3. Raea
Raea
That night, I sleep fitfully. Tossing and turning and crying until Ryker settles me again. By the time morning comes, I look like I've been hollowed out. I want to burrow back into the sheets and sleep more, but we can’t stay here forever. We need a plan.
I dress in my school uniform, feeling more relaxed with the pants that hug my legs and the top that allows for easy movement. My neck is looking much better, only a small bandage is needed—easy enough to hide under clothing.
Ryker and I are handed breakfast as we arrive at the conference room, where our media teams, guards, and pilots are gathered.
I sit, taking a long sip of my tea, letting the heat settle into my bones.
At least this room was untouched, unlike the rest of the transport.
Today a team will make repairs where it’s needed and with what little supplies we have.
The housing staff were up late cleaning.
Everything looks and smells clean—except for the dark, black blood that still clings to the floors and walls throughout the transport.
That blood is like a permanent stain that no amount of scrubbing can remove.
“What’s the plan?” Captain Oktavious asks sternly. He looks around the room, refusing to meet my eyes.
Before I can claim his attention, Ryker answers. “You work for the crown. Last I checked, Princess Raea is that crown.”
I bite back the urge to snap at him.
Finally, all the gazes in the room fall onto me.
“First, everyone aboard needs to sign a confidentiality agreement. Nobody speaks of this. Second, I think we should go back to Kyrr,” I say, swallowing my doubt. Ryker’s hand on my bouncing knee that keeps me going. “We can’t hide forever. Plus, we need to warn the crowns.”
Ryker nods. “The kingdoms need to know so they can be prepared, but we do it covertly. We should head back to school and act as if nothing happened. The shadow forces haven’t exposed themselves yet, so neither will we. It gives us some time.”
I catch Ezra’s glare from across the room. He hates this idea. Rune and Aksel mutter something unintelligible before agreeing that they’ll both return to campus with us. Ezra relents, agreeing as well.
“May we turn the system back on now, Princess?” Captain Oktavious asks, his tone dripping with condescension.
The chair beside me crashes to the floor. In the blink of an eye, Ryker has the captain pinned against the wall, his forearm crushing into Oktavious’s throat, cutting off his air supply.
The entire bridge goes still.
“Do you know who you’re speaking to?” Ryker asks. The softness of his voice is far more terrifying than a shout. “That is your Princess.” His grip tightens. “And you will show her the respect she deserves, or you will pray the gods end you before I do.”
Oktavious claws at Ryker’s arm, his face turning a dark, furious red.
“If she says we are leaving now, you prepare the ship. If she says we leave in five days, you wait. And if you ever speak to her like that again—” Ryker leans in, eyes dark and lethal. “—you won’t speak at all.”
The captain nods frantically.
Ryker releases him with a shove, and Oktavious collapses to the floor, gasping for air.
Ryker turns slowly, his gaze sweeping the room. “Does anyone else have a problem with her plan?”
No one moves. No one breathes.
“Good.” He turns back to me. The fury in his expression fades, replaced by something softer, something only meant for me. His jaw ticks as he runs a hand through his hair, exhaling slowly.
“Raea,” he says, voice gentle now, “when would you like to leave?”
Gods, I love him.
What does it say about me that I find this darker side of him attractive? I’ve known, it’s not new, and yet—
“As soon as we can. We head straight to Kyrr to check in, then straight to Baedyn. Do you need to go home for anything?” I look at Rune and Aksel who both shake their heads. “Great. Let’s get flight-ready.” With that, I push away from the table, grab my muffin, and spin on my heel.
The media team insisted on a few photos before we left. So now, Ryker and I are standing at the edge of the lake beneath a pale morning sky, pretending the world isn’t unraveling around us.
“Closer,” Maya calls.
Ryker slides his hand around my waist, tugging me against his side. The warmth of him seeps through the layers of my coat, and for a moment, I let myself lean into it.
“Look at each other,” Cassia says next.
My gaze lifts to his, and my chest tightens. Gods, I’m exhausted. Every part of me aches, but Ryker still looks at me like I’m something precious. Something worth burning kingdoms for.
His thumb brushes against my hip once. “You okay?” he asks, too low for the others to hear.
No.
Not even remotely.
But I nod anyway.
Another series of clicks echoes across the shoreline. “Perfect,” Kaes says. “This is good. People need to see you both falling in love. That everything is fine and safe.”
Ryker’s jaw tightens, but he keeps the easy princely smile in place. I’m beginning to realize just how often both of us perform for the world.
“One more,” Anneli says. “Maybe walking?”
Ryker glances down at me. “Think you can survive one more picture, Princess?”
A breath of a laugh escapes me before I can stop it. “Barely.”
His fingers intertwine with mine, and together we walk the shoreline while the cameras continue snapping. To anyone watching, we probably look happy. Untouched. In love beneath the stars. Not two people pretending we hadn’t buried ten bodies only hours before.
Ryker drops his forehead to mine, both of us taking a moment to breathe while the girls continue snapping photos around us.
I rise onto my toes, sealing my mouth over his.
His tongue finds mine, and a soft gasp escapes me when he grips the backs of my thighs and lifts me into his arms.
“Ryker,” I whisper against his lips, pulling back slightly, suddenly aware of our audience.
He turns his back on them without a care. “All done here,” he calls over his shoulder as he carries me back toward the transport.
He doesn’t set me down until we reach our room.
I know somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, now is not the time to be thinking these unholy thoughts about Ryker, but we both know this is a distraction—one I'm willing to get lost in.
“You’re freezing,” he mutters, breaking away long enough to get those two words in before I’m sealing his mouth over with mine.
We should stop. We should be getting ready to leave. And yet…
I don’t want to.
As if reading my thoughts, Ryker lowers me onto the bed, and then I feel the delicious press of his body against mine.
“Soraea, love,” he whispers, brushing back my hair, “you keep wincing. And while I’d love nothing more than to keep kissing you, I’m not interested in causing you pain.”
“I’m—”
His lips capture mine, silencing me. A dark laugh slips from him. “Whatever sassy comeback you were about to say, keep it to yourself. All I want to hear from those beautiful lips is, ‘Thank you, Ryker, my caring, thoughtful, handsome mate.’”
Maybe it’s petulant, but I push his hand away and stick out my tongue instead, making him smile so big his dimple shows.
“Time to get changed,” he says, lifting himself off me and heading to the wardrobe where my clothes still haven’t been unpacked after our rushed departure from Mori.
He digs through my bags until he finds my Nakata corset, my Xori pants, and a semi-wrinkled black shirt. Ryker helps me off the bed, turning me around so my back is to him when he unzips the gown I’m wearing and presses a delicate kiss to my bare shoulder.
I shiver.
“I’ll step out so you can dress,” he whispers.
I nod, holding my dress to my front with the rest loosely hanging off my frame. As much as I want to beg him to stay, he has only seen me naked once before, and that was a completely different situation. Him seeing me naked now, especially in the daylight, feels…exposing.
The door clicks shut, allowing me a few moments to collect myself. If I’m being honest, I don’t know how I feel, but I’m thankful he knows me well enough to stop, even if I don’t seem capable of stopping myself.
The moment I’m alone again, the fear comes rushing back.
There’s nothing special about me. Sure, I have this strange gift of starlight, but what makes my gift the magic that is supposed to save us? Why didn’t the gods send me some sort of instruction manual? Maybe if they had, Kuron would be alive.
The staff would be alive.
I slip on my boots when Ryker enters the room. Wordlessly, he kneels, setting my boot on his knee, lacing it for me.
Sapphire eyes swirl with unease when they meet mine. “I’ve got you,” he says, “and I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
Baedyn comes into view, and I’d be lying if my hands weren’t clammy from being back here pretending as if nothing had happened.
“Where should I drop you, Princess?” The captain glances at me.
“The main school launch pad.”
He nods and lowers us into Baedyn’s atmosphere, not far from Drithm. The comms ring with an all clear.
I head back to the entrance, where Ryker is speaking in hushed tones with our security team. I hear Rune say, “We need to look into Princess Aolyn. We can’t be sure she wasn’t involved.”
“She couldn’t know. She was the one to warn me,” I interject, stepping closer. All heads swivel toward me. “Aolyn wouldn’t have let her father do this. Besides, we can’t even be sure it was King Alexi.”
Aksel’s jaw ticks.
It’s Ezra who says, “Princess, we can’t be sure, and with you rooming together…”
“Stay with me,” Ryker says. “Just at night.” He glances toward Ezra. “The terrace is secure. I need two stationed outside my room.”
They nod, but I’m already preparing my refusal. There are already enough rumors without me moving into Ryker’s room.
“You can’t be serious,” I say through clenched teeth. “I can’t just move in with you.”
Ryker turns to face me fully. “Soraea, it’s for your safety. It makes it easier—”
“I don’t care. I can’t move in with you. You think the gossip is horrible now?” I scoff. “What’s everyone going to think when every morning I’m sneaking back into my own room? Besides, Aolyn isn’t guilty.”
Ryker sighs, shoving a hand through his hair. He looks like he’s about to argue back, but the transport stops moving, and I feel the anti-gravity turn on. All at once, the back ramp opens.
“Time for that princess smile,” Ryker says, tugging me close, though I can see his frustration in the way he clenches his jaw. “Let’s put that charm to use.”
I blow out a long breath and follow him down the ramp, keeping my hand interlaced with his. Chancellor Xara is waiting. She can always tell when something’s wrong, so I fake a yawn and lean against Ryker.
“Hi,” I say with false enthusiasm, pasting on a tight smile.
I can feel her eyes scrutinizing every inch of us. “So it’s true?”
The chancellor looks past us to see our security team, armed, and heading down the ramp behind us.
I almost ask what she’s talking about when Ryker says, “That I love Raea or that our security team has grown? Because the answer to both is yes.”
I pretend to swoon while panic claws up my throat.
The chancellor looks us over and nods. “Keep it professional. No slipping grades, no skipping class, and—” She blows out a long breath.
“No Bonding.” She pinches the bridge of her nose.
“Now, I’ve been waiting for you both because Professor Ainslyn wants to see you in his office.
” She throws her hands up in surrender, shaking her head as she backs away, muttering something about this being a huge mess.
She turns and strides back into the administration building.
Ryker nods to the men, and they spread out, keeping their distance, but closer than before. “Shall we?” He tilts his head toward the Executive Yard. Taeolyn still looks beautiful, but something about it feels duller now. Like the world shifted while we were gone.
Maybe it has.
We make it up the steps of Taeolyn, the doors slicing open, before I’m assaulted. “Oh my gods, Raea,” Ciara squeals, jumping on me and tackling me to the ground.