46. Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Six
Ryker
W e went back to the bedchamber, and she bathed while I ordered some lunch to be sent up to the room.
I quickly ran down the corridor and met with Mavris.
He had called for a healer to give our father a calming elixir while he rested.
We discussed what to do when Father left and agreed that both of us would visit, as well as a healer to attend to him daily.
The run-in with my father was not something I had planned to introduce Kya to for a while.
Back in the room, I sat on the end of the bed with my elbows resting on my knees. I tried to think of anything that would distract me. Like sparring with Kya earlier. The memory of her sweaty and panting on top of me.
Gods, I wanted nothing more than to flip her over and bury myself inside of her, claiming her as mine for eternity and watching the mark of our mating emerge on our arms. A permanent symbol of our inseparable souls, worthy of fate itself.
And thinking about that had me remembering about the other night with her sitting atop me and rubbing herself along my cock, looking regal and magnificent.
It took everything in me to not taste her then, knowing that if I did I would snap entirely—and nothing would stop me from claiming her.
When Kya came out of the bathing room, she was wrapped in nothing but a towel that came down just past the curve of her ass.
Her wet brown hair was hanging over her marked shoulder and those green eyes sparkled in the sunlight streaming in from the windows.
My already hardened cock throbbed with want, with need .
“Sorry, I forgot to grab my clothes before going in there. But if you want to go ahead and wash up, I’ll just get dressed out here.”
I jumped up and stormed past her into the bathing room so I didn’t rip that towel from her and take her against the damn wall.
Turning on the water to muffle my grunts, I stripped my clothes off and gripped my shaft, pumping hard and fast, imagining I was fucking my mate rather than my hand.
A low grunt reverberated from my chest with my release, spots of black filled my vision for a fleeting moment of euphoria.
It was just enough to temper my urges but far from satisfactory, and I was growing tired of not having her.
I quickly bathed then dressed before going back into the bedroom to find that our food had arrived and Kya was already piling a plate with cooked meat and warm bread, the book open on the table.
“You know what I don’t understand?” she said without looking at me. She must have felt me coming up behind her. “When I read it, even out loud, I don’t hear it in the common tongue, but when someone else does, I do. Listen and you shall learn . Stupid.”
I couldn’t help my grin at her mocking rant. “The Gods are mysterious in their reasoning,” I uttered before taking my seat across from her at the small table.
We ate in silence. I watched her as she continued to read the Scholar’s notes and muttered to herself through mouthfuls of food. She finished well before I did, and I was impressed with how someone so small could eat so much. But she was in a much better mood now that she had a full stomach.
“Who gave you which gifts?” she asked. She sat back in her seat and looked up at me.
I hesitated for a moment before answering. “I was born with the shadow element and received fire from Theron. The mind manipulation is from Xareus.”
It wasn’t something I was proud of. The gift of mind manipulation was repulsive, and forbidden for a reason.
It was wrong to enter someone’s head and fuck with their thoughts, their memories.
But I was a Worthy, a Lord. And since it wasn’t something I was born with, I was able to keep it hidden.
Other than those closest to me, no one knew, and I refused to use it unless they gave me explicit permission to do so.
Mavris and Hakoa had agreed that I could talk to them through their mind freely and that has proven to be useful over the years, having been in several situations where we needed to speak privately while in the presence of others.
Arra had never felt comfortable with it so I never did it with her.
Unless I needed to—like with the assassin—the only times I have done it without someone’s permission was when it first manifested, and I didn’t know how to control it and when I was first near Kya.
I still struggled with the latter, and it took considerable concentration to stop myself from hearing her thoughts.
“Hmm. Have you discovered why? What was his task for you?” she asked curiously. She was so damn cute when she tilted her head to the side like that.
I shook my head with a shrug. “No, I don’t know why. And his task was cryptic, just like they all are.”
“But what was it? Your task.”
“‘Reveal the darkness.’ I have no idea what it means.”
I thought back to when I was in Hylithria, covered in blood—a mixture of mine as well as some of the other contestants—as I stood before Xareus and he deemed me Worthy of protecting his Nation. His task was three fucking words.
Kya hummed in contemplation. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t spent centuries mulling over his words, trying to decipher what his task truly meant, which I was sure she was doing now.
“I guess we’ll find out eventually.”
I smiled at ‘we’. “Yes, we will.”
We spent the next several hours of me sounding out the words in the dark book while she translated and wrote it down, word for word, hour after hour. We had agreed to stop at the end of the next page when someone rapped on the door. I walked over to answer it while Kya continued with the notes.
Arra stood with another Vaavi, Ragna, when I opened the door.
“Arra. Ragna,” I greeted.
“Lord Ryker. Ragna just returned from Helerie and is here to deliver her report,” Arra said. Her face was hard and emotionless.
I nodded. “You can divulge your account down in my study. The warriors are handling them and sorting through them.”
“Actually, I thought you ought to hear this yourself,” Arra said quickly. “And your ma—um Worthy Kya.”
My eyebrows raised, and I stepped aside to let them in. Kya stood and bowed her head in greeting.
“Ragna, tell them what you told me,” Arra commanded.
Ragna cleared her throat. “I was stationed just outside Helerie to keep watch on an organization we’ve had our eye on for some time.
Just before the Glaev occurred, I noticed a female in robes walking sluggishly along the perimeter of the city.
It wasn’t unusual until she made her third round.
I followed her as she made her fourth round, staying out of sight.
She made two more rounds and each time, she stopped at what looked like some kind of markers, would stand there looking at the city for a moment then move on to the next one.
She eventually left, venturing away from the city, and I went back to my post.
“It wasn’t until after the attack, and I had joined up with the Noavo recovery forces, that I learned that there were specific points outside the city where the Glaev was concentrated to form a ring around the city. I did confirm that those points were where the female had stopped at the markers.”
No one moved. No one breathed as we listened to Ragna.
She looked to Arra who gave a nod of her head in permission to continue. “The female had white hair…wearing Sage robes.”
“And there’s only one female Sage with white hair,” Arra stated.
“Vicria,” Kya spat.
Arra and Ragna nodded.
My body began to tremble with rage. That was all the evidence we needed to prove that she was the dark magic wielder.
“I… I think I know how to stop her,” Kya whispered. She rushed over to the book and I followed. “Read this word right here. I think I know what it means by context alone but I want to confirm.”
“Raena,” I said.
She jotted in her notes and I remained quiet while I watched her sort through her thoughts. She slowly raised her eyes to me, her mouth curled into a wicked grin. “Tell me, Lord Ryker, how exactly did you get your wealth?”
I leaned forward and gave a wicked grin of my own. “Because I’m more like my dragon than just wings and fire.”
“Good. Then I need you to retrieve this.” She pointed to a particular phrase.
I read her notes .
…prismed jewels deprive dark magic so that it cannot be maintained by the possessor.
I nodded once. “And what will you be doing?”
“Meet me on the roof in an hour,” Kya clipped before storming out of the room and slamming the door behind her.
I landed on the roof an hour later, when the sun had nearly set.
I was met by Kya, Malina, and Nikan. All dressed in black leathers with cloaks and masks covering the bottom half of their faces except Kya, whose mask was pulled down, and each of them was fully armed.
Nikan had a sword strapped to his back. Kya and Malina both had daggers on their thighs and bows with quivers across their shoulders.
Odarum was standing behind Kya, wings tucked in tight.
He bobbed his head to me in greeting. Kya turned her head to look at him and I could tell that they were speaking with each other before she turned back around to face me.
“Do you have it?” she asked in a tone that sent a chill down my spine.
“I do. I brought one for each of us.”
“Us?” She raised an eyebrow.
“You really think I’m letting you go without me?” I knew what her plan was. I wouldn’t stop her, but Gods be damned if she thought I wouldn’t be coming along.
“No,” Malina and Nikan said in unison and I tried not to sneer at them.
“I didn’t ask you,” I said to them through gritted teeth.
“Ryker, they’re right. This is what we do. We know how to remain undetected.” Kya stepped forward and I shifted away my wings.
“I have shadows. I know how to remain hidden as well and I can provide additional cover if needed.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“He’s got a point,” Malina said.
“Yet he’s not Roav,” Nikan said sternly.
Kya paused for a moment.
Come on, little gem.
“Nik, it’s not a bad idea. He can stay outside the wall while we go in and if we need assistance, he can help. Not to mention that solves the problem of crossing the river. This way we can take the safer route through the city,” Kya said to him.
Nikan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Fine. But he needs to keep his control in check. If he senses you in distress, he can’t just come busting in there to come to your rescue.” He looked up at me. “Trust that we know what we’re doing.”
“Done.”
Odarum Traveled us to the outskirts of Bhara, the City of Sages in Riyah, beyond the two-story wall that surrounded it.
Having been to the city several times for official Nation business, I knew my way around well, as did the others.
We stayed hidden within the trees until it was completely dark, watching the city quiet down for the night.
Before we left, I had tried to convince Kya to allow the Vaavi to do this, I didn’t want her to be in danger. But she shut me down quickly with a snarl and a roll of her eyes.
Kya stood in front of me, my arm wrapped around her waist, and leaned back against my chest while tracing circles on the back of my hand with her fingertip. I don’t even think she knew she was doing it, her full attention solely on studying the city before us.
Taking a silent step forward, Nikan nodded his head toward Bhara. Knowing it was time for them to leave, I bent down so that my lips were touching Kya’s ear.
“Come back to me.” I kissed the sensitive spot below her ear and I felt her shiver.
She glanced at me from the corner of her eye and whispered, “Even if I didn’t, I know my shadow would always find me.” The side of her mouth tilted up into a smile.
“I’ll stay in your mind, but only to listen for your call when you need,” I said through my thoughts to her.
“ Good, ” she responded before turning away and following Nikan and Malina. Then, she became invisible.
I was genuinely surprised at their ability to remain unseen, I hadn’t even seen them as they crossed the open field between the trees and the wall.
I only caught a glimpse of them as they climbed to the top.
I sent shadows after them to provide extra cover, and they disappeared from sight to the other side.
Odarum had remained perfectly still as the hours passed. Pacing back and forth, I waited for her to return. Kya had remained silent the entire time, which I supposed was a good thing but it drove me mad having to just wait around while my mate was out there without me.
The moons had risen high in the sky, and I was growing impatient.
It shouldn’t have taken that long. Just to ease my worry, I gave a slight tug on the bond, not wanting to distract her by speaking into her mind, just enough to portray my concern.
A moment later, I felt a gentle caress across the shimmering tether, and I instantly felt better knowing that everything was fine.
Her mind, as well as the bond, had remained calm and I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised.
This was what she did. So I continued to wait.
Another hour passed, and I had kept my eyes on Bhara’s wall, searching for a glimpse of the Roav when I heard the snapping of a twig off to the side of me in the trees.
I cast my shadows around me and Odarum, concealing us from anyone who might be near.
It was then that I felt the bond settling as my mate emerged though the shadows with Malina next to her and Nikan behind them.
Vicria unconscious over his shoulder, a diamond embedded in her sternum.
Nikan dropped Vicria on the ground and pulled Malina and Kya aside. He whispered to them for several minutes. When they finished discussing, Nikan strolled back into the darkness of the trees. Malina and Kya walked back to me. I tilted my head to the side and furrowed my brow when Kya looked at me.
“Nik’s going back to Ilrek so that he can continue his work with Eamon. Malina is coming back with us. Let’s get out of here.”