38. Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Kya
I began kicking and thrashing, trying to get to the surface as I struggled to hold my breath. The water of the river was all around me. Everything was dark. The nagasai was coming for me.
I had to get to the surface.
I had to get away.
I kept telling myself that it was just a nightmare. That I was imagining myself back in the dark depths of the river during the Trial. If I could just get to the surface…
I couldn’t hold my breath any longer. My lungs felt as if they were being crushed.
My eyes flew open, and I woke up with a gasp. But instead of sucking down air, water filled my lungs.
It’s not a dream.
I was in my room in the palace. I could see the faint glow of the moons streaming through the window. Everything was warped by the water surrounding me. I struggled and fought, lashing out with my arms and legs, but I couldn’t move.
Shit. Shit. Shit .
I was suspended above my bed in a sphere of water. It was freezing against my skin and I could feel the faint traces of my hair floating around my face.
A hooded figure stood next to me, his face peeking out from underneath just enough to reveal his hardened features, his arms held out in front of him. A water wielder.
And he was drowning me.
I tried to cough out the liquid as my body began to convulse. I couldn’t think about anything other than the need for air. I couldn’t even scream or call for help.
Fuck it burns. Make it stop.
Everything happened so fast, but it felt like an eternity as I clawed at my throat, digging my nails into my skin in a primal instinct to do whatever I could to breathe again.
I didn’t fear death. But that wasn’t how I wanted to go.
A flash of black appeared in my peripherals, but I couldn’t see past my fading vision or focus enough to care about anything other than trying to fight my way out.
Suddenly, a body crashed into me and the bubble fell with a roaring crash as I landed on the bed and toppled to the floor. I rolled over and vomited. Water spewed from my nose and mouth over and over to the point that it felt endless.
I could scarcely hear a scream before a sickening crunch and squelching over my heaving. My vision was obscured and my mind was disorientated.
Finally, I choked down the life-giving air into my aching lungs.
I collapsed onto the floor as I gulped down as many breaths as I could. My body violently shook and my muscles contracted. Face down on the cold, hard stone, the outline of a hoof came into view just before everything went dark.
When I woke, I found myself lying alone on the bed in Ryker’s room. Odarum was standing on the other end by the wall.
“What happened?” I croaked. My voice was hoarse and raspy.
“You were attacked.”
It all came back to me as I recalled the water. “I remember now.”
I sat up in the bed. I was dry and dressed in, what I could only assume, Ryker’s shirt and pants.
I was still upset with him. He had pushed me off a damn cliff. For a good reason, but still. Besides, that hardly mattered to me now.
The sun shone through the windows, casting warm hues across the floors and walls.
I looked around the room to find that Ryker wasn’t there, and I found myself missing his presence.
Placing my feet on the stone floor, I felt for him in the palace.
There was activity downstairs, but the upper level was devoid of anyone else as far as I could tell.
“Where’s Ryker?” I asked. And why hadn’t he come last night?
“I do not know. You are safe for now. He left and I stayed to watch over you. But now that you are awake, I must leave. I will be back.” With that, he disappeared.
With all that hair, you’d think he’d be more warm and fuzzy. Ass.
I would have liked more of an explanation about what had happened or who in the After attacked me. Regardless of my wish for solitude the night before, I, once again, found myself not wanting to be alone.
My body had completely healed overnight, as if nothing had ever happened. My mind was crisp and my lungs were clear.
I stepped into the bathing room to get dressed.
Well…not completely healed.
In the mirror, I could see faint red marks down the length of my neck. I must have dug my nails deep into the skin for there to still be evidence of the self-inflicted injury. I looked to the tub and my stomach churned at the thought of being submerged again.
It would take some time before I was comfortable near water. No matter how deep.
I turned away from the tub and found a set of clothes waiting for me.
After getting dressed, I decided to head down to find something to eat, and hopefully Ryker.
I could smell the food from the kitchen and it made my stomach grumble.
Just as I was about to head out the door, I felt someone approaching, multiple someones, with familiar steps that I would recognize anywhere.
I threw open the door to find Malina and Nikan, the former beaming with delight. Malina squealed as she hugged me tightly, nearly causing me to topple over. All thoughts of the night before escaped me in their presence.
“What are you doing here? How did you get here so fast?” I laughed in disbelief. There was so much that I wanted to tell them and show them.
“Pigeon boy came and got us with his cute little Spirit demon,” Malina said, nearly bouncing on her toes and clapping.
That explains why he wasn’t there last night.
“Theron? He Traveled you here?” I looked between the two of them. Nikan was taking in the space around us, seemingly displeased, but accepted my embrace regardless.
“Yep. Nearly made Nik shit his pants when we saw him.” Malina made a mocking scared expression.
“Well yeah, any sane person would. What, you weren’t scared that the scaled beast would eat us when you first saw it?” he asked Malina after releasing me. I had missed them both.
“No way. Ryker led us to him, and I knew that he wouldn’t have if it was dangerous.”
“You trust him too easily. He’s a bloodthirsty Lord. You don’t know what he would do,” Nikan said.
“Watch it Nik,” I threatened. Upset with my mate or not, I wouldn’t have anyone talking poorly of him.
“If Ryker wanted to harm either of you, he would have long ago, and he wouldn’t have to use a Spirit animal to do it.
You’re in his home, and you’ll treat him with the respect he deserves as my mate, regardless if you don’t approve of him. ”
Nikan sighed, rubbing his temple with his fingers. “Fine. I can at least appreciate that he came to retrieve us. He said we might be of help to you.”
“Help to me how?”
“I don’t know. He just said that you might need us, then when we got here he left us on the roof and ran inside. We stood there for a while before someone came and got us and showed us to a couple of rooms,” Malina said.
I smiled slightly. He was right, I needed them to talk through my frustrations. But where was he?
I brought them inside the bedchamber and told them everything.
From flying to Dusan and what we found, to traveling here with Theron, to Ryker pushing me off the mountainside, and being attacked last night.
I was happy that they were here, that I could have someone familiar to talk to.
Even though I was used to being apart from them for long periods of time, having them near, having them listen to me, helped me sort all of the chaos in my head.
“He pushed you?” Nikan stood abruptly. Lividity seared from his eyes.
Of course that’s all he heard.
“Damn Kya. Are you okay? Who was it?” Malina asked with wide eyes .
“Yes, I’m fine. I don’t know who it was.
I passed out after and only just woke up.
And yes Nik, he did. But it was for a good reason.
And he and Odarum were there the entire time.
Neither would put me in harm’s way. I just had to think I was in real danger in order for my instincts to kick in and manifest my wings. And it worked.” I spoke calmly.
“He pushed you off a mountain, Kya. How are you okay with this? How are you okay with him ? He blatantly endangered you and he failed to protect you in his own home. Likely from someone who was trying to kill you because you’re with him.” He was shouting now, throwing his arms out.
“I wasn’t okay with it. I’m still not. I told him I needed a little space from him and the next thing he did was leave and bring you back.
I’m okay with him because he’s my mate and he would never allow me to get hurt.
” I understood his reservations about Ryker, and telling him about that didn’t help.
Nikan needed to lash out and I would let him.
“Once again, you put yourself in overly risky situations with little regard for your own well-being.” He shook his head.
“Learning to shift my wings was not a risky situation, I had to figure it out sometime.” My voice was beginning to show my frustration.
“I wasn’t referring to that. I was referring to him .” I could feel my blood boiling at his words. “Why can’t you see that he’s a danger to you? An entire Godsdamn panel is being held that could result in you losing all of your abilities and maybe even your life. He’s not worth it.”
My patience completely snapped then. “What would you have me do, Nik? Reject the gift the Gods have bestowed upon us? Deny the bond? You want me to come back to Morah so that you can constantly keep an eye on me?” I stood in front of him, staring him down. “Because that’s not fucking happening.”
“Kya, that is not—” Nikan began. But I wouldn’t let him finish.
“I don’t care who is threatening us. I don’t care if you, or the Sages, or the Worthy, or anyone approves.
I will be with my mate if I choose to. It is our decision and I don’t want to hear another word about it.
So either you support me in this, or you don’t.
Are you going to help me or are you going to cut out and leave?
” I wanted him to be with me in this, but if he couldn’t…
“Of course I am.” His shoulders dropped.
“Then instead of berating me, help me, help us , figure out a way around this.” The air was tense in the silence, save for our heavy breaths. Then, Malina began cackling.
“What could possibly be funny at this moment?” Nikan asked.
“She just asked you for your help so she can bang her boyfriend.” Malina continued to laugh uncontrollably to the point that it became contagious. I couldn’t help but start chuckling. She wasn’t wrong. My light chuckle turned into a full-hearted laugh, and Nikan joined in with a snicker as well.
This was what I loved about being with them. No matter what, no matter how pissed or annoyed or frustrated we became with one another, no matter how dark things got, we somehow found joy with each other. Our laughter finally died down and Nikan was actually smiling—a rare occurrence.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked, pointing to the fading red marks on my neck.
“Yeah. All good.”
“And you really have wings?” He looked over my shoulder as if they were hiding behind me.
“Uh huh. And they’re beautiful, just like Odarum’s but smaller. I practiced shifting them over and over last night and I think I have the hang of it now, thanks to Ryker. Do you want to see before we go track him down? ”
They nodded eagerly, and I smiled broadly as I took off my shirt, leaving only my tank-top underneath.
“Okay, hold on and be quiet. I have to concentrate.” I closed my eyes. The first time it happened, I thought my body was tearing itself apart. But Ryker promised that the more I practiced, the less it would hurt.
After a minute or so, I felt the stinging pain of my wings protruding from my back.
I opened my eyes after hearing gasps of awe from my brother and sister.
I held my wings up and out to the sides for as long as I could—which was only a few moments—but they were incredibly heavy, and my back muscles weren’t strong enough to hold them up for long before they hung down to the floor.
“They’re stunning,” a deep voice rumbled behind me.
At the same moment that I felt him standing in the doorway, the scent of cedar and bergamot filled my nose.
“They’re heavy.” I slowly spun to face him.
“May I?” Ryker gestured to my wings, which were dragging on the floor.
I nodded, and he approached to stand directly in front of me. His fingers gently ran down the feathers to examine them, and I watched as he moved his hands to the underside, where he lifted both wings off the ground. I sighed in relief and Ryker’s eyes flicked to me.
“Better?” he whispered.
“Um hmm,” I hummed and nodded.
“Try tucking them. That will help distribute the weight as well as the muscles.” He folded them inward and up, pressing them against my back. He still held them but gave me more of the weight. “How’s that?”
“Not as difficult to hold in this position.” I turned my head to look at my reflection in the window. My wings tucked in this way had the tips just barely above the floor and the peak above my head. I looked formidable.
“Work on holding them like this and stretching them out then back in. That will strengthen your back. Then we can work on flapping and eventually flying. But for now, shift them away, and you can keep them out for longer periods as you get stronger. Which I have a feeling won’t take you long. ” Ryker smirked.
It took much less concentration to shift away my wings and once I did, my muscles were grateful to be relieved of the strain.
“Thank you. For the instruction. And for bringing them.” I gestured over my shoulder to Malina and Nikan then turned to face them. “Would you two mind stepping out for a moment?”
“Breakfast has been prepared downstairs in the dining hall if you would like to get something to eat,” Ryker told them.
“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Malina skipped across the room, pulling Nikan with her as they left.
Once the door closed, I scowled at Ryker. “Where have you been?” I snapped.
His lips curled slightly. “Dealing with the male who tried to take you from me.”