36. Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Six
Kya
“ A re you sure you don’t need me to stay? I can push my meetings out later.” Ryker’s look of concern was quite adorable.
“Yes. You have duties to take care of that I’m sure are long past due, since you stalked me across the damn continent for weeks.” I knew that he wanted to stay with me in the training area, but I wanted to concentrate with Odarum and not have Ryker as a distraction.
“Shadowed. Not stalked.” His eyebrows flattened.
“Whatever you say, Lord Ryker .” I let my voice take a sultry lilt.
He narrowed his eyes. “Watch yourself, little gem. Or you’ll see just how easily I can abandon my duties again.”
My body tensed and my skin heated at the implication. I shooed him away before he huffed a low chuckle and turned to go back to the palace. I rolled my shoulders, releasing the tension.
“Are you near?” I spoke to Odarum. He appeared a moment later. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“You need to train more,” he said sternly .
“Good morning to you too. And what do you think I’m doing out here? Besides freezing my ass off.”
“Train harder. As your Fylgjur, I am requesting that you push yourself to manifest all of your abilities and shifting.” His voice was harsh.
“Okay, okay. But you’re the one who told me to rest. What’s the sudden rush?”
“I… I am forbidden to tell you. Most of it, at least.”
I had never heard him stumble on his words before. He was always so sure spoken. The concern in his tone worried me. “What is it, Odarum?”
He hesitated for a moment before answering. “All I am permitted to say is that something has made itself known. I believe your God knew of it, and now the Spirits do as well.”
“But you can’t tell me what this is?” I questioned.
“No.”
“Can you tell me why you can’t tell me?” Maybe if I could have that, then I could understand more of what it was that he couldn’t tell me.
“No.”
Well that’s less than helpful. “Is it bad?”
The Spirit lowered his head and stepped closer to me, meeting my eye. “Devastatingly.”
“Okay,” I breathed, speaking out loud. “Then help me train. Help me manifest my gifts.”
Odarum instructed me on how to search for and grasp those orbs of my magic inside of me.
The ones from him were…different. They felt shifty and loose, like sand slipping between my fingers.
But I could feel them. I had been feeling them since we connected in Hylithria, I just didn’t understand what they were at the time.
I had to hand it to Odarum, he had great patience.
Every time I would get frustrated and lash out, he would gently offer advice and critique my method.
It had been hours, and I wasn’t able to do anything more than discern the differences between the orbs.
It wasn’t as simple and easy as tapping into my invisibility magic.
“Perhaps you need a break,” he suggested.
“I’m fine,” I snapped, irritated that I was struggling so much with manifesting my new abilities.
“It’s only been a few hours. Give it more time.”
I scoffed. “You were the one who said I needed to train harder, to push myself. Well, that’s what I’m doing.”
“Do you know what shifting she will receive?” Ryker strolled into the training area. I turned, and my lips parted as I drank in the sight of him.
His hands were in the pockets of his dark suit, with the jacket unbuttoned and fitted to his body, sculpting the shape of his muscles.
His hair was neatly styled and atop his head sat his circlet.
A beautifully crafted and simple piece of black metal that was in a twisted pattern, like shadows.
It wrapped around his head, coming to a point, like an arrow, down the center of his forehead. He looked magnificently imperial.
Though Ryker spoke to Odarum, the Spirit was unable to communicate back.
Or so I thought.
Odarum flared out his wings and flapped them gracefully.
“I thought you said you didn’t know?” I balked.
“This is merely an assumption and the most likely manifestation of myself that you have.”
“Have you manifested anything?” Ryker stood beside me. His fingers came up to lightly graze over my back, and he looked at me as if he were seeing me for the first time.
My cheeks heated. “No. Nothing. But he said it would take time.” I pressed into his touch.
Ryker hummed in response, seeming to contemplate something. His lips thinned and he looked at Odarum again. “Has she pushed herself?”
The pegasus shook his head slowly, his mane swayed. My mouth fell open in an offended scoff because, of course, I had pushed myself. I had been pushing myself all godsdamned day.
“Would you like me to try?” Ryker asked, still speaking to my Spirit.
Odarum hesitated, looking at me then back to Ryker, then bobbed his head once.
The side of Ryker’s mouth twitched with a ghost of a smile before looking down at me. “Come with me. I know of a better place.”
He removed his suit jacket and button-up shirt, placing them on the stone. He took off his circlet and set it on top of the clothes.
I furrowed my brows as he manifested his leathery wings.
He held his hand out to me and I took it. His expression was hard, making me feel apprehensive. He swept me up and held me tightly to his body. I relished the feeling of him against me.
With a push of his wings, we were airborne and flying high into the mountains.The air was so much colder up there, and I shivered through my fleece-lined leathers as we continued to go higher and higher to the mountain tops.
The wind rustled a few strands of my hair out of my braid.
I smiled in delight when Odarum came into view from behind Ryker, wings fanned out and gliding through the crisp air. I had never seen him fly.
His majestic, feathered wings pumped to push his body through the sky next to us. We crested and curved around the mountain, leaning into the wind.
Ryker held me even tighter. “Hold on,” he said into my ear.
I squealed as he dove. My stomach lurched, and I tightened my hold around Ryker’s neck. He nuzzled his head against me and my heart fluttered at the tenderness.
Ryker landed us at the edge of a cliff overlooking the expansive mountain range. He set me down and Odarum gracefully landed beside us, tucking his wings to his side while Ryker kept his relaxed but still out.
“Take off your jacket,” he commanded softly.
“What? No, it’s freezing,” I protested.
“If we can get your wings to manifest, they’ll tear right through it and it won’t feel pleasant.”
I sighed. Grumbling about the cold, I handed my jacket to him and quickly hugged myself, feeling the wind whip through my thin tank.
“Turn around.”
I did as he said.
“Close your eyes. Spread your arms. Relax.” He rubbed my arms.
I huffed out a breath and rolled my shoulders, closing my eyes and stretching my arms out to my sides.
“I want you to imagine yourself with wings.”
I pictured Odarum’s black feathered wings coming out of my back.
“Imagine the feel of the wind ruffling against them, lifting you into the air.”
I felt the air all around me, imagining it lifting me from beneath. I tried to concentrate on what that would feel like, but it was difficult.
Ryker leaned in behind me, his lips against my ear and whispered, “Trust it.”
“Breathe,” Odarum’s soft voice rumbled low in my head. I heard his wings rustling behind me, and I imagined they were mine.
Ryker’s lips brushed the soft spot below my ear. “Trust me .” His voice was still a low whisper.
Eyes still closed, my brows pinched together. Before I could open my mouth to speak, two large hands pushed against my back, sending me over the edge of the cliff.