Chapter Thirteen
I pull Ryder away from the rest of the group, and he exhales in response. He knows why I want to talk to him, and he doesn’t look happy about it.
“Why did you make River promise that?” I ask seriously as he runs his hands through his blue-black hair. He doesn’t respond, not right away anyway, he pauses, staring at his feet and sighs before looking back at me with sombre eyes.
“Asha, I have to keep you safe. Gods, why won’t you let me keep you safe?
” He asks, another deep sigh escaping his mouth.
I wish there were a way to make him understand how I felt when he lay lifeless in that place.
His last breath sang through me like a symphony of twisted agony; it claimed my soul and stole the air from my lungs.
Its reverb lingering like a phantom echo, a wound refusing to heal.
It wasn’t a surface pain; a bruise, hell…
I dont know, it was a life-altering, all-consuming, never fucking relenting, gut-wrenching torture.
I could never feel truly safe in a place like that.
Hell, I don’t even know if I would’ve survived in that state.
My skin reacts as shivers whisper down my spine. I refuse to think about it any longer.
“I feel safe around you; you are my safe haven,” I respond, my voice cracking slightly. He places a gentle kiss on my forehead and wipes the tears that begin to fall from my eyes. His thumbs trace the softness of my cheeks so lightly I feel he is scared to break them.
“I know.” He tilts my head up slightly and lands a kiss on my lips. “That’s the problem, I hurt you before—
“That wasn’t you,” I interrupt.
“I wasn’t strong enough… I saw everything.
” He flinches slightly. “My hands tight around your throat. You almost died, Asha. I watched the light dwindle behind your eyes, and I couldn’t stop myself.
” He drops his head low. “I see you like that when I close my eyes. When I try to sleep,” he works his jaw harder.
“Gods, I can’t sleep.” He grits his teeth and tugs at his hair again.
“I have to live with that image of you in my head every day, and it fucking kills me.” He shakes his head slightly as he says this, his eyes waiting for me to say something, anything.
But all I can think about is how stupid and selfish I have been.
The images that torment me when I sleep have also been tormenting him.
My eyes dampen as he continues. “It may not have been me, but I saw everything. I watched my hands hurt you,” he says, looking down at them, and I cringe at the thought of them suffocating me.
“I can’t have that happen again. I just can’t, Asha.
” I place my hand on his cheek and sympathetically look into his eyes, but he looks away.
“I died before, I met my God. I am not afraid of dying, but I am so damn scared of hurting you again, of losing you.”
“You’re not going to lose me,” I turn his face so he is looking at me and kiss him again. He scans my eyes, and I see vulnerability flash behind his, only for a moment before fading just as quickly.
He sighs, then says, “Look, it’s like you said, it’s not gonna come to it, just let me have this, please.”
I don’t respond, and he holds my cheeks again.
“Please,” he repeats, and I know he is not going to quit until I agree with him, so I nod my head with reluctance—still, there is no way in hell I am letting anyone take him away from me again.
“Thank you,” he says, and I pull him into an embrace, squeezing him so tight he shuffles in his stance and chuckles.
“Hey lovebirds, while you stand there sucking each other’s faces off, there is a sludge monster literally trying to kill us!” River exclaims, walking away from a window and breaking me from Ryder’s captivating embrace.
“We don’t know it wants to kill us,” Nala adds, almost as if she is trying to convince herself.
“I don’t know about you, but I am not sticking around to find out,” River shrugs his shoulders and sinks into a chair.
“When did you get so…” Ryder pauses as if trying to find the right words, “annoying?” He asks, and I laugh. I must admit, River has really grown some balls within the last twenty-four hours or so.
“I dunno, my guess is it runs in the family,” River snaps back, making Ryder grit his teeth. I still haven’t fully come to terms with the fact that they are twins, like, I know they are brothers, I saw River bring Ryder back to life, but it is still weird to think about.
“Stop it, you two!” I interrupt, “River’s right,” I say, and Ryder gives me a cold stare, “Not about the annoying thing, I don’t find you annoying,” I kiss him on the cheek, and he relaxes a little, “We do need to come up with a plan.”
“I have a plan,” Ryder says, and we all look at him.
“You do?” I ask, and he nods his head. Of course, he has a plan. He always has a plan. I feel stupid for even thinking for a moment that he didn’t.
“First, I just need to grab something.” He states, and I raise an eyebrow in his direction. “Can you take me to Kamaria?” He asks, and I nod my head slowly. What could he possibly want in Kamaria? I was planning on taking a trip down there to see Versivius and Skypharoh anyway.
“Great!” He responds, “Now, why don’t you make yourself useful and figure out how to kill this thing while we’re gone.” Ryder states, sliding the glass over to River, who turns his nose up in disgust as he watches the creature writhe around the jar.
“You’re going down, mister,” River talks to the insidious slug, before raiding my father’s cleaning cupboards for bleach and salt and anything he thinks might affect the thing.
“Be careful,” I enthuse before looking over at Nala. “You gonna be okay here?” I ask, and she nods her head, walking over to me.
“I’ll be fine,” she squeezes me, “just don’t be long.” I hug her back, then nod my head in response before turning to Ryder and opening a portal to Kamaria on the wall beside us.
We emerge at the bottom of the forest. The sounds of running water and the floral scents of Kamaria make me feel content.
I haven’t been here in a few days; I’ve just been so busy with finding this cure.
I take a seat on a fallen tree trunk as Ryder rummages around in the bushes off to the right of us.
A loud slithering noise interrupts the breaking of the waterfall and running water, and brings a smile to my face.
I watch as the trees and plants shake slightly, making way for a creature or two.
“My Queen,” The sound of Versivius’ voice hisses through my mind as he shifts gradient and becomes a solid being before my eyes—his lilac scales reflecting off the dulled sun’s rays. Skypharoh is not far behind him. “I was wondering when you were going to come by.”
“You’ve got to stop calling me that,” I say, shaking my head at him.
“Nonsense,” He remarks, making me huff, his yellow diamond eyes a picture of devotion.
“Asha!” Skypharoh exclaims as if excited to see me. He nudges his face into mine, which makes me giggle.
“Sky,” I greet him, and he licks my face. I turn back to Versivius, “Do you know what’s going on out there?” I ask to get a gauge on what details I have to fill him in on.
“I know the power is dwindling, I can feel it,” He hisses, breaking his gaze from mine, “And I know the Gods are away.”
He watches me for a moment with an expression I am not familiar with; his camouflage washes over his face in patches before returning to his normal colour. I screw my eyebrows.
“Your camouflage, what’s wrong with it?” I turn to Skypharoh, whose invisible armour is failing all the same; the length of his spine flares with camouflaged spots and patches. It flashes—lilac into green like the forest.
“We Sky Serpants are what you call cold-blooded. We need the heat of the sun to survive.” He states, and my eyes meet his with sorrow.
Of course, they need warm conditions to thrive.
I place my hand on his nose, and his hot breath warms my skin.
Whatever is going on is not just affecting humans; it’s affecting the wildlife, too.
“Kamaria has been keeping us warm, but we cannot leave.” I nod my head at him in understanding as my eyes drift off into the distance.
Just then, I realise, the trees around us, the flowers, they all lack the vibrant colours and hues that I experienced the first time I came here.
I walk over to a nearby bush and hold a pink flower in my hand.
The petals, though still a bright pink, are duller than they were before.
I brush my thumb over the soft leaves, and they fall out with ease.
It’s not as bad as in the greenhouse, but this secret forest is dying.
“It started yesterday,” He says, looking at the forest around him.
“Ryder, you’ve got to see this,” I call out to him, and he looks at me over his shoulder, unsheathing a blade and placing it in a holster on his back.
“Is that?”
“Yes.” That’s all he says before walking over to me. I shake the intrigue of the Salem Lewis’ sword and bring my attention back to the issue at hand.
“The sickness, it’s in here too,” I state, and he furrows his eyebrows. “Versivius and Skypharoh are weak.” Ryder places a hand on the side of Versivius’ cheek and rests his head on him.
“We’re going to fix this.” He whispers, and Versivius trills before saying.
“And how do you expect to do that?” His tongue slides out of his mouth before snapping back in.
“The crescent gem,” I say simply, expecting a ton of warnings to flow from his tongue.
“The gem you speak of exists,” Versivius states matter-of-factly. “But it will be no easy feat to get it.”
Ryder’s eyes widen in tandem with mine.
“So it does exist.” The hope practically leaps off my tongue.