Chapter 24
Wren
The hum of the engine continues to put me on edge as I twitch in my seat.
We’ve been on the road long enough that my hips ache from sitting in such a constricting position for so long in the front passenger seat.
It feels unnatural being trapped in a machine like this jeep, and every bump in the asphalt sends a faint jolt up my spine as a reminder that I’d rather walk and feel the earth beneath me.
Even if the earth doesn’t feel the same about me.
Once more I shift in my seat and press my knees a little closer together, trying to ease a different kind of soreness.
That earns me a curious glance from Ryoden and I have to look out the window to stop him from seeing the heat that instantly crawls onto my cheeks.
Last time I shifted around he asked me if I needed to stop somewhere to use the restroom.
It’s mortifying to be under such scrutiny when each time he looks at me all I can think of is Torryn’s words.
Careful, sweetheart. We don’t want the humans to know that I’m filling your pussy so perfectly right now.
His touch lingers on my body, a tender ache that reminds me of the moment I decided to make a choice for me and my happiness in the midst of this war.
A smile tilts my lips up, absolutely no regret filling me in the aftermath.
I was terrified that I wouldn’t know what to do in the moment, but under his gentle touch and the way my body came to life instinctually, all of that fear faded quickly.
Now I’m left with our bond humming as a warm thread in the back of my mind, a constant reminder that I’m never alone, even when it may feel like it.
I need that more than I’d ever admit to anyone.
The silence in the jeep is thick, as it has been since we got on the road.
Ryoden drives with both hands on the wheel when I risk a glance back at him, finding his jaw set and eyes trained on the road like he’s prepared for battle at a moment’s notice.
Somehow the world streaming by outside the windows feels both too fast to take in but also agonizingly slow in the suffocating silence.
“So,” Eli says, making me jump slightly at his sudden proximity to my ear. “I know you gave me a quick debriefing at the house, but just to make sure I completely understand this plan…How long am I supposed to act like you’ve known each other and been engaged?”
Eli has been a quiet presence in the back seat until now, with his boots tapping against the floorboard and the gentle creak of the leather seat as he adjusts. Apparently he’s also grown tired of the uncomfortable silence.
I twist in my seat to look at him. He’s leaning forward between the front seats, elbows on his knees, eyes flicking between us with genuine concern. “I’m worried someone’s going to ask a question and I’ll stumble,” he adds. “Then we’re all screwed.”
Ryoden and I speak at the same time.
“Tell them it’s above your pay grade to know details,” he says dryly.
“Tell them it’s been a year since we met and the engagement was recent,” I offer.
We both stop at the end of our statements. The words hang there between us, clumsy and overlapping, and we turn our heads to stare at each other. Ryoden’s brows lift and my mouth snaps shut.
“So…” Eli drawls slowly, pushing his glasses up his nose as I glance back at him. “Which one is it?”
Ryoden clears his throat and focuses on the road ahead of us again. “The less detail we give them, the better,” he settles on. “If anyone asks, you’re just an assigned guard for my fiancée and you don’t ask questions you don’t need answers to. That’s boring and predictable.”
“Yeah,” I mutter, tamping down the strange instinct to defend my fake backstory like it’s important. If he wants us to come across as a real couple, I feel like knowing the details of our fake relationship would be important, but perhaps I’m overthinking it. “Sounds good.”
Maybe it's best if I leave these finer details to the man who knows his people and the power structure.
Eli hums in acceptance and sinks back into his seat. I take his lead and do the same, content for now to just prop my elbow on the door and lean into my palm, watching the landscape change as we continue on. It’s a welcomed distraction from my increasing nerves the closer we get to headquarters.
From the outskirts of Charlotte to the stretch of land that lies between smaller human strongholds on the way to Virginia, there are too many reminders of war—some half-burnt houses, skeletal remains of buildings whose roofs have caved in, and deserted towns that make me wonder what life was like before.
As we push farther north, there’s a check point in Washington D.C. next to an old green sign that’s rusted around the bullet holes through it. One arrow points left and West Virginia is listed as the directional marker, but below it in a bright pink color Wraith Fuckers is plastered on the sign.
I have to take a deep inhale at the reminder of Azyric and his threat to eliminate me.
Every time it comes to mind, I think of the broken plea that came from him before he left, wanting me to prove him wrong.
Yet I don’t know how to prove someone wrong when they’re determined to think the worst of you, no matter what you do or say.
Could he actually go through with killing me?
The thought brings with it a plethora of warring emotions as I nibble on my lip.
“You good?” Ryoden asks gently, like he already knows where my head has gone. I watch his eyes slip to the sign and then back to my face. “Once we get into Pennsylvania, you’ll like the view a lot more.”
Slowly we inch forward toward the barrier and guards who are letting one vehicle through at a time.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lie, plastering on a fake smile as it’s finally our turn to get through.
Thankfully once Ryoden provides his credentials, my anxiety plummets, watching as the men practically trip over themselves to say hello to him and flag him on. My brow pinches together as they fawn over him just before I hear Eli mocking them from the back.
“Oh, Colonel,” he says in a high-pitched tone that has me biting my lip to hold back a chuckle as Ryoden rolls the window up, waving to the adoring privates before driving forward once more.
“Do I even want to know why they seem to worship you?” I ask, glee filling my tone at the way his cheeks and the tips of his ears are red with embarrassment.
“There’s a reason our Colonel here was promoted at such a young age,” Eli hedges, “and sent to the most hostile region on our border.”
“That’s enough,” Ryoden snaps. “It’s not a story I like to talk about.”
My mouth parts and my eyes widen at the sudden switch. Whatever Eli was referencing is a clear sore spot, and I hate the way my mind latches onto it, wanting to know what makes such a calm man react like that.
His knuckles turn white with how hard he grips the steering wheel now, and silence reigns once again.
A short time later I note the color coming back to his fingers as his hands loosen. He clears his throat and has his controlled tone back in place as he says, “Sorry about that, but what happened is one of the worst moments of my life and it’s been glorified for how I handled it.”
“Sorry, Colonel,” Eli murmurs, remorse clear in his softened tone. “I didn’t know that.”
My chest rises as I take in a deep breath and exhale slowly, fingers awkwardly rubbing against my pants as I wait for Ryoden to expand.
He never does.
The further north we go, slowly, almost imperceptibly, signs of life return. Just as Ryoden said, my attention perks at the communities that suddenly lack an obvious military presence. The difference in energy is night and day.
We pass through a town where the houses are close together and dozens of kids of varying ages run around playing.
There’s no large wall encasing their city.
No checkpoints or guards in sight. As we pass through what appears to be the heart of the city, I watch in fascination at the groupings of people in different windows.
Some are eating, one is getting their hair cut, and another looks to be running through stretches together.
It looks like the war hasn’t quite found them yet, or someone has convinced them it won’t.
My fingers tighten around the edge of my seat.
“I don’t understand human history and what exists now,” I say quietly, eyes tracking a woman who steps out of a door with flour all over her clothes, smiling as someone hands her a bundle of flowers.
“How does this exist when other towns remain empty and torn apart by war?”
Eli lets out a low, awkward laugh. “It would be weird to hear you say that like you aren’t human,” he says, leaning forward again so I can see his faint grin reflected in the rearview mirror. “But I guess I should have expected it after finding you in the middle of a battlefield.”
Before I can think of a response to that, Ryoden jerks the jeep to the side of the road and slams on the pedal that stops the car.
He whips around in his seat to glare at Eli, meanwhile my heart races at the sudden shift of momentum and my right hand is plastered to the side of the door to ground me.
“I will put a bullet in your head if you repeat anything you hear on this trip, Specialist. Do you understand me?” Ryoden asks in a tone as cold as the Winter fae’s ice.
The words are so sudden and matter-of-fact that they send a shiver down my spine. Part of me recoils at the easy violence of it; another part finds something painfully endearing in his absolute seriousness about my safety. It makes that blush creep up again, traitorous and warm along my cheekbones.
Eli exhales sharply through his nose, offended and a little amused if I’m reading his tone properly.
“When you asked me if I was up to the task of being her guard that first day she came to our city,” he reminds Ryoden, “I told you I’d willingly give my life for hers to repent for what I’ve done.
That hasn’t changed, and I’d never put her in harm’s way. ”
A lump rises in my throat as my head turns to look at Eli.
His eyes stayed focused on Ryoden like he’s daring the colonel to say he isn’t being truthful.
Over the past week with Eli as one of my guards, I’ve easily seen that he has a more soft, easy-going disposition compared to the other soldiers.
Seeing him like this tugs at my heart, and if I hadn’t already forgiven him for the past, then I would have right now with his confession.
That was a conversation only the two of them knew about until now, and it’s connecting the dots in my head that have been floating around, wondering why Ryoden entrusts him to be around despite being newer to the city with his transfer.
“Good,” Ryoden bites out. “Keep it that way.”
Eli mutters something under his breath that sounds suspiciously like, “Someone needs a chill pill.”
“What was that?” Ryoden snaps, glancing up at the rearview mirror.
My eyes bounce back and forth between the two, utterly stunned at what is even happening right now.
“Nothing, sir,” Eli replies quickly, but his grin says otherwise.
The exchange shortcircuits my brain for a moment at the absurdity of it.
How did we go from bullet in your head to chill pill, whatever that even is?
A laugh bubbles up before I can stop it, slipping out of me in an undignified little burst. It takes over until I’m full belly laughing and a snort slips free.
My amusement trails off suddenly, caught under the twin weight of their stares. Ryoden’s eyes are glued to my face, surprise softening the hard line of his mouth. In the back seat, Eli leans forward again, mirth dancing in his eyes.
My shoulders curl forward, uncomfortable under their reactions to my laughter.
Eli seems to sense my discomfort and reaches out, patting my shoulder lightly. “It’s good to hear you laugh,” he says, and the warmth in his voice makes it clear he means it.
I’m shocked at the way his touch doesn’t make me jerk back or feel anxious.
But then I think back over the past week—him standing guard at my doorway while we exchanged small bits of conversation during his shifts.
He told me about his parents, about the sister he hasn’t seen in over a year, about the two dogs they had growing up—big idiots were his words—who would barrel through the snow and knock anyone over with affection.
He mentioned being fast-tracked through the ranks because of his scores and his accuracy with a gun.
Technically too young to be where he is as a specialist, he’d said, shrugging, but apparently being able to shoot a target’s eye out from an impossible distance earns you exceptions.
I’d listened and stored it away, grateful for the distraction, reluctant to share much of my own truth in return. Now, looking at him with his open, boyish face and stubborn loyalty aimed at me, I realize I don’t see him as a stranger or an enemy anymore.
He’s become something unexpected in my life. A friend.
“It feels good to laugh,” I admit quietly, bringing my hand up to tap gently against his.
Ryoden clears his throat like he’d like to be anywhere else but trapped here with us. “If we’re going to have a shot of pulling this off between us, Wren,” he says, a little too briskly.
His tone is one I immediately recognize from the kings using it while they squabbled over me…jealousy.
As Eli slips his hand from my shoulder and sits back in his seat, I see the subtle softening of Ryoden’s shoulders.
Could he actually…care for me? The thought is so outlandish I almost chuckle to myself, but he steals my attention back.
“We should get you caught up on how we got here. Politically, I mean. Otherwise this entire trip will just toss you in a pool of sharks that will scent blood the second you seem clueless about our world. ”
I turn back fully forward in my seat, watching his profile as he drives. “All right,” I say. “Start at the part where humans decided to usurp their own government that was upholding the peaceful treaty with the supernaturals, please.”