I hid my smirk as I stepped back into Ryker’s embrace and entwined my fingers with his. Callum tilted his head as he studied us, and a broad grin spread across Riordan’s face.
“Looks like the time away did you both some good.”
The ring on my finger felt heavy under his scrutiny, and I twisted it around the digit to stifle my unease.
Riordan followed the movement. “Ah. Or it could be that.”
“It could be what?” Callum and I asked in unison.
“The ring.”
“Riordan,” Ryker warned.
A wave of icy dread washed over me, hollowing me out as my body began to shake.
“What about the ring?” Callum pressed.
Riordan’s gaze found his brother’s, who had gone still behind me. “You said you would tell her.” The accusation in his tone was unmistakable.
A low growl was Ryker’s only answer.
“Tell me what?”
Riordan’s eyes pinched as though he were in pain. When I peeked over my shoulder to look at my husband, I could see the tension tightening his jaw.
“Ryker?” My voice was quiet, but he still heard me. His steel-grey eyes locked with mine, and the weight of his stare threatened to bring me to my knees.
“The ring,” Riordan said, his tone gentler, “commands loyalty.”
I blinked, unable to process what I was hearing as I looked down at the piece of jewelry adorning my finger.
“Those who wield its power are tethered to the bloodline that created it. My mother’s bloodline. Now that you have channeled the magic it houses, you will always feel a kinship, a sense of duty, to those who share my mother’s blood.”
My throat went dry. I stared at Ryker, mouth agape, as my fingers moved to the ring that clung to my hand like it belonged there.
“Is that true?”
His jaw flexed, but still he said nothing.
“Ryker, what did you do?”
His eyes searched mine, and I watched in silence as resolve settled in his grey depths. “I saved you.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He stepped forward, his voice tight. “The magic in that ring gave you the strength to survive the final test. Without it, you would be dead.”
The room tilted. I clutched the edge of the nearby chair as my breath caught in my throat.
Tethered.
My thoughts returned to the first time I wielded it, to the sudden, aching pull I felt toward Ryker immediately after.
Was being fated mates not enough for him? He had to strip away my last vestige of control as well. “I never would have agreed to this.”
“I know,” he said without an ounce of regret. “That’s why I didn’t tell you.”
A heavy silence settled over the room. Even Callum seemed too stunned by Ryker’s actions to speak.
