“You need to tell her to stop.” Amalee kept her voice low as she nudged me with an elbow.
“I can hear you,” Audryn said in a singsong voice. “If I wanted your input, I’d have asked for it. I’m not killing myself today, I have too much left in Rivale.”
“Fuck that guy,” Amalee called out, not understanding what Audryn meant.
It was hard not to let Audryn’s statement dig into me. Whatever we had together wasn’t enough to keep her from depleting herself to the point of no return, but her death list was. When she’d told me about her plan, I’d never been so terrified for someone while also proud. I’d only ever seen her back down to Ryder and hadn’t realized she planned to stand up to the Suttons for her family all along. Though, she might as well sign her own execution papers if she were going to take King Sutton on by herself.
My stare locked on her back.
We’d been at the second seep for nearly three hours with little progress. Audryn’s wet locks stuck against the back of her shirt, exposing the ragged rise and fall of her shoulders. If I wasn’t worried she might stop speaking to me altogether, I would have demanded she quit. But my words had hit her that morning, and I wasn’t about to repeat the mistake.
“Look, you did it,” I pointed to the center of the blackened pool where a tiny bubble rose to the surface. She didn’t acknowledge me, so I moved to her side and repeated myself, causing her to look at the thick liquid.
She closed her eyes once more and sat in silence. That morning, her magic vibrated fiercely through the air, yet it had diminished to no more than a low hum.
“Looks like she needs a break.” Micah spoke low, without any joking hint in his tone. “This was a bad idea.”
“Yeah,” I snapped, “you fucking think?”
Several more bubbles rose to the surface as Audryn’s breathsbecame rapid and inconsistent. She was engaged in a battle for her life, and none of us could help fight her opponent. My pulse quickened as fear spread, and the reality of losing another person I loved loomed as a real possibility.
Even though I’d known her for just over a month, I was certain of my feelings. My love for her was no more a question than the love I held for my family—she was part of me, and I couldn’t lose her.
Panic began to overtake me, and I had to turn and walk back to Zalzre. Dysis paced, and my wyvern shifted anxiously on his feet. My sister looked at me expectantly, and it took all my effort to hold my chin high despite her silent demands to fix the situation. I needed to trust that Audryn could walk away if she were too exhausted.
“Do something, Col,” my sister said, her eyes urgent. “Keep her safe.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “It’s your job.”
The words crashed into me all at once, and I fought back tears. For so long, Amalee told me it wasn’t my responsibility to take care of everyone around us, yet she’d chosen to strike me with our mother’s words in front of others.
“Don’t do that,” I shot back, in a hushed and shaky voice.
Another bubble erupted, this time more abruptly than the ones prior. Audryn leaned forward on her palms as her breaths were audibly rasping, but she remained relentless in her effort. Fisher rose to his feet, stomped over and hooked an arm around her waist, lifting her adeptly into the air.
“Hey!” I shouted at the hasty guard, but didn’t try to prevent him from carrying her away. I was grateful for his intervention.
“Put me down.” Audryn weakly pushed against the burly guard, but he continued walking toward the four resting wyverns. “I’m not a child!” Her limbs flailed in slowed motions.
“Stop acting like one then!” Fisher shouted. “You’re going to kill yourself if you let your magic completely drain, and you know that!”
“That would be just terrible for you, wouldn’t it?” She threw a knee into the man’s groin, nearly knocking the breath out of him. “Poor you, you’d be so sad ifyour princewas mad at you.”
“Damn.” Micah groaned at my side. “She’s feisty, even when she’s killing herself.”
My feet stopped. Ryder was no longerherprince; he was Fisher’s. Her disdain for the man was unmistakable, and yet I’d somehow missed it until that point.
“You think I wouldn’t care if you killed yourself?” Fisher’s voice drew louder. “Because why would I go out of my way to take care of you while you’re retching wine all over the place? Why would I pull a favor to get your mother’s gown cleaned? Why would I not turn you in for snooping in the king’s study?” He shook his head and set her on the ground. “I clearly have no concern for your welfare, right? Don’t you think I’d have left you in your own misery if that were the case?”
Another bubble rose to the surface.
“I would’ve known when to stop.” She crossed her arms across her chest. “I don’t need you!”
“Maybe that’s the issue. You want to solve every problem on your own,” Fisher continued the admonishment. “You’d rather let your entire field burn than ask your neighbor for water, despite them standing there offering a hundred water-filled buckets.”
Several more bubbles erupted quickly, followed by a few more. Audryn’s gaze darted to the oily pool, and a wry grin made its way across her mouth. “See, it worked. And I didn’t even need your help.”
16
RYDER
