Genuine laughter bubbled up inside him, but it cut short when Ryker closed his other hand around Leap’s windpipe. “Shut your trap,” he growled, the maniacal gleam in his eyes turning into something dark, verging on desperation. “I’m not jealous of your magic. So what if you can put on a little lightning show? You’re still a cowardly little twerp who runs away from his problems instead of facing them like a real male would.”
“Cowardly?” Leap choked out. He clawed at Ryker’s hand on his throat, but his scrapes were as ineffectual as a chisel against a chunk of diamond. “That’s rich, coming from the guy who likes to beat up on little kids.”
“Ryker.” Letta appeared at Ryker’s elbow, her pointed face scrunched into a worried expression. “Maybe you should let him go. His lips are turning blue.”
“What are you, his mommy?” Ryker spun around and shoved Leap into Letta’s arms, surprising them both. Letta stumbled back as she caught him, and another one of Ryker’s friends rushed to catch her before the two of them fell. “Take him, then, if you want him so badly. But don’t ever show your face in my court again.”
“Th-th-that’s not what I was suggesting,” Letta stammered. She let go of Leap, letting him fall on his ass as she rapidly attempted to distance herself from him. “I just don’t want you to get in trouble with your father.”
“Yeah, Ryker.” The fae who’d caught Letta—a male called Kip—chimed in, shooting an uncertain glance at Leap. “Lord Oren won’t be happy if he learns that you’ve been beating on Leap, after all the trouble he’s taken to bring him back here.”
“What father doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” Ryker flicked an imaginary speck of dirt off his shoulder, then took a step toward Leap. “Unless one of you plan to tell him, but you wouldn’t do that, would you?” he asked, his voice full of sweet venom as he looked each of his cronies in the eye.
Leap tried to scramble to his feet, to put distance between him and Ryker, but his entire body throbbed with pain, and the room spun, forcing him back to the ground. The manacles on his wrist didn’t just prevent him from using his magic—they also stunted his healing abilities. He felt like a fish out of water, flopping around on the ground as his cousin loomed over him. Was this the moment Ryker would finally gut him?
The onlookers said nothing as Ryker planted a boot in the center of Leap’s chest, pinning him to the floor. Panic burst sharp and bright beneath the pressure of Ryker’s foot as he leaned in, pulling a small paring knife from his belt.
“I wonder how many times we can carve ‘traitor’ into your precious little forehead before we run out of space,” he mused, testing the point of the knife with his thumb. A bright bead of blood welled from the tiny wound, and he flicked his tongue against it as he looked at the others. “Which one of you wants to do the honors first while I hold him down? Or are you all cowards?”
Leap’s heart pounded so hard he couldn’t even hear the voices of the others in the room. He barely registered when the doors to the hall slammed open, or the ringing of heeled boots against the floor. But he was dimly aware of shouts, of powerful arms yanking him off the floor, and the room came back into startling focus as someone slapped his face.
“Leap. Leap!” Gale’s hardened face hovered before him, the lightning rider stooped to Leap’s eye level. “Can you hear me?”
“Yeah,” Leap croaked. He blinked hard, looking around to see Ryker struggling against the grip of two other lightning riders. The sight was so unexpected that he shook his head hard, but the vision before him didn’t waver.
“Let me go, you disloyal dogs!” Ryker railed against the riders, his words slurring a little. “I’m in charge—you’re supposed to answer to me!”
“You’re in charge of the palace,” Gale corrected, his voice as frigid as the winter winds that whipped around Angtun’s spires. “Not in charge of the Gaoth Aire, and not in charge of the Lightning Guard. That honor still belongs to your father, and until he comes back to tell us otherwise, we will continue to act in his interests, not yours.”
Gale jerked his head, and the riders released Ryker. He stumbled away, face bright red with anger and embarrassment. “You won’t get away with this,” Ryker fumed as Gale led Leap away. “My father will have you all thrown out of the Lightning Guard when I tell him about this!”
The riders ignored Ryker as they steered Leap out of the room. Leap allowed them to guide him out of the main tower, his feet moving mechanically as a haze descended upon him. The throbbing pain in his body seemed to have eclipsed him, drowning out his awareness of everything else. Next thing he knew, he was sitting in a chair in his room, the cold press of a glass bottle against his lips bringing him back to awareness.
“Drink,” Gale ordered, and Leap swallowed. Burning liquid slid down his throat, and he sputtered and coughed against the acrid taste. He wanted to recoil, but the lightning rider forced him to drink it all.
“That’s it,” Gale said encouragingly when Leap had finished. He handed the boy a cup of water, and Leap guzzled it down, desperate to wash the awful taste from his mouth. A cooling sensation flooded his body, and the throbbing receded to half of what it was, allowing him to think past the pain. “There you are.”
Leap pulled a face. “What in the Shadows was that stuff?” he asked, wiping the back of his hand against his mouth. “I’ve never tasted anything so awful in my life.”
“It’s a healing tonic,” Gale said dryly. “You know, for those of us who don’t have special healing powers.”
Leap blinked. “You mean you have to drink this stuff every time you get injured?”
Gale laughed. “Not me,” he said, stepping back to give Leap some space. “But not all lightning riders are Greater Fae, Leap. We all have the ability to wield lightning and ride spirit clouds, but we don’t all have the benefits of extra strength, speed, and healing that you do. That’s why potions and tonics exist.”
“Oh.” Leap frowned, trying to wrap his brain around that concept. “I didn’t realize that. I thought all the lightning riders were like my parents.”
“They are,” Gale said. “Your mother was a Greater Fae, but your father wasn’t. What he lacked in extra special abilities he made up for with sheer willpower and an unwillingness to give up.” His smile faded away as sadness entered his eyes. “He would be very disappointed in me if he learned about what happened to you today.”
A thick silence descended between them, heavy with the weight of words unspoken. Finally, Leap asked, “So what do we do now? We just carry on with the status quo and pretend like the world isn’t ending and Angtun hasn’t been left in the hands of a spoiled psychopath?”
Gale sighed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. But I suggest you don’t leave your rooms for the rest of the day. Ryker will be waiting for any opportunity to finish what he started this afternoon.”
He turned to leave the room, one hand casually shoved into his pocket. As he pulled it out to open the door, a metal key fell from his pocket and clattered to the floor. Leap held his breath, waiting for Gale to notice, but the lightning rider appeared oblivious as he let himself out of the room, shutting and locking the door behind him.
Leap snatched the key up from the floor. It took him all of two seconds to get the manacles off, and he nearly shouted with joy as his magic rushed back to life inside him. Lightning sparked at his fingertips, and if he were outside, he would have stretched his hands above his head and released the surge of energy, lighting up the entire sky with his joy and fury.
The need for vengeance crackled in his veins, and it took everything he had not to rush out the door and fry Ryker into a crisp. Only the thought of his friends kept him inside his room, pacing back and forth as he waited for the sun to set and the inhabitants of the palace to fall asleep.
