I looked over the edge again, trying to see this promised bottom. It had to be there.
It would be all right. I’d break the ward and Ryker would kill everything. We were a perfect team, at least with this. All was good.
“We can go down at the same time.”
He might as well have been coddling me. He didn’t speak like this. Did he not realize people were listening, even if those people were Burn, Sneak, Switch, and Dez? “Why? I told you I’ve got it.”
“It’s all right to be—”
“Shut. Up,” I said under my breath.
He didn’t even look annoyed. He looked worried. It was horrible.
“I’ve got this,” I said loudly, hoping it would undo Ryker’s damage.
Switch began twitching, jerking his head toward the side.
“I need a second.” I walked to Switch and then had to follow him another five feet away, as he wouldn’t stand still. “What’s wrong?”
“I can get you out of here if you need. You don’t have to do this if you’re scared like Ryker thinks. I told Ruck I’d keep you safe.” He was rubbing his arms and acting as if he were about to impart the world’s greatest secret on me and was risking death by doing it.
“No. I want to do this.” Ryker was contaminating them. He’d have everyone thinking I was soft. I wouldn’t be able to show my face at breakfast if he kept this up.
Switch nodded, but his eyes were squinty.
Ryker was going to have everyone thinking I was a ninny because I wasn’t thrilled to leap into a black hole. Who would be? It had nothing to do with bravery and everything to do with common sense. I had some. That was all my nerves proved.
I left the squinty-eyed Switch and made my way to Burn and Sneak. “Come on, guys. Give me the rope. I’m going in.”
Burn held out a looped end. “Step on the end and we’ll lower you down.
I didn’t climb in gracefully, but I did it fast. See? No chickens here. After I was dangling about ten feet down, I looked up, waiting to see Ryker following me, gripping the rope tighter than needed as I did.
My rope stopped moving. Ryker appeared over the edge and continued to lower until he was eye level with me. He wrapped his hand on top of mine, where it was gripping the rope. He pulled me closer to him but didn’t say a word. I didn’t tell him to let go. Damned if I didn’t feel a little better with him being near.
We began dropping again, and the need for the rope signals became more obvious as the time ticked by.
I was looking down when he cupped the back of my head and drew me in. His lips covered mine, his tongue caressing. He broke the kiss, his face still only inches from mine.
“You’ve got this,” he said, before dipping back in, sucking on my lower lip.
Before I could digest Ryker’s actions, I felt it. I tugged twice on the second rope beside us to signal the guys above to stop lowering us.
I waited another minute, making sure I was right. The feeling was so slight that it could’ve easily been missed.
“Do you feel it?” I whispered.
“No.”
The ward itself was a beauty. Barely perceptible at all. What hit me first was some magic beyond the ward we were closing in on. It sent a shot of warmth through me, but a kind that made my hair stand on end.
“There’s going to be something really strong beyond this.”
“How strong?”
I took a deep breath, pulled my hand from Ryker’s, and then bent at the knee to get closer. Leaning over and leading with my hands, I found the ward. A shiver shot through me as the dark magic boiled beneath. I’d never thought of magic as light or dark before recently. Whatever was brewing beneath this surface felt like it could turn my heart black if I gave it enough time.
I let my senses reach out, skimming the ward. I could feel a slimy magic churning below the surface. “Strong, but we can do this.”
“You sure?”
I stared at him. “Yes. Just be ready to kill it.”
I ran my hands over the surface, feeling the pattern of the magic, learning its grooves and idiosyncrasies. No two wards were ever alike. They were as different as the people who created them. Their weaknesses were as well, and there was always one.
The second I felt the crack, it was too late to warn Ryker. It was as if the pressure from the inside had been building, waiting for me to nudge it enough.
The ward burst open in an explosion of energy. The place lit with a green glow. Magic shot around me, rippling in currents. I went flying back, slamming into the cave wall, my head bouncing against it as I dropped another twenty feet to the bottom.
My eyes blurred as I shook my head, trying to clear it as the creature rose to its full height. I understood why that pressure had been so immense. Covered in scales that looked razor thin and shining silver, green glowing from its eyes, a Grodian towered twenty feet over me. I’d heard about these mythical creatures from childhood: spawned from experiments with dragon eggs, they killed by fire and then ate your charred remains. They’d been used during the Magical War of 810. They were responsible for more than one ruined city until a pact between all the countries made them illegal.
Ryker was nowhere in sight. I didn’t know if he’d been thrown into one of the small offshoot caves or maybe been blown straight out of the pit itself. For now, I was alone.
It took in a mighty breath, its chest rising, and I knew I had less than a second to protect myself. I channeled everything I had into putting a ward between me and it. I didn’t even wrap my sides, focusing on one direction: where it was standing.
I was right. The fucker breathed fire. I crouched, trying to make myself as small as possible as waves of flame hit my ward and singed my sides.
There were a few seconds of respite as it took another deep breath before it hit me with round two. I didn’t know how well I was going to fare this time or how long I could continue. Getting out without a rope was impossible.
That was when I saw Ryker, his rope gone, as he attempted to scale down the rock wall toward me. He’d been blown upward and had to be a good hundred feet up, with the Grodian in between us.
“Kill it!” I screamed, hoping that the way our magic was merged would somehow save me from dying too.
“I can’t. It’s too close to you,” he yelled back.
The monster took a deep breath, its head jerking toward the sound of Ryker’s voice.
“Do it anyway.” It was a risk, but I was willing to take it.
He kept descending as if he didn’t hear me.
The monster was gasping, looking as if it were a little rusty at getting his fire back. As soon as it did, it was going to blast one of us. The way it was looking toward Ryker, he’d be dying first.
I’d have to watch him being charred alive.
“Do it,” I screamed.
He ignored me, climbing down as fast as possible considering the slickness of the walls, waving a hand here and there as if trying to keep the Grodian’s attention on him.
If he wouldn’t listen, there was only one thing to do. I felt for that connection we had deep inside, the one I normally tried to ignore, and shoved everything I had at him. The bulk of my magic and then every drop I could squeeze out after that was shoved toward him. Giving it felt every bit as bad as having it taken.
His head swung toward me, and I could see the confusion in his eyes.
The Grodian was filling its lungs, and I knew it was about to char him right to the wall.
I moved from my spot of safety and started screaming, “Hey, fucker! Don’t forget about me!”
The Grodian’s attention shifted from Ryker as I prepared for the worst. One of several things was about to happen. (A) The monster would burn me alive. Very probable. (B) Ryker would kill the monster and take me out with it, which was what I knew he feared. Also very probable. Or (C) Ryker would kill the monster and I’d still be standing because his magic couldn’t hurt me. At least if I did die now, I’d die literate and a non-virgin
.
The Grodian’s mouth opened, and I saw the flames gathering in his throat, about to shoot at me. Then I felt a sweep of something else graze by, a mere tickle to my senses.
The monster fell to the ground, shaking the earth beneath it. I remained standing.
Ryker landed beside me. Even in the dark, I could sense his glare. I moved around the clearing, and the big, dead Grodian, while avoiding the glare as much as I could.
“Where is it? It has to be down here. I can feel it.” I talked to myself, afraid to speak to Ryker yet, as the adrenaline kept me moving.
Ryker pushed a boulder out of the way. “I got it.”
“Good. Let’s get out of here.”
He dropped a nice-sized stone into my palm. It was perfect pocket size. I would’ve thanked him, but I was still worried about opening up communication with the stare he had going on.
He jumped up, grabbing what was left of one of the ropes. Mine had burned off higher in one of the blasts of fire.
More rope was quickly lowered down. He put his foot into a quickly made loop. “Put your foot on mine.”
I did and then grabbed the rope that was between us. He wrapped an arm around me and tugged a signal.
The second we were off the ground, he started. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
What I was thinking now was that I’d almost made it out of the pit without having this conversation.
“Bugs.” The way he said my name was enough to start a battle.
Fine, he wanted to fight? We’d fight. “I was thinking of how to save at least one of us. You call me stubborn, but what was that about? And while we’re at it, what was the shit up there about? ‘Am I too scared’? What’s gotten into you?”
“Don’t change the subject. That was idiotic.”
“Your caution was going to bring about both our deaths. Where’s the man that had us brazenly robbing from Bedlam and screw the consequences?”
“That was thought out. What you did wasn’t.”
“Bullshit. You’re just mad because it was my call.”
We were nearing the top, and Burn reached down and yanked me up.
I could see from the expressions as I landed topside that they’d heard part of the fighting.
I gave a wave with the stone in my hand and then smiled. “All good. Got the stone.”
Twenty-Seven
“Switch, go back and tell them to send a chugger.” Those were the last words Ryker would say for three hours.
We were a miserable-looking group as we sat around the fire waiting. Occasionally someone tried to break the silence with some gossip or small talk. It never launched into a full-fledged conversation. By the time the chugger arrived, everyone was running to jump into the uncomfortable spots in the cargo area. I derailed Dez and shoved her into the center of the cab so I’d have a buffer for the ride back. The glares from her were easier to handle.
I expected Ryker to rip into me on the way back, but he didn’t say anything. By the time we were pulling back up to the Valley, I wasn’t sure Ryker would be speaking to me again after this. At least it would make the goodbyes easier this time, if the hole it was putting in my chest didn’t kill me first. I’d done it to save him, and this was what I got? Well, fuck him.
Ruck was there as soon as we pulled up. I jumped out of the cab before the chugger came to a complete stop.
“Hey. Heard it was a rough night,” Ruck said.
Switch must’ve filled him in, but I could see questions in his eyes.
“Come on, let’s go to my place,” I didn’t wait to see if Ruck followed. Putting space between Ryker and I was more important.
Ruck glanced back before following me.
He asked me the only question I wasn’t ready to answer: “You fucked him, didn’t you? Switch said he noticed a weird vibe between you two.”
My face was blasted with heat. “We broke out a Grodian and all you care about is if I slept with Ryker?”
He opened his mouth and sucked in a breath. His entire frame froze for a couple of seconds and then he said, “You did do it!”
I pushed into my room, dropped my bag, and sank onto the bed. “You know, you need to realign your priorities. This should not be the most important conversation right now.”
“I’ll realign at a later point when I decide to give a fuck about the order of my interests.” He sat next to me, shoving a bit so he could get more real estate. “You’re alive, so it couldn’t have been too bad. Now let’s get to the good stuff. How was it? Is he big? I bet he’s huge.”
I ran a hand through my hair, my skin growing even warmer as I remembered Ryker’s hands on me.
“Shit, that good? You’ve got the smile that says he rocked your world. Damn. I knew it. If I wasn’t so happy with Switch, and you weren’t crushing on him like a quarry, I might’ve tried to convert him. I bet it wouldn’t be that hard, either. A man who likes to fuck as much as he does tends to be easier to swing around to the right side of things. How many times you do it?”
“Just once, and it’s not going to happen again. It’s not a thing. It was a moment.”
There was a long pause before he said, “You know, I haven’t seen women coming and going out of his place like they used to.”
I held up a hand. Hope could be a dangerous thing. If I followed Ruck up this mountain and stuck my head in those clouds, my heart wouldn’t be able to handle the bumps when I rolled back down.
“It’s very clear what we are, and it’s not hearts and flowers. I don’t want to build this up into something it’s not. I slept with him and I probably shouldn’t have, because I’m already struggling to keep my feelings in a neat little compartment. I can’t afford to buy into any delusions of what this could be. We both know Ryker. We both know this won’t end like some fairy tale.” He wasn’t the right guy and never would be. He’d never be faithful. It wasn’t who he was.
“I get it.” The corners of Ruck’s lips dropped, and his tone lost all its excitement.
This was one of those times that it hurt when he didn’t argue with me. The fact that he was rolling over so easily shined a spotlight on how right I was. We both knew it, and his face was a mirror of my fears.
“Maybe you shouldn’t do it again,” he said, doubling down.
“I’m not planning on it.”
* * *
I woke to my door opening. Ryker walked in and shut it behind him. He crossed the room until he was standing over me. Tension mingled with his volatile brand of magic.
“Don’t ever force my hand like that again,” he said softly, but seriously.
I flipped from my stomach to my back, meeting his hard gaze with one of my own. I wouldn’t lie to him to make peace. I’d rather war with him daily than mourn peacefully at his grave.
“I’d do the exact same thing tomorrow, and there’s nothing you can do that will change that.”
He fisted his hands at his sides, as if he wasn’t sure what to do with me next. Join the club. No one ever had.
Then his hands were fisted in my hair, his body covering mine. If he’d meant to intimidate me, it had quickly taken a different turn. His thigh between mine, his erection pressing into me.
My lips parted, my breathing hitched as I arched into him.
“You’re going to be my undoing,” he said, his lips grazing mine before claiming my mouth.
He’d almost died today, but here he was, warm flesh and beating heart pressing against me, and that was the only thing that mattered. I’d worry about distance tomorrow.
Twenty-Eight
I flipped through the book Sneak had stolen from Crisp, generation after generation of my family history laid out. Having lost my family so young, part of me had always felt like I’d come from nowhere. Here was proof, though.
Dez walked through the door I’d left wide open. It was to let the sun in—not that I was paranoid about getting attacked with no one around to notice. I had a stone, after all. I patted my pocket.
; “What are you doing?” she asked, falling onto the bed beside me.
“Looking at where I came from.” Page after page of names, not a one with magic. It was so strange how Wyrd Blood happened, just springing up out of the blue to ordinary folk.
“Can I see?” She leaned over my shoulder, already looking.
I handed her the large book. She took it and rolled over onto her stomach, running her fingers over the names.
“Wow, they kept really good records.” She tapped her finger on the top of the chart. “They’ve got your lineage by more than five hundred years before the Magical War of 810.” She traced her finger down the line of names, all listed with date, place of birth, and occupation beneath. “Your family really got around.”
“What do you mean?” I leaned over to look.
“I don’t know, it’s just weird. Most people stay in the same country their entire lives, or maybe move to a nearby one. Not your people. Your mother was born in Crisp, but your father came from Burrunda, which is pretty far. Your grandparents on your father’s side came from two totally different countries that were far apart too. It goes on and on.” She dropped the book back in my lap and pointed to the different places listed. “It’s like your family all had itchy feet or something.”
I was still scanning the pages as she got up.
“I gotta go shower. I’ll see you at lunch.”
“Sure,” I said, looking over my lineage with a sharper eye.
“Hey, you eating all these?” Dez asked, pointing to the basket on my table.
“No. Take them. Sylvia has been dropping off way too many.” I didn’t tell her I suspected it was at Ryker’s request. She hadn’t asked me about that situation, and I didn’t want to tell.
“Sylvia makes the best. Thanks,” Dez said, grabbing a couple before giving me a wave goodbye.
* * *
Blood Binds: Wyrd Blood Book Three Page 16