Imdalind Ruby Collection One: Kiss of Fire | Eyes of Ember | Scorched Treachery

by Ethington, Rebecca

  I led the way out of the drama room, now eager to get up the canyon and enjoy some time with both my friends. Wyn breezed past me, texting something on her phone to her brother, I was sure. I followed her until I felt Ryland’s large hand on my back, his warmth spreading through me.

  “Something tells me you’re scared to be alone with me.” His breath buzzed through my hair as he spoke; he was that close.

  “It’s not that,” I began. “It’s just…” He moved in front of me, placing his hands on my arms and stopping me in place.

  “It’s okay, Joclyn. I know. It took me a while to realize you were worth more than my father’s commands. It took me a while to know what I want. It’s okay to be scared. I’m patient.” His face filled with a happy light that made my heart spin in pure joy. Ryland leaned down before I could stop him and placed his lips against my cheek.

  I was overcome with his smell as his lips lingered there, the warmth of them spreading throughout me and making me dizzy. Far before I was ready, he ran away from me, running to catch up to Wyn and leaving me sputtering alone in the middle of the hall.

  Nineteen

  Joclyn

  The fire pit was in a large clearing that you could only get to by parking off the side of the road and hiking for about twenty minutes through uncut forest. Some time ago, someone had dug a giant hole in the middle of the space, giving people a reason to call it the fire pit. I never knew how Ryland found this place, but I knew we weren’t the only ones who came here. Every once in a while, we would come across crumpled chip wrappers or beer cans.

  Ryland led us as we trudged our way through the undergrowth, pie in hand. I could smell the delicious chocolate fragrance drifting back to me, and it made my stomach jump in anticipation.

  I stayed back by Wyn, thankful for her company. After what Ryland had said to me as we were leaving the drama room, I didn’t need to be alone with him. I needed to think—and somehow prepare myself for Saturday night.

  We entered the clearing and I went to go look for firewood. The cool mountain air was already starting to get a bite to it and being this far up the mountains, it was sure to get chilly quickly.

  The clearing was surrounded by what appeared to be a perfect circle of giant oak trees. They all had to have been planted at the same time because each one was about the same height. They towered over us as we walked through them, much taller than the smaller beech and brush oak that lay behind them. I couldn’t help but touch the trees as I passed; just being this close to them sent a live current through my veins. I loved the way they made me feel.

  Ryland was already working on preparing the fire when I dumped all the dried kindling and twigs I could find into the makeshift hole. Ry smiled at me before turning back to the fire; he had always been amazing at getting the fire started. Even the first time we came up here, he had made a roaring blaze in minutes. He had tried to teach me once, but all I had managed to do was burn my fingers with his book of matches.

  “1…2…3…4…5…6…”

  “Why are you counting?” Wyn interrupted me.

  “To see how long it takes Ryland to light the fire. Watch.” We both turned toward him just as a blaze ignited in the pit.

  Wyn’s eyes widened in surprise and her mouth formed a giant O.

  “How’d I do?” Ryland asked, wiping his hands on his expensive slacks.

  “I don’t know. I lost count,” I admitted.

  “Oh, great.” His sarcastic voice echoed through the clearing. “Now how am I supposed to know if I beat my record?”

  “What’s the record?”

  “Twelve seconds,” I answered Wyn, causing her jaw to drop even further.

  “Can you do magic or something, because that was wickedly fast.”

  Ryland balked at her question, his face falling pale to a ghostly shade of white like he had been caught at something.

  “Ummm, no. I just like to light things on fire.” He shook his curls, his uncomfortable face disappearing so fast I wasn’t even sure if I had seen it.

  “Too bad, that would be way cool if you could. You could pretend to fly and make things disappear!”

  Ryland laughed at her. I guess magic wasn’t cool to him. Then again, I couldn’t see Ryland pulling rabbits out of hats with much flair.

  “Well, for losing count, Jos, you owe me a race.” Ryland leaned close to me, his face full of eager anticipation.

  “You’re on,” I answered him, already standing tall; trying to meet him at his full height, which only brought me to his shoulders. I tried to look intimidating by squaring my shoulders, but it looked rather silly, and both Ryland and Wyn laughed at my poor attempt to psych him out.

  “Oh, fine,” I said, giving in and grabbing Wyn’s hand to pull her over to the line of trees that surrounded the clearing. “You can play referee.”

  “You gonna cheat, Jos?” Ryland asked as he took his place at the tree next to mine, stretching his arms out in preparation.

  “Nope, I am going to win.” I gave him my biggest smile and then looked up to the tall branches above me. I knew I had a problem. Although I loved the feel and the smell of Ryland’s sweater, it was way too big to be effective during a tree climbing race.

  “Oh, great,” I mumbled.

  “Losing confidence, Joclyn?” His taunts were pointless; he hadn’t beaten me since the first time we had tried this.

  “No, but I swear you’re going to be in big trouble if I rip any of my clothes.” I shed the large sweater and let it fall in a heap at my feet. I looked down to make sure my green shirt was lying flat before looking to Ryland who had fixed this strange look of happiness on his face.

  “I like that shirt, Joclyn; it looks very pretty on you,” Wyn said sincerely.

  I turned to her and smiled in thanks. She gave me a big thumbs up, which made me smile more.

  “Don’t worry, Jos. If you tear any clothes, I’ll just buy you new stuff. I still owe you a pair of pants anyway; we’ll have to go shopping.”

  “You wouldn’t owe me anything if you would stop ripping my clothes off, Ryland.”

  Ryland’s face blanched before spreading into a wide grin. Wyn laughed behind me. It took a moment for the reality of what I had just said to click into place.

  “No! I didn’t mean it like that.” I rounded on Wyn, silently pleading, but she didn’t even see me through the tears of laughter that rolled down her cheeks. “Ryland, tell her! Tell her you don’t rip my clothes off!” All my pleading was for naught, even Ryland laughed gleefully.

  “All right, Wyn,” I yelled over their laughter, thankfully they stopped. “You tell us when to go. First feet to hit the ground again wins.” She nodded in agreement, wiping the tears from her face.

  I looked to Ryland, who winked at me before turning to his tree, still chuckling. My stomach twisted, whether with joy or nerves, I couldn’t tell. I turned and faced my tree, nonetheless, stretching my fingers in excitement.

  “On your mark,” Wyn said. “Get set. Go!”

  I lunged toward the tree, my hands pulling me up into the tangle of lower branches. The second my hands touched the bark, a fire ignited in my veins. A strange energy surged under my skin as I vaulted up the tree, propelling myself higher and higher. The familiar feeling of flying took over me as I moved up, my arms propelling me faster and faster.

  I looked to the side to see Ryland keeping pace with me, although still behind. I grabbed the next branch and pulled myself up even higher, my legs kicking off to raise me up. I didn’t look down. I wasn’t afraid of heights, but I knew we were at least twenty feet up in the air now. I could see the deep notch we had placed in the tree all those years ago and knew it was almost time to make my descent.

  “Goal!” I yelled as I pressed my palm to the large gash in the tree before twisting to speed my way down the tree.

  “Goal!” Ryland yelled from above me.

  If I was fast climbing up trees, it was nothing to how fast I was going down. I knew Ryland didn’t have
a prayer. There was a movie I had watched when I was a kid, that had a man and boy climbing out of a tree as a car fell down on top of them. They swung and jumped and leaped in their frantic attempt to beat the car out of the tree and not be crushed to death. It had scared me senseless at the time; but in all reality, that’s how I felt when I climbed down trees.

  I continued to drop, not bothering to look at where Ry was. Branches flew past me as I swung from one to another, dropping a few feet only to catch myself on a large outstretched branch at the last moment.

  I released the branch that I had just grabbed, prepared to fall to another one a few feet below me. I realized moments after I let go that I was going to overshoot and miss the branch I was aiming for. I looked down; there was still another ten feet to the ground. Wyn cried out in fear, which broke my concentration.

  Crap!

  I pushed Wyn’s panic from my mind as I twisted in the air to grab a branch that was next to me. I knew my timing was off and my leg slammed into the tree. A small branch poked into my skin through my pants, sending pain radiating over my skin. I ignored it and continued my descent, reaching for another branch below me, I could feel the twig grind against the skin on my calf as it ripped through my pants. Great.

  I grabbed the last branch before swinging my legs down and let go of the tree, my burst of energy dissipating as I released the tree branch and dropped to the ground to pull my leg around to inspect the cut. My skin was slightly scraped, barely even bleeding. My pants, on the other hand, were a lost cause. The fabric was cut from my knee all the way down to the hem.

  “Oh, my gosh! Joclyn, that was amazing!” Wyn came up right beside me, her voice bathed in awe.

  “You think so?” It seemed so natural to me; to hear it described as amazing was kind of odd. I heard Ryland drop to the ground and make his way over to us.

  “Yes!” Wyn squealed. “And, when you almost fell, I thought my heart was going to stop.”

  “You almost fell?” Ryland asked with something beyond alarm in his voice.

  “Yes! She dropped from one branch to another, but missed the one she wanted, so she kind of twisted around to catch a different one. I was so scared.” Wyn provided actions and everything like she was retelling the plot to an exciting action movie.

  “Are you okay?” Ryland asked, looking me over.

  I ignored his appraisal and pulled the hoodie back over my head. It was then he saw my ripped jeans and the long scratch, his sharp intake of breath was a little exaggerated for the situation.

  “It’s a scratch, Ry,” I said as he once again swept me up in his arms and carried me to a rock in front of the fire. “You’re being ridiculous.”

  “I guess I owe you a new pair of pants,” he sighed as he inspected the rip and the cut.

  “Two,” I reminded him.

  Wyn plopped down on the rock next to mine and mouthed the word “boyfriend” with heavy exaggeration.

  I scowled at her before turning my attention back to Ryland.

  “Does it hurt much? We can go if we need to.” His concern was evident in his voice.

  “I’m not a baby, Ry. I’m fine,” I responded a little too loudly. I wasn’t in the mood to be carried through the woods for twenty minutes. “I just need pie,” I provided at Ryland’s affronted look which turned into a wide grin.

  “Boyfriend,” Wyn whispered as Ryland went to the other side of the fire to grab the pie.

  “Will you knock it off?” I hissed between my teeth as Ryland sat on the ground between us, opening the top of the box that held the delicious chocolate crème pie and about five plastic forks. This was one of those times when his ‘grab a fistful’ system worked to our benefit. I dove in, and smiled as the chocolate mousse hit my tongue. Mette made the best pies.

  “So,” Wyn began and I glared at her, terrified that she was going to start the boyfriend crap again with Ryland right in front of us. “How long have you guys been doing that tree climbing thing? You both moved so fast; I couldn’t believe it.” I sighed in relief. At least this was something we could talk about.

  “I think the first time we went up the trees was the first time we came up here. I was ten and you were twelve, right?” I asked Ryland who swallowed his bite of pie to answer.

  “Yep. Two days after your tenth birthday. We stole Father’s Vanquish and came up here. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that; it was the only time I have ever been able to beat you.”

  “You stole a car?” Wyn shrieked with her mouth full of pie.

  I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Yep.” Ryland puffed his chest out proudly. “I had to sit on a phone book and could barely see out the window, so Joclyn had to steer most of the way.”

  I shook my head in irritation. I knew why Ryland was exaggerating. While I had driven most of the way—and been terrified, I might add—it wasn’t because he couldn’t see out the windshield; it was because he had been crying.

  That day had been one of the first days that Edmund had ordered Ryland to leave me alone. They had gotten in a fight and his father had hit him. He had run into the kitchen and pulled me with him into the large garage. We had left before anyone had even realized we were both missing. I still remember the bright red hand print on his cheek.

  Without thinking, I reached out and ran my fingers through his dark curls near the base of his neck, wanting to wipe the memory from both our minds. He turned toward me and smiled, his gaze piercing into me.

  “And you didn’t crash the car?” Wyn asked, oblivious to our exchange.

  “Well, we did,” I provided, “but not that time. They didn’t know we were taking the car for about a year.”

  “Jake was very nice to keep that secret for us.” Ryland forced a laugh.

  “Jake?”

  “The butler,” I provided.

  “So… when you crashed the car…?” Wyn prompted.

  “We more like cruised into a field…”

  “And hit a cow,” Ryland finished for me. We both laughed at saying it out loud.

  “And you didn’t get in trouble?”

  “Oh, we got in trouble,” Ryland answered. “I was confined to my room for a week.”

  It probably wasn’t even worth mentioning that I had been grounded to school, my house, or the kitchen for a month. Even after Ryland was ‘released’, I was still doomed to play fort under the staff table.

  “Your father doesn’t seem to be very hard on you; a week for crashing a car. I wish I was so lucky. My brother is ruthless.”

  “Oh, he punishes me, just not in the regular sense. He always expects me to be perfect, and accomplished, and make no mistakes.” Ryland sounded so bitter and hurt. His father had always put him under so much pressure; I was constantly amazed he handled it so well.

  “I guess it makes sense, seeing as he is raising you to run an empire.” Wyn’s logic made sense, but it was something we had talked through many times before. As much as Ryland wished to live up to his father’s expectations, as much as he wished to meet his father's approval, Ryland still struggled.

  “I don’t want to run his company,” Ryland said dejectedly.

  “What?” I flipped around to look at him, but he took another bite of pie, keeping his gaze down. He had never made mention of this to me before; it was always how he looked forward to becoming like his father. I looked up at Wyn who had a strange look of shock and surprise plastered on her face.

  “I don’t want to run his empire. I don’t want to go to Oxford. I don’t want to take his lessons. I don’t want to be anything like him.” He had turned to me, speaking only to me. I am sure Wyn heard him, but he didn’t seem to notice or care.

  “Ryland?” I asked.

  “But I don’t have a choice; I have to be everything he wants, and nothing that I wish.” He looked so sad, so dejected; my heart broke in half for him. “I want to be good.”

  “Oh, Ryland. Don’t you realize you already are?”

  I lunged into him, wrapping my arms
around his neck, burying my face into the sweet smell of his skin. He held me against him, his large hands spreading their warmth throughout my back where they pressed against me. I tangled my hands through his curls as he held me tighter.

  Right at that moment, I was grateful to have Wyn there, her eyes boring into us. Because, right then, I would have been the one to kiss him first.

  Twenty

  Joclyn

  I stood about fifteen feet away from the fire, trying to convince myself this wasn’t the stupidest thing I had ever done.

  Wyn had assured me that fifteen feet was enough space to give me a running start. That was part of the problem. After Wyn had displayed her running feat and heroic jump over the fire, she and Ryland had spent the next twenty minutes taking turns leaping over the flames with decreasing running distances. They now insisted it was my turn, but my stomach was flipping and my hands were sweating. I was not interested in this weird jump-to-my-death.

  “You’re making this out to be much more difficult than it is,” Wyn whined. I had been stalling for the last few minutes, and although most of it had been spent giggling about my lack of nerves, Wyn had run out of patience.

  “I’ve never done this before,” I spouted back. “It’s kind of scary.”

  Ryland gave me a small, sympathetic smile, but Wyn jumped off her rock and walked over to me, a mischievous grin on her face.

  “Okay,” she started, about eight feet from me. “You climb trees like you were born in one and fall thirty feet to your death without even—”

  “It was about five feet, Wyn, and I didn’t die. Stop exaggerating,” I interrupted her.

  “Fine. But, you still could have died,” Wyn said.

  Ryland chuckled behind her, which seemed to only fuel her fire.

  “Either way, you’re a tree climbing genius! This should be a piece of cake.”

  “A tree can’t burn me,” I countered.

  “But it can cut you and scrape you, and rip your clothes and break your bones,” Wyn countered, motioning to the large rip in my jeans.