Chapter 71
Allie
Only after the crowd had mercifully dissipated in a haze of stupor and the fortress doors had banged closed behind us did I look at Ryker.
“What was that?” I asked.
“A different approach.” He still hadn’t let go of my hand. “I’ve tried to be patient and calm and understanding. I lost Geryll. Nadya’s in my dungeons. That’s proof it doesn’t always work.”
“Don’t let this harden you,” I said.
“Not forever.” He shook his head. “But, right now, I need to be. The civilians are scared and they need a strong hand to guide them.”
“That’s true,” I said evenly. “Just–just make sure you don’t steel yourself too much.”
“You heard them.” There was a strange curl to his lip. “Nobody wants the duty, but everyone has an opinion.”
I huffed a small laugh. “That sounds like something I’d say.”
“What can I say.” The tightness of his mouth softened as he blinked at me. “You’re rubbing off on me.”
“I, for one, loved both of your little speeches,” Dax said. He’d finally let go of his dagger, the tension in his neck loosened. “More steel, less sentiment.”
“Leave us alone, please,” was Ryker’s reply as he kept staring at me.
Dax opened his mouth to argue.
“Now,” Ryker said.
Dax huffed, but turned on his heel, vanishing down the labyrinth of corridors.
Finally alone, Ryker sighed. “Nadya’s working with the same person who attacked Evie’s wedding and wants you all dead.”
A sharpness compressed my lungs.
The danger never ended, did it?
“That means that someone’s been plotting against you, the Blood Brotherhood, and Protectorate for years.” I bit my lip, exhaling noisily. “The ledger discrepancies only go back two years. At least what we found so far.”
“Nadya came here before that. Sent by an heir.” His jaw ticked. “An heir who ordered her to kill people and whom she still highly regards. Apparently, nobody should dare speak about him.”
My mind flashed back to Beren’s deceptive eagerness to claim Ryker as one of their own. “An heir?”
“A secret, misunderstood one that promises glory.” He cracked his knuckles. “Whom I am very keen to meet.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way.” I hesitated. “But what are the chances you might actually have siblings?”
He let out a sharp breath, the ghosts of the past fighting with the present over which could wound him more. “I can’t guarantee my father didn’t populate this world more in distant lands, but my claim on Solkar’s Reach comes from my mother.”
“Beren was trying hard to convince me otherwise during our negotiation.”
A corner of his mouth ticked up. “Intimidation meeting.”
“Whatever that was, he really pressed the issue of you two being related,” I said. “Could he be aware of this heir and use him against you?”
“He’s foaming at the mouth to usurp me, but for his own gain.” He shook his head. “I think Beren’s in over his head and whoever sent Nadya is playing him. If he kills me, this heir wins.”
My fingers curled in his hand. “Who in the bleeding stars would want both you and me dead?”
“And Zandyr,” he said. When I furrowed my brows, he went on, “He’s the Dragon.”
Zandyr. Zandyr and Evie. Evie and Zandyr. No, it didn’t flow.
“Even his name is pompous.” I wrinkled my nose. “But if he's on the kill list too, then…”
“This strange heir is targeting other heirs.” Ryker shook his head. “Fabrian’s already dead, so the Serpents are sorted.”
“But whoever’s after us fought alongside the Serpents against the Blood Brotherhood.”
“Yes. Sound familiar?”
“The Borderline Bands,” I whispered. Nobody hated Clan heirs as much as them–but they loved Clan gold.
“They were strewn among the Serpent soldiers,” he said gravely.
I exhaled hard. “They don’t have enough power to wage a war or infiltrate Clans. They would have killed us long ago if they’d been able to.”
“And they were among the first ones sent to slaughter in the war. The Butcher kept most of his Serpent troops behind and protected behind the veil. My guess is the Borderline Bands are wrapped up in a scheme they don’t fully understand, their minds warped like Nadya’s.”
“So then who?” I asked when the ugly moment stretched too long. “Who is after us?”
The question which had been haunting us since the attack at the wedding. Who was mad and bold enough to rattle two of the greatest Clans in Malhaven?
“I don’t know.” Frustration bristled his energy. “But whoever this blasted heir is, he’s been working in the shadows undisturbed for too long.”
“He’s older than us,” I said. “Then why not kill us when we were younger and defenseless? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Maybe he was waiting for something. Or needed something.”
“Something like gold?” My eyes widened. “The Protectorate vaults.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” he began tentatively.
“I probably will, but I appreciate the warning nonetheless.”
“The Serpent vaults were much more primed for the taking than the Protectorate’s,” he said gently.
“Yes, we’re broke.” Especially now, but it’s not like we were rolling in gold before. I licked my teeth. That gold, which belonged to the people of Aquila, had been stolen and squandered to destroy us. Sickening. “Perhaps we were an easier target.”
“Or someone from the inside made you one,” he said.
“We were betrayed. You were betrayed.” We locked eyes. “Who has that kind of power?”
“Who has that kind of hatred?”
“Or envy. If he considers himself an heir, then he thinks he’s owed something just because.”
The worst Clan successor imaginable–one who hadn’t earned their power and used it for evil.
The sigh that ripped from him warmed my forehead. “How could Nadya be so loyal to someone who deserves so little of it?”
“Hey,” I said softly, my free hand grasping his shoulder. He leaned into the small touch, like his entire body had been waiting an eternity for it. “The seeds which have been planted cannot be destroyed.”
“No, but I was supposed to sway their growth,” he muttered, shaking his head. “How did everything go so wrong?”
“You wanted to see the good in Nadya. Wanted to help her. You can’t blame yourself.”
“I can.” He let out a mirthless laugh. His energy shook with anguish. “She–she was supposed to kill me, but murdered my mother instead.”
I clenched my jaw to keep from whirling a curse Nadya’s way. I wouldn’t reward evil with a blight on my soul.
“She could have been lying to wound you,” I said as soothingly as I could.
“Does it matter?” He shrugged, exhausted. “She died in the plague. So I have her death, the children’s, and Geryll’s on my hands. Just because I decided to shelter a starving child.”
“You cannot blame yourself for someone else’s actions.”
“Have you stopped blaming yourself for your father’s death?”
I sucked in a breath, mouth drying.
I shook my head. I doubted I ever would.
“You think I don’t know you, but I do,” he went on. “You wonder if you’d have been faster, more vigilant, if you hadn’t left his side, if you could have prevented it. Those are the exact thoughts torturing me right now. And I’m sorry you had to live through them.”
The words rang true. I suddenly felt seen and exposed all at once.
“Don’t let them consume you like they did with me,” I said.
“I don’t know how to stop them. Nadya was right.
She wore the perfect disguise to tug on this weak heart of mine.
She said–” He shook his head, as if trying to already carve that memory from his mind, but knowing he couldn’t.
“She said my kindness sealed my mother’s fate.
That this heir will bring glory to Solkar’s Reach.
That the crater isn’t content under my rule–”
He froze under my touch, gaze glazing over as he stared at nothing.
“Ryker?” I asked, concerned.
His eyes sparked.
“She said the crater’s unhappy,” he mouthed slowly. “Not Solkar’s Reach. Not its people. The crater.”
Eyes still frozen in the distance, he took both of my hands in his and pressed them against his chest. The connection between us bloomed, warming my insides and fluttering my heart.
“We know Solkar’s Heart is wounded,” he went on, just as slowly, building the realization word for word in front of my eyes.
“The Northern Clans claim they’re not getting their share of power.
What if the entire crater turned against us because it’s bleeding and actually isn’t happy with us because of it? ”
I raised my brows. “Making us suffer because it’s wounded?”
His gaze snapped to me. “Or trying to gain our attention through any means necessary. It has its own mind. It didn’t let you leave to protect you.”
Debatable, since it had let Nadya kill people inside of it. But I was still alive. I might have met a gruesome fate like Geryll’s if I’d left.
“So the crater’s melting down because of a meltdown?” As soon as the words left my throat, a tired laugh followed. “Dax would have groaned so hard at that.”
“Why? It’s funny.” His gaze softened. “You’re amazing.”
“Thanks,” I said before my mind caught up.
That–that compliment hadn’t come from his lips. It had whispered in my mind, as clearly as if he’d burrowed his very essence into me.
My heart gave a startled tug.
Ryker stared at me, eyes wide, mouth agape, and I was doing the same thing, as if our thoughts hadn’t just broken the laws of existence as we knew it.
“Did you–” I leaned forward, whispering, “Did you just speak into my mind?”
“I believe so.” A lazy smile bloomed on his face, vanquishing some of the shadows. “Our minds seemed to have finally accepted what we are.”
I gulped. I still had a hard time believing it myself. “Which is?”
Ryker opened his mouth, but his words got stolen by harsh footsteps.
He clenched his jaw as Dax rushed to our side. “I asked you–”
Dax narrowed his eyes on him, face contorted with rage. “Vylkor’s dead.”