CHAPTER 10
SLADE
It’s been four days.
Four days, and Auren still hasn’t stirred. She lies on my bed silently, only moving when Hojat changes her dressing and adjusts her sleeping position so she doesn’t get sore. And despite the fact that the sun has risen and set multiple times, not a single thread has been gilded by her touch. Not the fabric of the pillow beneath her cheek, not the new gloves or leggings on her body. Not an inch of power has come out of her, and I don’t know what to think.
The storm has raged and raged, as if trying to seek revenge for the fact that we avoided its wrath and beat it here. To get back at us, the tempest has now decided not to leave.
My attention jerks to the door when Ryatt strides inside without warning, a pissed-off look on his face, green eyes flashing as they level me with a glare.
“Ever heard of knocking?” I say, though there’s no energy behind my words.
He stops in front of my chair, toeing past the half dozen books discarded on the floor beside me, forgotten and shoved aside since my mind won’t allow me to actually read anything. I can’t—not when Auren still lies here unmoving.
“You need to get out of this room.”
I snort. “You’re giving me commands now, brother?”
“No,brother.I wouldn’t dare to order the great King Rot around,” he bites back. “But you aren’t eating, you’re barely sleeping, and you smell like shit.”
I roll my eyes, ready to shove him out of my room. My mood plummets more each day when Auren doesn’t wake up. I haven’t left her side a single second, concern and fear risen up to my ears so it’s all I can feel and hear and think of. “Get out, Ryatt.”
He lets out a disappointed sigh. “You need to get a grip.”
My eyes flash up to his face. “Get a grip?” I snap, on my feet in an instant, my face in his. “You think that I don’t have a white-knuckled grip on myself every second of the day? I don’t have the luxury of nevernothaving a grip on myself.” My entire body is tense, my tone gnarled. “Since the moment I had to use my magic against her, I’ve beenthisfucking close to snapping. Do you get that? I have to hold the reins around my power constantly, can’t give it a single fucking inch. So no, I don’t need to get a grip. Because I haven’t been able to loosen it since I got here and realized she’s not waking up.”
Ryatt takes in my fuming expression, but we’ve gone head-to-head many times, and while most people would back down in the face of my anger, he’s not one of them. “This is exactly why you need to get out of this room.”
I shake my head, spikes trying to shove through the sleeves of my shirt. Even now, I can feel the smallest ones punching through the curve above my eyebrows.
“Look at you,” he says with a note of disgust. “Let me see how bad it is.”
Scoffing, I turn away, stopping in front of the fireplace. “Who sent you in here? Lu? Tell her she doesn’t need to worry about me.”
“No one sent me, but we’re all sick of your shit,” Ryatt replies. “Now let me see.”
“Fuck off.”
“You think I want to babysit you? I’ve got better shit to do. So roll up your Divine-damned sleeves and let me see. I’m not leaving until you do.”
Fuming, I spin around and shove up both sleeves, just to get him to go away. As soon as my arms are revealed, Ryatt’s lips press into a thin line. “Fuck.”
I shove my sleeves back down. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine,” he retorts. “You need to go expel some power before it eats you alive.”
“What about the scouts?”
“Don’t try to change the subject. I’m handling Midas’s scouts, don’t worry. Now you go handleyourshit.”
“I’m not leaving her alone.”
Ryatt strides over to the chair I was sitting in and plops his ass down while I stare at him incredulously. He even goes so far as to brace an ankle on his knee and grab one ofmybooks from the floor to start reading.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “I’m staying with the golden girl so she won’t be alone. Now go away and rot some shit before you explode and destroy all of Deadwell.”
