I shook my head. I doubted I ever would.
“You think I don’t know you, but I do,” he went on. “You wonder if you’d have been faster, more vigilant, if you hadn’t left his side, if you could have prevented it. Those are the exact thoughts torturing me right now. And I’m sorry you had to live through them.”
The words rang true. I suddenly felt seen and exposed all at once.
“Don’t let them consume you like they did with me,” I said.
“I don’t know how to stop them. Nadya was right. She wore the perfect disguise to tug on this weak heart of mine. She said–” He shook his head, as if trying to already carve that memory from his mind, but knowing he couldn’t. “She said mykindness sealed my mother’s fate. That this heir will bring glory to Solkar’s Reach. That the crater isn’t content under my rule–”
He froze under my touch, gaze glazing over as he stared at nothing.
“Ryker?” I asked, concerned.
His eyes sparked.
“She said the crater’s unhappy,” he mouthed slowly. “Not Solkar’s Reach. Not its people. The crater.”
Eyes still frozen in the distance, he took both of my hands in his and pressed them against his chest. The connection between us bloomed, warming my insides and fluttering my heart.
“We know Solkar’s Heart is wounded,” he went on, just as slowly, building the realization word for word in front of my eyes. “The Northern Clans claim they’re not getting their share of power. What if the entire crater turned against us because it’s bleeding and actually isn’t happy with us because of it?”
I raised my brows. “Making us suffer because it’s wounded?”
His gaze snapped to me. “Or trying to gain our attention through any means necessary. It has its own mind. It didn’t let you leave to protect you.”
Debatable, since it had let Nadya kill people inside of it. But I was still alive. I might have met a gruesome fate like Geryll’s if I’d left.
“So the crater’s melting down because of a meltdown?” As soon as the words left my throat, a tired laugh followed. “Dax would have groaned so hard at that.”
“Why? It’s funny.” His gaze softened. “You’re amazing.”
“Thanks,” I said before my mind caught up.
That–that compliment hadn’t come from his lips. It had whispered in my mind, as clearly as if he’d burrowed his very essence into me.
My heart gave a startled tug.
Ryker stared at me, eyes wide, mouth agape, and I was doing the same thing, as if our thoughts hadn’t just broken the laws of existence as we knew it.
“Did you–” I leaned forward, whispering, “Did you just speak into my mind?”
“I believe so.” A lazy smile bloomed on his face, vanquishing some of the shadows. “Our minds seemed to have finally accepted what we are.”
I gulped. I still had a hard time believing it myself. “Which is?”
Ryker opened his mouth, but his words got stolen by harsh footsteps.
He clenched his jaw as Dax rushed to our side. “I asked you–”
Dax narrowed his eyes on him, face contorted with rage. “Vylkor’s dead.”
Chapter 72
Allie
The spilled water pooled into the dusty grooves between the stones.
The cup had rolled away into a corner.
