57. Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Ryker
“ S halna, get to my bedchamber right away,” I shouted from the doorway before rushing back and leading Kya from the bathing room toward the wardrobe after she had cleaned herself with a cloth, refusing to get in the tub.
I opened the wardrobe to grab some clothes, holding on to her hand, then handed them to her.
“Thank you,” she whispered and took a step back, deliberately facing me as she began to remove the filthy tattered fabric she had been wearing.
I didn’t know if she just wanted to keep her eyes on me or if it was something else.
My soul was settled having her back in my presence, but my heart ached when I looked at her. It took everything in me not to go right back to that realm and tear Daegel limb from limb for what he had done to her.
My calm demeanor was temporary, and I knew it wouldn’t last for long. I had to keep my mouth from gaping as she removed her clothes.
When I saw Kya running toward me in that field, I hardly recognized her. But seeing her now, it was as if she was in a different body altogether—nothing more than a husk of what she used to be.
I didn’t even know how to react, too shocked at the sight of her. So frail, so unlike the healthy, strong female that had walked through these halls before.
Her hair was a tangled mess of mud and twigs. Her skin… It clung to her like wet paper, revealing every bone in her sickeningly thin body. She was utterly emaciated. Dark shadows circled her sunken, bloodshot eyes.
They did this to her. They kept her on the brink of death.
I swallowed back my anger and heartache.
For now.
I leaned against the bed as the healer looked over Kya, stepping around the chair she was sitting in to inspect every inch of her body. The healer examined her arms and legs, her eyes, throat, and abdomen. She asked Kya questions about food and liquids she’d consumed, anything she was exposed to and what her environment was like—being as thorough as possible. All she knew was Kya had been taken to a foreign place and held captive.
“You’re weak due to malnourishment, dehydration, muscle atrophy, and sleep deprivation. Now, I need to ask you another question, but I need to know if you would prefer to discuss it in private,” Shalna asked Kya gently.
Kya’s brows pinched. “You can ask whatever you need to in front of Ryker. ”
Shalna glanced at me from the corner of her eye before taking a deep breath. “Alright. Were you sexually assaulted during your captivity?”
I froze. Unblinking, unmoving, unbreathing, and I was sure my heart stopped as I waited for the answer.
The slight widening of Kya’s eyes formed a pit in my stomach.
“I only need to know so I can check you for injuries or pregnancy, if needed,” Shalna whispered softly, comfortingly.
Kya swallowed and raised her chin. “I have no injuries and I’m not pregnant.”
She turned to look at me and spoke into my mind. “I was touched. Once. I stopped him before he could do anything. I’m sor—”
“You will not apologize for what was done to you. It was not your fault, and you are not to blame,” I said firmly, trying and failing to keep my voice calm and level.
My blood boiled, and I couldn’t control my shadows from darkening the room. I wanted to find who touched her—who had laid a hand on my wife. I wanted to tear his skin off and make him pay for touching what is mine—what belongs to me. It didn’t matter that he was stopped. The thought of anyone doing anything to Kya sent me into a blinding rage.
Shalna gasped.
“Ryker…” Kya said warily, her hand reaching for me.
“I’m not upset with you . I want to kill—”
“He’s already dead. He suffered for it. I promise. It’s done now, and there’s nothing that can change it,” she bit out.
The tension in the air was thick—not for each other but for what had happened.
I nodded and withdrew my shadows.
Shalna cleared her throat. “The last thing I need to check is your back. Can you lift your shirt please? ”
Kya stiffened and hesitated. Her eyes began to glisten, and her lower lip trembled. But she nodded and stood, turning to face away from us. She pulled at the collar of her shirt behind her neck until her back was exposed.
“Gods…” I whispered under my breath.
Two large gruesome scars marred the skin where her wings once were. They were pitted and disfigured, creating horrendous images in my mind of what could have possibly happened.
She had endured so much.
All my anger towards her withered away. She didn’t deserve the suffering of my frustration for leaving me on top of everything else she had already been subjected to.
Shalna didn’t make a sound and began tenderly pressing a finger around the areas. Kya’s skin twitched and shivered at the lightest touch.
“Are you in pain? Do they feel tender?”
Kya sniffled. “They feel wrong.”
“Hmm,” Shalna hummed. “Can you tell me what happened so I can better understand what I’m looking at here?”
Kya took a shaky breath.
I stepped around them until I was in front of her and took her hand in mine, leaning forward to kiss her softly.
“It’s okay,” I whispered down the bond.
“I know. It’s better they took my wings than my life,” she said quietly then wiped at her cheek and cleared her throat.
“They carved out my wings with a knife while I was kept immobile. I think they were trying to be quick about it, but it still felt like a lifetime.”
She was awake…
“Then one of them came back and cleaned the wounds with some kind of healing liquid of theirs.” Her voice broke, “Is there any way you can fix it?”
Shalna pulled down the shirt, and Kya turned around to face her, leaning against me with my arm wrapped around her thin waist.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about shifting. I think it would be a question best directed to the Spirits since that’s whom it stems from originally.” Her lips pulled into a tight line.
Odarum…
Kya needed to know. I wanted to tell her immediately, but it wasn’t the right time—not that there really was one. So much had already happened in the last few hours, I didn’t want to overwhelm her.
Shalna walked over to her bag and pulled out a few vials, setting them down on the table next to us. “Take one of these each day for the next ten days. It will help replenish the nutrients your body has been deprived of. Drink plenty of water and eat well, but not so much you make yourself sick. I’ll have food and water brought up for you. And you need to rest. If you have issues with sleeping, I have something that can help.”
Kya turned to the table and grabbed one of the vials. Shalna gave me a knowing look and nodded toward the door. I followed behind her, and she stopped as she placed her palm on the handle.
“It’s not just her body that’s broken, Lord Ryker,” she whispered so only I could hear.
I nodded slowly.
“I know what’s going on at the border, and I know she needs to be involved, but your mate needs to heal. Her body will do that in a few days’ time, but everything else… That will take longer.”
After we ate, Kya and I sat on the bed, her hand resting in mine as she stared down at it.
“I need to tell you some things that happened while I was there, what I learned,” she said, glancing up at me.
I missed gazing into those pine-green eyes. Even through everything, they were still filled with promise—the smallest embers of that once blazing fire within them.
I smiled, and those embers grew with the lifting of my lips. “Not tonight, little gem. We just need to rest tonight.”
She relaxed against me and looked at the pillows longingly with exhaustion in her gaze.
I guided her to bed and crawled in after her, not even bothering to undress.
“I missed you so much,” she whispered as I pulled her into me. “I love you, beyond the bond.”
My heart swelled, and I kissed her on the forehead. “Beyond the bond.”
It took mere seconds before her breaths were long and even. I closed my eyes, caressing the bond connecting us, content for the first time since she disappeared. Just as I was about to fall asleep with my mate back in my arms, Theron’s voice sounded in my head.
“Odarum wishes to see his Worthy.”