The dining room.
Where it all went so wrong.
“I’m really glad,” I said as we neared the door and my nerves began to flutter.
Really, really, really glad.
“For?” he asked.
I gulped. “That you’re not dead.”
He huffed a laugh, though I felt the same nerves reflected in him. But then that power of his quickly coursed through him, quieting his veins.
“I also have you to thank,” he said. “I…felt you. By the river. Thank you.”
Those simple words meant more to me than any ode written in my name. “You did the same thing for me.”
It had been the most natural thing in the world.
I felt him hurting.
I wanted to stop the hurt.
No questions, no worries, just instinct.
An urge which still unnerved me. It had come so easily.
“I would do it every single time. Though I hope it won’t ever be necessary.”
“Same. But please stop risking your life.”
“Would that I could.” He sighed and opened the door.
Watching me.
Waiting.
I inhaled sharply as the table I’d walked all over greeted me.
I was about to step into the same space where we’d ruptured. This conversation could either tear us farther apart or stitch us back up.
And I honestly didn’t know which way I wanted the fates to sway.
Chapter 65
Allie
Ryker leaned against the closed door, head caved between his shoulders. His back rippled with tension and exhaustion.
Yet what flowed through the connection was an excitement tinged with…worry? More nerves? It was still hard to grasp a particular emotion when it didn’t overwhelm all the others.
I, for one, was a tightly wound ball of jitters that I wasn’t able to quiet.
“I’m sorry.” His voice filled the large space which had felt empty for so long. The fortress had lacked the thrum of life, suffocated by the uncertainty of it all.
I swallowed thickly. “For?”
“Hurting you.” He pushed himself from the door and turned to me, but didn’t make a move to approach. “Above all else, that is what I am sorry for. You were right. I was taught how to handle things by myself so the problems wouldn’t weigh down others. It’s a hard habit to break.”
