Ciaran as he closed the door. He was pale, but the blotchiness on his neck betrayed a recent surge of anger. “Did something happen?”
Rykr crossed his arms. “A solider, friend of mine, from the Regulation followed me here to Emberstone—long story short—and Ciaran isn’t pleased to have been made an unwitting traitor.”
I looked from Rykr to Ciaran, my mouth growing dry.
Another Lirien?
“Oh gods,” Amahle muttered.
My own anger sparked as I stared at Rykr’s unaffected gaze. “Don’t just stand there with that smirk, Rykr. What the hell is one of your friends doing here? And how did he find you?” My glare intensified. “Have you been sending messages to Lirien? Spying on us?”
“Has it occurred to you, thistling, that if I were a spy and Ciaran had caught me, the easiest way to keep him silent—and myself safe—would have been to kill him?” He raised a brow. “So, either I’m a terrible spy, or just incredibly foolish to let him live.”
Dammit, his logic made sense.
I crossed my arms. “Or?”
A smile curved at the corners of his mouth, a feline twinkle in his eyes. “Or you’ll believe me when I tell the truth. Thorne is a shapeshifter who tracked me to the encampment and followed me here. That’s how he’s got past your Vangar. He’s a loyal friend. Neither of us are spies.”
My body went rigid. A shapeshifter?
I’d heard of people born with that gift—much like my ice powers—but never met one. I narrowed my eyes, my mind racing. “That’s convenient. Almost too convenient. How exactly do you expect me to believe this, Rykr, when you’ve given me nothing but riddles and half-truths since the moment we met?”
“He comes from a long line of berserkers.” Rykr crossed the room toward the sole chair and sat, stretching his legs out in front of him. With Rykr and Ciaran in here, the tight quarters felt suffocating.
Berserkers. Then he could turn into … I startled, my eyes flying to Rykr’s. “He stole the prince’s body, didn’t he?”
Rykr held my gaze, his expression unchanging, then dipped his chin in a subtle nod.
The blood drained from my face as I processed what the Lirien’s presence meant for Rykr—both for his future here and for the real reason he’d been in the forest the day we’d met.
Ciaran cleared his throat, as though his own thoughts were equally muddled. The sharp sting of blame tore through me, and I slipped toward him, taking his hand. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Ciaran.”
He released a bitter laugh, his voice breaking. “Didn’t I? I’ve broken my oath, Seren. Everything we stand for—the laws that keep us safe—I violated. How do I face the Vangar after this? How do I face myself?”
I stood on my tiptoes as I embraced him tightly. “I never should have put you in this position.”
Amahle stepped toward us and set her hand on Ciaran’s shoulder as I pulled back.
“The Vangar may be rigid, but you’re more than your oaths, Ciaran.
Seren proved that when she saved Rykr, and you proved it today.
Laws mean nothing if we lose ourselves trying to uphold them.
Turning the Lirien or Rykr in would be disastrous, not only for Seren but for our tribe.
The people in Emberstone protect themselves, and they don’t have to face the same moral dilemmas that we do.
Maybe it’s illegal, but conscience matters. ”
Then Amahle turned toward Rykr, her face hardening.
“That doesn’t mean you’ve done anything to bolster our confidence in you.
Seren could have been arrested today and meanwhile, you were out jeopardizing her life.
Needlessly. What was so important that your friend risked coming into Emberstone for? ”
The uneasy shift through the bond made my chest tighten as I turned to look at Rykr.
“To try to convince me to return to Pendara. The Regulation is charging me with abandonment of my post,” Rykr said smoothly.
Too smoothly.
“You’re lying,” I hissed.
He crossed one ankle over his knee and held my gaze, unflinching, unwilling to admit anything. Then he tilted his head. “What was that about Seren being arrested today?”
I bit my lip, cringing. Dammit, Amahle. “It’s nothing.”
He raised a brow. “Clearly it’s not.”
“We … just had a brush with a guard. A misunderstanding,” Amahle cut in, exchanging a look with me.
“And what does that mean?” Rykr’s voice was hard. “Guess neither of us is innocent, right?”
I flinched then glanced at my friends. Much as I appreciated their willingness to be here, I’d dragged them into something that could get them killed.
And right now, I needed to talk to Rykr without them. “Can you both leave us?”
Amahle’s lips twitched. “Come on, Ciaran.” She grabbed his hand. “We don’t want to get caught in the middle of a marital spat.” She tugged him out of the room, the door clicking shut behind her. I locked it, not looking at Rykr, my body tense.
“What happened?” Rykr’s voice was clipped. Angry even.
I turned toward him, feeling his irritation through the bond. It fed my own anger. “Smug bastard.”
“I heard that.”
“I meant for you to.”
“Good.”
I set my jaw.
“Things didn’t go to plan,” I admitted. “When I saw my mother, she was already leaving the House of the Veil. I followed her to the sewer entrance—”
Rykr inhaled sharply.
I frowned at him but pressed on. “A guard caught us trying to go after her and demanded our names. I tried a sleeping spell, but it failed, and my mother had to intervene.”
He stared at me, unblinking. My confidence faltered as I finished, “But I don’t want to hear even a shred of condemnation, Rykr. You have no moral high ground to condemn me from this time.”
“Thorne is harmless. And he’s not going to get caught. You, on the other hand, have a way of drawing attention and putting both our necks at risk.”
“Says the man who wouldn’t kneel to Lord Haldron yesterday,” I shot back.
“I don’t bow to any man. Not anymore. And definitely not to the likes of Haldron.”
I laughed without humor. “Another lie?”
“An inconvenient truth.”
My mind spun with possibilities, each one darker than the last. Rykr had secrets—more than I could count. What if Thorne wasn’t just a friend, but a scout? What if more Liriens lurked in Emberstone, watching, waiting for the right moment to strike?
And Rykr … was he their leader, or just another pawn in a game I didn’t understand? The bond hummed with his frustration, his tension, but it told me nothing of his true intentions.
Rykr chuckled.
“Something funny?” I glared at him.
“You seem to forget I can hear your thoughts. You’re so self-righteous.”
“I really don’t have the patience for your lectures right now, Rykr. Yes, I almost got caught by a guard, but I was doing nothing wrong. If the damned sleeping spell I tried hadn’t failed, it would have been fine.”
His brows came together. “Sleeping spell?”
“I’ve done it dozens of times. It’s always worked. I don’t know what happened.”
“Have you ever used it on me?”
I shifted, my eyes widening slightly.
What?
“I-I—I don’t see how that’s relevant.”
Rykr advanced, shaking his head. “I knew something felt off when I woke up this morning. Like I’d been drugged. I was shocked enough that you slipped out of the room without you waking me but that’s how you did it, isn’t it? You used a spell.”
Heat flushed my face. “So what? What difference does it make?”
He used his body like armor, approaching with an ease and power that forced me back until I was pinned against the wall behind me.
“You know it makes a difference, Seren. If I’d done something like that to you, you’d be accusing me of gods-know-what.
That’s the pattern. Treat me like the enemy except when it’s convenient.
Everything I do is examined with suspicion of treachery and malice, even when I tell you the truth. ”
My breath hitched, anger warring with the thrill of his thigh grazing mine, the way he towered over me, the heat between us like a fuse waiting to be lit. “But you don’t always tell the truth. Your friend didn’t come to tell you about being accused of abandonment, did he?”
“As a matter of fact, he did tell me something, but I didn’t want to risk sharing it in front of your friends—for your sake. Now I’m starting to wonder if I should even tell you.”
“Yes, why would you tell me the truth? You’re a Lirien. A godsdamned lying son-of-a-bitch Lirien. Ready to run back there as soon as you get a chance.”
“The crown of Lirien summons me, Seren. That’s the truth. I’ve never pretended otherwise.” He loomed over me. “You knew I was Lirien when you saved me.”
“There is no crown of Lirien,” I spat back, then shoved him away.
He blocked me as I tried to move past him.
“We’re already up to our necks with obligations to each other, Seren.
You really want to know more? Every dark, dangerous secret that Haldron might torture out of you to use against me if he decides I’m a threat?
” His eyes flashed with pain. “Is that what you really want?”
His words settled into my chest, thick and cording the tense muscles of my arms, still ready for a fight.
But the bond whispered something more.
He wanted to protect me.
Fiercely.
Struggling to breathe, I swallowed a lump in my throat, not believing the emotion flooding through me. “What do you care, Rykr? You’re leaving. Whether or not we break this bond, right? Our debts to each other are paid. I’m nothing more than your greatest weakness. You said it yourself.”