35. Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Five
Kya
R yker’s Spirit Traveled us somewhere so cold my very bones shivered. The moment we arrived, I immediately grabbed my stomach, sickened with nausea from the sudden lurch through space, and hurled up the contents of my last meal onto the smooth, bright-colored stone.
Ryker bent down next to me, pushing my braid away from my face and rubbed his hand over my back in slow circles, until the heaving stopped.
“Are you okay?” he asked as I spit the remaining acidic taste from my mouth.
“Yes,” I bit out. I stood fully, feeling faint, and wobbled slightly. Ryker held my arm to keep me from falling, and his beast stared, seemingly curious at our interaction.
Ryker held his gaze for a few moments and I could only assume that he was talking with him through their bond, and I wanted to know what they were saying.
Nik was right, this is annoying.
“Kya, this is Theron, my Spirit dragon.” He held his hand out gesturing to the beast who looked none-too-pleased.
“I don’t think he likes me,” I whispered, shivering from the cold.
“Honestly, I don’t think he likes anyone, including me.” Theron growled. Ryker waved him off. “But don’t mind him. He’s just a cranky alligator with wings.” I snorted at that, feeling the tension in the air lessen.
“So…you’ve escalated from stalker to kidnapper. You know I’ve killed for less?” I winked.
Ryker leveled me with a flat stare before he rolled his eyes and the side of his mouth quirked up into a smile.
I finally glanced around, taking in our surroundings, making sure I kept one eye on the dragon at our side.
I had never personally been to Voara. Mountains towered into the sky all around us, the distant peaks dusted with snow.
Sunlight glistened off the ivory encrusted slopes with puffy clouds licking at the furthermost tips.
We were standing on some kind of building that was built into the side of one of the mountains.
No, not built into it, carved from it. Luscious green grass, sparse with trees, filled the valley within the mountain range, the Eckterre Mountains.
The air was thinner here, and a brisk autumn wind caused my hair to ruffle and bit at my skin.
It was already so much cooler being this far north.
But I didn’t pay attention to that. Not with the awe-inspiring view before me.
Odarum suddenly appeared next to where we stood. I gritted my teeth.
“So what, I go off with another Spirit and you get jealous then finally show up?” I snapped.
“No. I told you I would be back. We had a gathering in our realm,” he responded.
“Gathering?” I tilted my head slightly.
“Yes.” That was all he offered. He pinned his ears back and flared his feathered wings at Theron, who bared his teeth. I watched them curiously as they seemed to converse with each other silently.
“I told you he doesn’t like anyone,” Ryker said after a moment.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “So much is happening right now.” I looked up. “Let me get all this straight, you have a Spirit… What did you call it?” I asked, trying not to visibly shake from the cold seeping into me.
“Dragon,” Ryker said with a nod.
“Right. You have a Spirit dragon, Odarum has been at some gathering on Hylithria, you know where the book is, and you had Theron bring us to Voara.” I gestured to the land around us.
“Yes. We are on the top of the Oryn Palace.”
“Well as much as I love the scenery, can we please go inside and you explain in there? It’s freezing out here.” I wrapped my arms around myself. The side of his mouth lifted, and he placed his arm around my shoulder. I leaned into his warmth as he led us to a spiraling staircase at the other end.
“We’ll talk later?” I glanced at Odarum.
“Yes. We have much to discuss.” He bobbed his head.
We descended the stairs and came to a balcony with a set of paneled doors that Ryker opened and ushered me through.
I was thankful to be relieved of the bitter cold and I relaxed a bit.
We stood in a wide corridor lined with large windows on one side overlooking the valley below and the gray mountains around it.
Unlit sconces lined the opposite light-colored stone wall and we stood on a beautiful ornate rug.
“It’s just a hallway, but welcome to my home,” Ryker said, smiling sweetly at me, a smile that made all the cold in me melt away. He placed a hand at the small of my back and I welcomed his touch as he led me down the corridor and around several corners.
I didn’t know what I expected Ryker’s home to look like, not that I had really given it much thought, but I hadn’t expected it to be so bright and warm and open. We passed several rich wooden doors and a few stairs leading down to lower floors.
“Where is everyone?” I asked. I could feel movement several floors down but none up here.
“What do you mean?” He pulled me slightly closer to him, his hand wrapping around my waist.
“I mean, don’t you have people here? Workers and servants?”
“There are no servants, but yes, people do work here. They will all be downstairs. This is the upper-most-floor, the living quarters. And since it’s just me, I’m the only one who comes up here besides those who come up to clean.”
It dawned on me that I had only recently ended things with Cade. It was possible that Ryker was involved with someone. He’s been a Lord for over three hundred years. I wasn’t ignorant to the possibility of it, but we hadn’t discussed it.
“So you live here alone?”
“I do.”
“No family or…friends?” I was dancing around the question of any females that might have shared his bed before our bond enacted, but I didn’t want to outright ask. The last thing I wanted was to run into an ex like he did with Cade.
“No.”
“Hmm. And have you always lived alone?”
He looked at me for a moment.
“My father lives in a house farther north in the mountains. He and my mother lived here for awhile, but haven’t in years.
My brother lives in the city and has never lived here.
And no friends have ever lived here either.
” He hesitated for a moment, then pulled me to a stop.
“I haven’t had any of those kinds of friends for some time now, not since long before the Trial.
Yes, I have a past just as you do. But I can assure you, you have no one to worry about. Do I?”
“No. There’s no one.” Something settled in me.
“Good to know.” He smiled and we continued down the hallway.
We approached a large set of doors at the end of the hall, and he opened them to reveal a large study, not as large as Eamon’s, but still sizable. A beautifully crafted wooden desk sat in the center of the room with stacked papers in the corner.
“This is my private office. Would you mind waiting here for a few moments? I’ll be right back.”
“Oh, sure,” I said with a nod and he dashed out of the room.
I took the opportunity to look around. Shelves decorated the walls with books, and two deep chairs sat before a hearth. But other than that, it was devoid of anything personal. I perused the books as I waited. Most were histories and politics, nothing I would consider pleasure reading.
Ryker returned after several minutes, followed by a male.
I straightened. He wore a dark suit and was about the same height as Ryker with broad shoulders and an average build, not quite as muscular.
His light brown hair was long and tied in the back.
But it was the color of his eyes that drew my attention the most—silver.
Ryker walked over and stood beside me as the male remained just inside the doorway, a hint of a smile on his face. “Kya, I’d like to introduce you to Mavris, chief Advisor to the Lord of Oryn.” He sighed, “And my brother.”
As if the eyes didn’t give that away.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I greeted.
He smiled warmly. “It’s very nice to meet you, Kya.”
I wondered if he knew that I was Ryker’s mate. He walked over and took my hand, kissing the back of it. Ryker growled, tensing his body and clenching his hands into fists. Mavris smirked tauntingly.
Yep. He knows .
Ryker looked at my hand longingly once Mavris released it, like he wanted to be the one to hold it. He shook his head, gathering his control. I tugged on the bond and gave him a look I hoped he understood.
He took a deep breath before he cleared his throat. “I’m sure you will be spending quite a bit of time together in the future. Right now though, I’d like to know where the Vaavi are. Have they returned from their mission?”
My eyebrows raised in interest at the mention of this Vaavi .
“Not yet. The Ihab pass has been…obstructed.” He eyed me warily. “They would have had to go around, on an…alternate route.”
“Stop speaking cryptically, Mav. I have no intention of keeping secrets from Kya,” he demanded. At that moment, Ryker wasn’t just some male who had followed me across the godsdamn continent, he was the Lord of Oryn, a Worthy, regal and powerful.
“Alright.” He gave me a tight smile before he continued, “The Ihab pass has been plagued by the Glaev. No losses have been reported, but trade and travel have been affected greatly between the northern and southern ends of Oryn. We’ll need to find an alternate solution other than going around the mountain range before winter arrives. ”
Ryker nodded slowly, eyes distant in thought. Then he walked to the other side of his desk, guiding me by the hand, and bent over the map covering it, trailing a finger over the parchment. Mavris stepped up to the front of the desk to glance at the map as well.