Chapter Ten
I hold onto my knees for support and exhale a few shallow breaths before turning to Ryder. The God Shirin stares up at me in shame from the half-shattered podium on the floor beside me.
“What the fuck was that?!” I exclaim, dusting off the remnants of that dirty city from my clothes. He shrugs his shoulders as if we weren’t just hunted down and chased out of that realm by crazed men.
“I told you it was going to be dangerous,” Ryder remarks and begins walking nonchalantly towards the surrounding forest. “You just had to come with me.” He smirks, his breath barely audible over my laboured breathing.
The temple’s ruins are an assault course under my feet, and I have to step over and duck underneath random bits of debris from fallen walls and crumbling ceilings to catch up to him.
That boy sure can stride.
“It would have been nice to know that pretty much everyone in there wants you dead.” I breathe, gesturing to the gnarled tree in the distance, my arms crossed in frustration.
“Not everyone,” the devious smirk reclaims his lips. “Psy didn’t want to kill me.” He chuckles, scratching the back of his neck, as if this is all just one big joke.
“I’m serious!” I exclaim, but he only stops in his strides and exhales deeply.
“Look, you didn’t have to come.” He shoots me a side glare, which only increases my angst. “You’re so cute when you’re mad.” His fingers cup my chin, and for a minute, my anger dissipates in the dark swirl of his eyes.
I have to quickly look away to remember myself.
“If I didn’t come, you would still be in there fighting people for money.” I maintain my frustration, but he just glances at me, shrugging his shoulders again.
“I would have found a way out.” He says softly, his eyebrows drawing in.
“How?” This time, my eyes find his again as I cross my arms tighter.
“Look, we don’t have time for this, any minute now they are going to send men out to track us down and kill us, so can you please get angry at me another time.” Ryder looks from left to right, assessing his surroundings.
My arms drop to my sides as I exhale and follow him deeper into the forest.
“That sword better have been worth it,” I mutter under my breath as I trail slightly behind him, my feet crunching on the twigs and stones below.
He turns to me, half his face hidden by the shadows of darkness suffocating the forest. But, even in the poor lighting, I can tell his eyebrows are rigid, and his gaze is serious.
“That sword holds more power than you could ever know.” Ryder’s eyes scan my own for a moment before breaking away.
He continues walking. “And it wasn’t even Fang’s sword, he asked me to steal it for him from the Southside…
and I did, just not for him.” His eyes sparkle in the moonlight as he smirks at me.
He flexes the muscles in his hands, scrunching and then unscrunching them.
They’re bruised and bloody, but he doesn’t wince.
My stomach flutters. Why does he have to be so Gods damn attractive?
“What’s so special about it anyway?” I avert my eyes from the definition in his arms and back to the forest ahead.
“It’s not the sword that’s special, it’s its past,” Ryder says, piquing my interest. His voice carries through the forest and bounces off the trees around us. “It’s said to have been owned by Salem Lewis”
I gulp.
“The Salem Lewis?” I ask, my brows knitting together. “The hitman?”
A chill skates down my spine.
Everyone had heard of him. Bound by Xoro. One of Moon’s most prolific killers. A name spoken in lowered voices and unfinished sentences—right up until the RHE finally put him down. People said Salem Lewis never missed. That he didn’t need luck, or mercy, or even allies.
They said his sword carried the reason why.
A weapon soaked in more blood and pain than even a scorcher had ever seen. Rumoured to hold something inside it—some buried strength, some remnant of the man himself—that made him unstoppable for years.
If he really has his blade…
It isn’t just rare.
It’s priceless.
“So you’ve heard of him then?” He winks at me, and I scoff at him in disbelief.
“That’s crazy!” I exclaim. “Do you know how many people would kill you to get that sword? Owning it is like placing a literal target on your back!” His unbothered body language gets under my skin, so I stomp my feet a little heavier behind him.
“And you what, just keep it above your bed for everyone to see?” Sarcasm laces my words, and he chuckles, pushing his loose locks off his forehead, running his fingers through his silky hair.
Even after the fighting and the tainted air from that place, Ryder still looks perfect, untouched by the chaos.
The only sure sign of any conflict is the slight bruise above his cheekbone and the dark patches on his knuckles.
“If you think I would be stupid enough to hang it above my bed, you don’t know me too well.” Is all that he says, and I huff in response.
If I didn’t know him enough, it’s because he doesn’t tell me anything. I mean, how much do I really know about this boy? I just found out that he had a whole other existence in the shadow realm where he lied, stole and fought people for money.
Now he wants to act like I’m the problem.
“Maybe you’re right, Venom.” The crunching of his boots on the ground comes to a halt as he turns to face me.
“Don’t call me that!” Ryder orders, his voice a low rasp which makes my heart skip a beat.
“How do you expect me to know you, when you have so many secrets!” I exclaim, and his features soften.
“Asha.” He cups my face, his voice soft enough to make me gasp.
“I hide things from you because I want to keep you safe.” He runs his hands through his hair, and the dark in his eyes whirls with a silent fear.
Fear of losing me again. “And I didn’t tell you about Venom, because I’m not him anymore.
” He exhales and turns away from me, looking up at the crescent moon hanging in the starry night.
“But I want to feel like I know you…All of you.” I walk the distance between us and place an arm around his waist, resting my head on his bicep.
“All you need to know is that I love you.” He kisses the top of my head, and my stomach flutters. “This Ryder now loves you.” He points to his chest, making me smile. “And I’m the only Ryder that counts.”
“There’s nothing you could do or say that could make me not love you,” I whisper into his lips. His tongue drags slowly across his bottom lip, and suddenly it feels as if the space between us is too large. “Kiss me,” I plead, standing on my tiptoes, his hot breath caressing me.
“I like it when you tell me what to do,” He growls, the black swirl in his eyes twisting like a tornado. “Beg me,” his hand traces the skin on my inner thigh, making me gasp. It rises higher and higher until it caresses the bundle of nerves between my thighs.
He feels electric.
I moan into him, but his hand drifts away. “Beg,” he demands again, pulling his bottom lip into his teeth.
“Please…kiss me.” I plead again. “Please—
The growl that escapes him is animalistic as his lips crash onto mine for the first time in weeks. I have longed for this, dreamt about the sweetness of his lips on mine; the incandescent feel of our bodies pressed tightly—so tightly—against each other.
His hand trails down my back and stops at my waist, sending shivers down my spine as his tongue enters my mouth.
My heartbeat races as I trace the hard ridges of his abs with my fingertips and tug on his belt.
I let out a moan with every wet kiss he leaves on my neck.
I feel his cheekbones rise as he smirks at my vocalisation, though his fingers don’t stop rubbing between my legs.
He can’t be close enough.
“Are you sure?” Ryder whispers in my ear; the sound ripples through my whole body, making my back arch.
“We have five days, best believe I’m making the most of them,” I whisper back, and he chuckles before smashing his lips intensely on mine, walking us forward, lips still tethered, until the small of my back meets the cold ridges of a tree trunk.
He places his knee between my thighs, and my hips buckle against it, sending tiny waves of pleasure rippling through my body.
His trousers tighten as my hand squeezes the hard shape blooming beneath them.
Now a moan escapes him, and a small smirk plasters on my face.
He massages my breasts, fiddling with my nipples, as his other finger enters me.
“You’re so wet for me,” He breathes, and I gasp as he plunges his digit deep into me in a sweet rhythm. I kiss him harder, wanting all of him as soon as possible, but before I can get what I desire, his body stiffens, and he pulls away from me.
For a heartbeat i just stare at him, perplexed, trying to catch my breath.
“What’s the matter?” I ask, my heart pounding against my ribcage.
“Something doesn’t feel right… Something’s wrong with River.” Ryder states and looks down at his body as if assessing it, his cheeks a little flustered. “We need to get back… Now!”
***
It’s hard to keep up with Ryder. His feet are moving quickly with determination and worry. There’s a dull ache in my chest, an anxiety creeping up the back of my throat. If River really is in danger, we are walking ourselves right into it.
“How do you know something is wrong?” I call out to him, my ragged breaths overpronouncing each word.
“Something just doesn’t feel right,” The wind takes Ryder’s voice as he wades a few metres ahead of me, his boots crunching under the sediment of the forest. I can see Sun Castle, the sun’s rays varnishing it in an incandescent light, but the ache still follows, an eeriness sticking to us like shadows.
“Can you portal to his room?” Ryder asks as I catch up to him.