41. Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-One
Kya
J ust after the sunset, Ryker and I walked hand in hand down to the city behind the rest of our group.
I was thankful to have dressed in more casual clothing before we left.
I wore a leather jacket over a tank and tight pants that tucked into my boots while Ryker had on a long sleeved button-up and trousers.
Even though I was still exhausted from my exertion of training earlier, I wanted to come see the city.
Everything was bathed in light from the moons and the lanterns lining the busy streets filled with people and life and music.
The scent of cooked food and ale came from the packed taverns, combined with roars of laughter.
People greeted Ryker warmly, as if he were any other citizen on the streets.
Malina grabbed Nikan by the wrist and dragged him into one of the taverns while Arra, Mavris, and Hakoa followed behind and disappeared among the crowd.
“Come on. I want to show you something.” Ryker wrapped his arm around my shoulder and kissed the top of my head.
I was glad that he was guiding me through the street because I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going—too absorbed in the flourishing city around me. I was amazed at how, even though so much of the Nation was impacted by the Glaev, everyone here was vibrant and lively.
Ryker stopped at a baker’s cart and asked for two sweet rolls. The baker insisted that Ryker not pay. When she turned around, he put the coins on her cart and quickly ushered me away.
“I saw that, you know,” I said to him as I unwrapped my treat.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said innocently.
“You paid that baker double the amount.”
He shrugged. “Floria’s mate died a while back. She struggled for a long time and only recently went back to baking, reopening her shop. I know she still has difficulties and I try to help.”
I pressed closer to him. Ryker and I hadn’t even sealed our mating yet, and I already didn’t want to be without him.
I couldn’t imagine how devastating it would be to lose him after having been fully connected.
He was gaining my trust and making me feel for him separate from the bond.
And I didn’t want to be alone anymore, so long as I was with him.
I was brought out of my thoughts as I took my first bite of the sweet roll, a fluffy bread with powdered sugar sifted on top. Delectable flavors flooded my mouth as a sweet cream oozed from the center like honey. I moaned at the taste.
“I’ve heard of this!” I exclaimed with a mouthful, making a mess on my face as I devoured the treat.
“You have? Floria is the only one I know that makes it.”
“I know, I heard about her too. Not her name, but the baker in Voara and the sweet bread with the most delicious cream inside. One of the contestants told me about it during the Trial.” I licked away the sticky remnants in the corner of my mouth.
“Who was it?” He tilted his head at me as we neared the end of the street where the crowd was thinning.
My lips flattened. “His name was Njall. He was a blacksmith from Oryn, I don’t know where though. He… Well, he helped me. We helped each other solve the riddle and he even sa ved me a couple of times.” I had been so preoccupied lately that I hadn’t thought of him in quite a while.
“Was?” Ryker threw away the wrappings and curled his arm around my waist. My eyebrows scrunched together at his question. “You said his name was Njall,” he clarified.
“Yeah. Was.”
“How do you know he died?” He glanced down at me.
“That Sage, Vicria, told me he never came back when I asked about him,” I sneered as I thought of that wretched female.
He hummed in response and I was glad for it, not really wanting to dampen the mood thinking of Njall.
Ryker brought us to the northern outskirts of the city. The valley lay open in front of us, and I took in the peacefulness of the chilled night. He tucked me closer against him, extending the warmth of his fire abilities, and led me through the grass toward a patch of trees.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“You’ll see.” He smirked.
We walked into the trees and after a couple of minutes I saw light emanating up ahead.
I squinted to better focus my eyes on the origin of the light giving off a bluish hue through the trees.
We walked closer and closer until we came upon a small clearing in the middle of the sparse forest. Right there in the opening, a single large tree sat.
It glowed with soft light, shimmering, like moonslight over the surface of water. I smiled at the pure beauty of it. It felt like a beacon, drawing me nearer until I could see that the entire evergreen, from the exposed roots in the soil to the tips of the leaves, was covered in the light.
“What is it?” I marveled in complete awe, I had never seen anything like it and it was captivating.
“It’s some kind of bioluminescent moss that’s usually found at higher altitudes, but for some reason, it also grew here on just this one tree.
It glows brightest during the Nailu, not having the light of the moons to dampen its glow.
It’s considered to be sacred and, legend has it, that it was touched by Xareus as a gift for his mate, Kleio. ”
I glanced up at Ryker. He was looking down at me with something in his eyes that I had never seen before and it made my stomach flutter.
“That’s sweet that he gave his mate a tree.”
“I will give my mate so much more than that.” He brushed his fingers lightly over my face, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear.
Gods, I wanted nothing more than to kiss him then. To feel his lips against mine in that magical moment. I lifted to my toes to do just that, thinking that just one kiss wouldn’t drive us too far. Just one…
But I stopped when I thought of Nailu and what would come after it—our mating trial. The threats, the Sages and Worthy, the Glaev, all of it came rushing back to the forefront of my mind. On the off chance that one of us would lose control, we couldn’t even taste each other.
I looked back toward the city, to the people we were protecting by preventing our mating bond from being sealed. We couldn’t risk their lives. I slowly lowered back on my heels.
They were being targeted. No other Glaev attacks had been reported outside of Oryn. Not since the Trial. Not since Vicria warned Ryker that he would regret not denying the bond. It was too much to be a coincidence.
So many of Oryn’s people had been killed or forced to abandon their homes simply because we were together. Was that selfish of us? To toe the line, risking their lives just because we couldn’t stay away from each other?
Ryker’s face fell when a single tear streaked down my cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb and my lower lip trembled.
I was so tired. So exhausted from my fate always being closer to that of death rather than life. Especially now that I wanted one.
He pulled me into him, pressing his lips to my forehead for a long moment with his eyes shut tight. We could feel each other’s anguish through the bond. The hurt inside me howled down that swirling tether. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face into his chest.
Unable to hold it together anymore, tears flooded down my face. Ryker held me tighter, laying his cheek against the top of my head. A choked sob burst from my lips and I couldn’t stop the heaving cries that followed.
I barely noticed when Ryker lifted me into his arms and shifted his wings. And I barely noticed when he thrust us into the air and over the city back to the palace. I blinked through bleary eyes when he continued to carry me to the bedchamber to find a tear falling down his cheek.
He sat on the end of the bed and held me in his lap, resting his chin on the top of my head and rocked gently while brushing his hand down my hair soothingly.
“Little gem…” he whispered. “Everything will be okay.”
“It’s not fair. I finally found you, my mate , and I can’t even have you.” My whimpered words were barely discernible through the sobs.
“No.” He held my face and carefully pulled my head back to look at him.
His expression was so open and every emotion shone in his eyes.
“I am already yours, bond or not. I was made for you and you were made for me. I’ve waited three hundred years for you, and I will wait for the rest of my life—so long as it means that I get to spend every moment of it with you.
” He wiped away my tears. “Nothing will keep me from you. I belong to you. I have always belonged to you.”
I pulled my head back slightly and gave a soft smile. “And I belong to you, my shadow. Always.”
I was still disheartened by everything, but through it all I knew that I would have him with me. But why did it have to be so hard? Why did fate have to be so cruel?
“Kya…” He curled his fingers through my hair. “Let me make you feel better. Even if it’s for a short while. ”
He bent his head down and lightly brushed his lips down to my neck, just below my ear. I tilted my head in answer, giving him better access to my throat. He turned me around on his lap so that I was facing away from him, languidly nipping and licking at my soft skin.
He trailed his fingers down my neck and chest, then unbuttoned my jacket. Heat flooded me. I let out a gasp when he moved his hand to my breast underneath my shirt and pinched my peaked nipple before he rubbed it with the pad of his thumb, drawing out pleasure after the pain.
His touch was hot against my skin and the world melted away. Everything in me lit up and I felt a fire in me unlike anything I had felt before. Nothing existed outside of him.
His cock hardened beneath me and I ground my ass against him, eliciting a groan from him.
“You better stop that or I’m going to claim you right now. This is about you. Let me do this.” His voice was guttural and pleading.