Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Ryder
“How much longer?” Alyssa asked grimly. She seemed so accepting of her situation, but I knew she’d be screaming in frustration in her head.
“Soon,” Fizzle said cryptically. Then, as if remembering how close he was to losing it all, he clarified, “I have no way of telling. But you’re getting stronger.”
Alyssa just nodded once. There was only so much she could take and I could tell she was quickly reaching her limit. Maybe the Fifth Court would be able to give us the answers we needed, or at least some form of certainty.
I could feel my wolf pacing at the edges of my mind, agitated by the tension, by the anger radiating from my brothers.
Ripples of fur were cascading across Dean’s forearms. His wolf pushed toward the surface, demanding to be let out.
Maddox’s lion was there too, a low rumble I could almost hear. And Tank...
A crack of splintering wood made me flinch.
I looked over to see talons ripping through Tank’s fingers, buried deep in the back of the chair he’d been gripping. The wood groaned and crumbled under the pressure of his bear’s strength.
Tank didn’t seem to notice. His eyes were fixed on Fizzle with an intensity that made my stomach clench.
We were all close to losing it. Too close.
The new shifter sides of us were volatile at the best of times, and when it came to Alyssa, to threats to our mate, we hadn’t learned how to manage the flood of protective fury that came with it.
We hadn’t had time to figure out where we ended and our beasts began.
Fizzle looked between us all, taking in the barely-contained violence, the magic crackling in the air, the way we’d unconsciously arranged ourselves around Alyssa like a wall of muscle and teeth and fury.
And for a moment, strangely, he actually seemed... happy?
Then Alyssa stepped forward, and all trace of softness vanished from her expression.
“Is that everything? Think very carefully before you speak, Fizzle. This is your last chance. Your only chance. And if you’ve told me everything, I can’t guarantee that I’m not going to kill you anyway. Your lies and manipulations end here and now. Do you understand me?”
Her voice was ice and fire, power thrumming beneath every word. I’d never heard her sound like that before. Like a queen pronouncing sentence. Like something ancient and terrible wearing the face of the woman I loved.
Fizzle looked between us all again, and when his gaze finally settled on Alyssa, his eyes were glimmering with unshed tears.
“I’m so proud of you,” he said softly.
Whatever I’d expected him to say, it wasn’t that.
“I watched over you for years,” Fizzle continued, his voice thick with emotion.
“Guided you where I could. And the Queen you have become has been an honour to behold.” He dipped his head in something like a bow.
“But you’re right. As much as I want to protect you, to nudge you in the right direction, it’s time for you to make your own decisions.
For me to trust you enough to make the right choices. ”
“Then start trusting,” Alyssa snapped. “Finish whatever it is that you have left to say.”
Fizzle nodded, seeming to accept his fate.
Maddox stepped in before anyone else could speak, his voice calm and measured. The peacekeeper, as always.
“We need a plan,” he said. “But first, let’s establish where we actually stand.
” He ticked points off on his fingers. “We dealt a significant blow to Arik at the training camp. We freed the people of the Autumn Court. Tank carries the Spring Court magic. I carry the Summer Court magic now.” He touched the marks on his arm without seeming to realise he was doing it.
“And Alyssa is growing stronger every day.”
He looked around at all of us.
“So what do we need to do next?” Maddox asked.
“Kill the nightmare and free Damon,” Dean said immediately.
“Claim the remaining court magic,” Tank added.
We all looked at him in surprise. Tank wasn’t usually the one to suggest aggressive action.
He shrugged, his expression unreadable. “It seems to be the direction we’re heading. Four brothers, four courts. That’s not a coincidence.”
I looked at Fizzle. “Is he right? Is that what we need to do?”
Fizzle hesitated, then nodded slowly. “The courts were created to be united under one ruler. The magic was always meant to be joined together. If you want to defeat Arik, you’ll need to claim all four court lines… and possibly the Fifth as well.”
“So we need to go to the Autumn Court,” I said, thinking out loud. “Claim that magic before Arik can. Then take the Winter Court from him.”
“It’s not that simple,” Fizzle said. “Going after Winter means facing Arik directly. You’re not ready for that. Not yet.”
“Then we start with Autumn,” Dean said. “Build our strength.”
“You can’t claim the Autumn Court through bloodline,” Fizzle said quietly. “There is no heir left.”
That brought us all up short.
“You mentioned that before,” Maddox said. “What happened to the royal family?”
“They’re gone. But not because of Arik.” Fizzle’s wings drooped.
“When they saw what was coming, they understood that Arik would take their court and drain its magic like he’d tried to drain the Spring Court.
They made a choice. They returned their magic to the land itself.
Sacrificed themselves so that Arik couldn’t have it. ”
“So the magic is just... gone?” I asked.
“Not gone. Returned to Nymeria. To the land.” Fizzle looked at me, and there was something strange in his expression. Something that made my stomach drop. “The Autumn throne is empty, but the magic remains. To claim it, someone must face the court’s Guardian. And prove themselves worthy.”
The way he was looking at me...
“The Guardian,” Alyssa repeated slowly. “If we’re going to the Fifth Court anyway,” Alyssa continued, “maybe we can find the Autumn Guardian there. You said the Guardians gathered to witness my creation. Maybe they can be gathered again.”
“Perhaps,” Fizzle allowed.
Dean’s eyes narrowed. “You’re saying that Ryder is supposed to face this Guardian?”
No one said anything. But everyone was looking at me.
Of course it was me. My storm magic. My connection to wind and lightning and the wild, unpredictable fury of autumn tempests. Dean was so clearly linked to Winter that it couldn’t be him and there was no one else left.
“Ryder will have to face the Guardian,” Alyssa said softly, confirming what we already knew. “His magic aligns with the Autumn Court.”
“At least if we’re travelling to the Fifth Court, it’ll give him time to grow stronger,” Dean added. “Train. Prepare.”
I hadn’t thought of that. Hadn’t thought of any of this. The reality of it was just starting to sink in, cold and heavy in my gut.
I had to face a Guardian. A being powerful enough to protect an entire court’s worth of magic. A being that had watched over the Autumn line for centuries, that had witnessed the royal family sacrifice themselves rather than let their power fall into the wrong hands.
There was no way I was strong enough for that.
I was just Ryder. Just the beta. The one who cracked jokes and lightened the mood and stayed out of the way during the important moments. The one people looked past because there was nothing special to see.
They never looked twice at me.
The old wound throbbed, familiar and sharp.
But then I looked at Alyssa. At the woman I loved, who was carrying the weight of an entire realm on her shoulders. At my brothers, who’d already sacrificed so much. At the impossible odds stacked against us.
If facing a Guardian was what it took to give them a fighting chance, then that’s what I’d do.
Because there was nothing I wouldn’t do for her. For them. For this family we’d built out of blood and battle and bonds that couldn’t be broken.
“Okay,” I heard myself say. “So I fight a Guardian. How hard can it be?”
The joke fell flat. I could hear how hollow it sounded, but Maddox gave me a small, grateful smile anyway.
“In the meantime,” I continued, forcing my voice steady, “there’s one more thing we need to deal with. One more brother who needs us.”
I didn’t have to say Damon’s name. Everyone knew who I meant.
“Ryder’s right,” Alyssa said. “We’ve talked about the bite, about the risks. But we haven’t talked to him. Not really.” She looked around at all of us. “We go to him. Together. And we let him decide.”
Dean nodded slowly. “And if he says yes?”
“Then we do it,” Tank said. “Not here. Not on the ship. We wait until we reach the Fifth Court. Safer that way. If something goes wrong...”
“Nymeria might be able to help,” Alyssa finished. “Or at least, she might know more about what we’re dealing with. About the nightmare.”
“The nightmare is old,” Fizzle said quietly. We’d almost forgotten he was there. “Older than Arik. An ancient secret of the Winter Court, buried and forgotten until he dug it up. But yes, Nymeria may know how to destroy it. Or at least how to contain it.”
It wasn’t much. But it was more hope than we’d had an hour ago.
“So that’s the plan,” Alyssa said, and her voice had steadied, strengthened. The queen was back. “We set out for the Wildling Forest. We find the Fifth Court. We meet Nymeria. And along the way, we figure out how to save Damon and how to prepare Ryder to face the Guardian.”
She looked at each of us in turn, her gaze fierce and certain.
“Any objections?”
No one spoke.
“Then let’s go tell Damon he has a choice to make.”
We filed out of the cabin together, leaving Fizzle alone with the weight of his confessions. I was the last one through the door, and I paused at the threshold, looking back at the small owl griffin who had held so many secrets.
He looked... diminished. Smaller than I’d ever seen him. Like the secrets had been the only thing holding him upright, and now that they were gone, there was nothing left.
“For what it’s worth,” I said quietly, “I think you did the best you could. With what you knew. With what you had.”
Fizzle’s eyes met mine, and something like gratitude flickered across his features.
“Thank you, Ryder. That means more than you know.”
I nodded and turned away, following my brothers and my mate down into the hold where Damon waited.
The fear was still there. Fear of the Guardian, fear of failing, fear of not being enough. But underneath it, something else was growing. Something that felt almost like determination.
I would face a Guardian. I would prove myself worthy of the Autumn Court’s magic. And then I’d help tear Arik apart piece by piece until there was nothing left of him but a bad memory.
They never looked twice at me.
But they would. By the time this was over, they’d never be able to look away.