Aylie had never attempted to sneak out of the house at night before and she wasn’t sure what her parents would say if they caught her now. She knew she wasn’t thinking clearly, but the dream had left an impression on her and it seemed like Ryder’s sudden appearance was a strange coincidence.
She trudged through the snow, wishing she had thought to grab her heavy winter coat. Flakes were still falling steadily and it was only a matter of time before her sweatshirt would be soaked through. She walked around the barn in the direction she had last seen Ryder, but he was nowhere in sight. She couldn’t even seem to find the trail of footprints he had left in the snow, which was a little unsettling. She looked around for some sign of him, unsure of which way to look. He couldn’t just vanish into thin air.
Suddenly a branch in the tree above her snapped and fell at her feet, barely missing her head. Aylie jumped back in dismay. The branch was quite large and heavy, and could easily have given her a concussion or broken bones, had it landed on her. She peered into the darkness, trying to figure out what had caused the branch to break.
“Looking for something?”
Aylie was so startled she nearly shrieked as she spun around in the snow to face Ryder. “I was looking for you,” she hissed, “and this branch nearly knocked me out!”
He looked up at the tree, as if he could see into its branches clearly in spite of the darkness. “You should probably be more careful. What are you doing out here, anyways?”
Aylie wrapped her arms protectively around her torso, trying to keep some of her body heat from escaping. “I saw you headed this way.”
Ryder quirked an eyebrow. “You saw me coming?”
Aylie nodded. “I was looking out the window and saw you come out of the forest.”
He furrowed his brows with an amused expression. “Why were you staring out your window in the middle of the night?”
“I had a weird dream and it woke me up.”
“Do you have nightmares often?”
Aylie shook her head. “It wasn’t a nightmare…exactly, but I couldn’t go back to sleep afterwards.”
“Hmm.” Ryder smirked. “And then you saw me headed this way and just couldn’t resist.”
Aylie rolled her eyes. “Give me a break, Ryder.”
“Can you offer another explanation for why you’re standing out here, knee-deep in snow with nothing but a sweatshirt on?”
“I have thermals on underneath,” she retorted, trying to keep her teeth from chattering as she said it.
Ryder chuckled. “You’re freezing.”
Aylie ignored the observation. “What are you doing out here, anyway?”
“I’m not stalking you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I’m not worried—just curious.”
He took a step toward her, leaning in as he spoke. “Are you sure you really want to know?”
Aylie’s heart skipped a beat. She nodded.
“I like to hunt at night, especially when there’s a full moon.”
“You hunt at night?” She looked at him skeptically. “Where’s your gun, then?
His eyes danced mischievously. “I think we’ve already established the fact that I don’t need a gun to hunt effectively.”
Aylie’s eyes widened. “Oh… I didn’t think of that.” She tried to wrap her brain around the concept. “So…you turn into some kind of werewolf creature somehow and hunt down innocent animals in the middle of the night for sport?”
Ryder laughed. “Not for sport—I eat what I kill.”
“But you do turn into a werewolf-type creature?”
“I’m not a werewolf.”
“But it’s something other than human…”Aylie hedged, trying to get a confession out of him.
Ryder took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Aylie could feel his warm breath on her face and it smelled pleasantly like mint leaves. She shivered involuntarily.
“I don’t know if I can trust you,” he said, looking at her seriously. “I’ve never told anyone about any of this before. It’s forbidden.”
“What’s forbidden?” She felt a prickle of fear in the back of her mind, warning her to be careful.
“Let’s just say my family has a very complicated history.”
Aylie was getting impatient. “I know all about the murders.”
“There’s a lot more to it than that,” Ryder murmured. Without warning, he reached for her hand again. This time there was no glove separating his skin from hers and he reached for her wrist, turning it over like he had before. He stared at it with such intense concentration that Aylie felt like the blood in her veins was going to burst through the pores of her skin at any moment.
“Why do you keep doing that?” She asked, studying her own wrist as if there was something she must be missing.
Ryder hesitated. “You say that you know nothing about your family’s history.”
“I only know what I’ve already told you.”
“I have a strong feeling there are some very significant details your parents have left out, but I can’t be sure yet. I’m still trying to figure it out.”
She saw his eyes flicker back to her wrist. “How is this supposed to help?” She asked, as snowflakes began to melt into the exposed skin of her forearm.
Ryder shook his head. “Its too soon for me to answer that question. There’s a lot I don’t know and I’m still searching for the answers myself.”
Aylie pulled her wrist away, balling her fist inside the sleeve of her sweatshirt. “This is ridiculous!” She exclaimed. “You’re acting like you know something I don’t, but you can’t answer a single one of my questions.”
He looked away without answering, staring off into the forest for several minutes, as if debating something in his mind.
“If you’re not going to answer me like a decent human being, then I’m going back to bed. I’m freezing, I’m wet, and now I’m pissed off.”
“You don’t understand,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s dangerous.”
“What’s dangerous?” She asked, feeling cold and angry and exasperated all at once.
“If I tell you, there’s no going back.”
“That’s totally ambiguous.”
“Maybe. But you’re asking for answers that are far more complicated than you could ever imagine—they could put you and your family in danger.”
Aylie took a step toward him. “Is it really me you’re worried about or are you just trying to protect yourself?”
Ryder was thoughtful for a moment. “A little of both, I think.”
She sighed. “Look, Ryder—either you trust me or you don’t. It’s up to you. I’m not going to force you to confide in me, but if there’s something I need to know, I hope you’ll have the decency to tell me. Especially if it concerns my family.” She turned to walk away, but the sound of Ryder’s voice stopped her in her tracks.
Tomorrow night.
“What?” She turned around but Ryder had vanished. She was sure she’d heard him say it, but it was late and she was cold, and perhaps a little delirious. She trudged back to the house through the knee-deep snow and somehow managed to make it back to her room without
anyone knowing she’d been gone.
CHAPTER NINE
R yder practically fell into his king-sized bed when he finally reached the mansion. He had promised Aylie an explanation tomorrow and he knew she’d heard him say it—even though he hadn’t spoken the words out loud. He’d developed a theory over the last few days that needed to be tested, and the fact that she’d heard his voice in her mind was proof that his theory was correct. What he didn’t know for sure was how this revelation was going to affect him.
In the countless conversations he’d had with his father over the years about Edryd’s Order, very few had been focused on their enemies—the Silver Veins. They were supposedly the direct descendants of the Lost Prince Rhydian, himself. Ryder’s father had never met one, but he said they could be easily identified by th
e silver-colored veins in their right forearm. The town of Silvervane had been founded and named by the last known remnant of their kind, but they had died centuries ago.
This is why he’d insisted on studying Aylie’s wrist—to see if she had the mark of a silver vein. Clearly she had the ability to read minds, a telepathic gift that was a primary mark of both bloodlines. He didn’t think she could be one of Edryd’s descendants because she seemed ignorant of the things that came along with that heritage, yet the veins in her forearm looked absolutely normal. It was serious cause for concern. If she was secretly connected with the Order somehow, her family might know who was responsible for the death of his. On the other hand, if Aylie was a Silver Vein, she was a natural enemy of the Order and an even bigger target to them than he was.
The thought filled Ryder with anxiety. Despite his callous exterior, he had started to feel something for Aylie. It wasn’t love…he wasn’t even sure he had the capacity for that particular emotion. It was something along the lines of camaraderie or close friendship. He felt a protective instinct toward her that could end up being very dangerous if she turned out to be an enemy. He tried to picture her hunting alongside him as his brothers and father had done, but he couldn’t quite wrap his head around the visual. If Aylie had Edryd’s blood in her veins, she was totally unaware of it. She still thought he was a werewolf of some kind, which meant that she knew nothing of her heritage or ancestry, and certainly had no inkling of her own power and capabilities.
The most crucial question was, had her family purposely kept her in the dark, or were they also unaware of where they’d come from? Heritage had been so important to his father that Ryder couldn’t imagine not knowing the significance of it. Good or bad, his bloodline was part of who he was and it was something that had to be preserved and protected.
And now he had more questions than ever. As much as he hated to admit it, Ryder could think of only one place to search for answers. If there was anything written in his father’s journal about Silver Veins, he needed to know what it was. Aylie was in for a very rude awakening and she was going to need his help. Perhaps they could find his father’s killer together…before he could even finish the thought, he fell into a deep sleep.
When Ryder awoke the next morning, the manuscript was the first thing on his mind. He dressed quickly and found his way through the passages that opened into the fake bookshelf, concealing the hidden entrance to his father’s study. He locked himself in the room for the better part of the day. He skipped the stories he’d read a million times before and focused instead on pages his father hadn’t discussed with him as often. It was astonishing how little information there was about the Silver Veins. He knew it was mostly due to the fact that the journal had been passed down from generation to generation among Edryd’s descendants, but how did they expect to beat an enemy they seemed to have so little information about?
Ryder tried to pace himself to keep from getting frustrated, but the more he read the more questions he had, and the answers seemed to be coming up short. After several hours of fruitless research, he flipped back toward the front of the manuscript and read the poem again—maybe there was something he had missed before. He dissected the stanza one line at a time, studying each word carefully.
Two rivers of blood shall meet as one, In the chosen love of beloved sons. They, in nobleness and strength shall meet; In fiery protector and in harmony sweet. Through tumult and outcry and in loyalty bring, Fire and poetry that shall summon their King. And with the return of the true Prince comes peace—all pain and suffering and injustice shall cease.
He read and reread the familiar lines again, pausing in different places for emphasis. The only thing the poem clearly suggested was the return of the Lost Prince, whom no one had seen for more than two centuries. There were no pictures of this so-called, immortal being, so there would be practically no way to identify him, even if you managed to come across his path. It was all so maddening to Ryder. He turned the page in frustration and his eyes landed on a small blotch of scribbling in the bottom, right-hand corner of the page. It looked like notes of some kind. His heart was beating with anticipation as he struggled to decipher the smeared ink. He could make out only partial phrases:
Rhydian – different forms? Elements, Guides, Wakened—walk through walls, healing, force fields, visions, telepathy
The meaning of the words wasn’t entirely clear, but it was obvious that whoever had scribbled these notes had some theories about what Silver Veins were capable of. He read the list again, intrigued. If Aylie was truly one of them, would she have the power to do these things? Were they abilities she was born with or did they have to be activated somehow? Suddenly Ryder was looking forward to his time with Aylie instead of dreading the explanation he’d promised. He didn’t know how he was going to get the answers he was seeking, but he felt like he had a pretty good idea about where to start.
As the sun began to fade from the late afternoon sky, Ryder prepared to make the trek to the Bryant Ranch. He hadn’t told Aylie when he’d be coming, but he knew she’d be waiting for him. He went to his bedroom and retrieved the ring from his dresser that his father had given him on his sixteenth birthday. It was a thick, iron band with a green emerald in its center, surrounded by an intricate Celtic knot—the symbol of Edryd’s Order. Even though he wasn’t a follower, he still had access to the power of his ancestors when he wore the ring. He slipped it onto the middle finger of his right hand and left the Mansion. He forced himself to walk slowly, waiting for night to fall.
A strong wind began to blow and the trees were swaying back and forth with fury overhead a he walked. Every now and then a branch would break, crashing to the earth with earsplitting force. But Ryder’s reflexes were inhumanly fast when he wore the ring and he was able to dodge every single one without incident. By the time he cleared the forest it was after seven O’clock. He knew Aylie would probably be in the barn taking care of the horses for the night, so he steered himself in that direction as he crossed through the snow covered pasture. He was careful to make sure that he wasn’t seen by anyone as he slipped through the gate and made his way toward the stables.
He had to dodge behind one of the stable doors when her little brother came out of the barn with an armload of firewood, and waited impatiently for the little boy to disappear into the house before he entered. He found Aylie draping a blanket over a large, black horse and listened as she whispered something to it.
“I take it that one’s yours,” he said, appearing from the shadows.
Aylie stood up straight, clearly unaware that he had been listening. “His name is Knight.” She replied stiffly.
“I can see why,” he murmured, sauntering over to her. “Do you mind?” He asked, lifting his hand to stroke the animal’s sleek coat.
Aylie hesitated. “He doesn’t usually let anyone touch him but me.”
“There’s a first time for everything.”
Aylie took a step back, allowing him to get closer. He stood directly in front of the horse, allowing it to smell his hand. He moved with exaggerated slowness so that the animal could get used to him before attempting to touch him. Knight started to shake his mane, moving his feet restlessly, but then Ryder looked into his eyes and the horse immediately grew calm. They stood eye to eye for a solid minute without moving. Then Ryder gently began to stroke the horse’s face, then his neck, and finally his shoulders and torso.
Aylie watched in amazement, seeing the way Ryder was able to gain her horse’s trust so quickly. You can’t be that dangerous, she thought. Knight is a good judge of character—he wouldn’t let you touch him like that if you were a threat.
Ryder stopped stroking the horse and looked over at her. It’s not always that simple. He answered her thoughts.
Aylie’s eyes widened and she took a step back, stunned. “Did you just…say something?” She gasped. “How am I able to hear what you’re thinking? How did you know what I was thinking?”
I told
you that I would explain things to you tonight…this is me explaining.
Aylie took another step back. “How did you do that? Am I going crazy?” She chewed on her bottom lip, raking her fingers nervously through her long, blond hair.
I told you this was complicated.
“This goes beyond complicated,” Aylie stammered, “this is impossible.”
Obviously not. Ryder folded his arms, leaning against Knight’s stable door as he waited for her to regain her composure.
“But how…how is this possible?” She demanded.
I’m trying to decide how much you can handle. I don’t need you freaking out on me on top of everything else I’m dealing with.
“I’ll be calm,” she promised. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she was very still, waiting for him to speak.
If I tell you what I know, you can’t tell anyone else.
“Okay.”
Ryder shook his head. That’s not good enough—you have to prove to me that I can trust you.
“What do I have to do to prove it to you?” She asked warily.
You have to take a blood oath.
“A WHAT?” Aylie exclaimed. “That’s barbaric!”
Ryder rolled his eyes. “It’s not that big of a deal, Aylie.” He said out loud. “My brothers and I used to make pacts like that all the time. It’s just a drop of blood…not a gallon. It feels more like a pin prick than anything else.”
“That seems a little extreme,” she said furrowing her brows doubtfully.
“Maybe for you, but not for me. If I tell you what I know I’m putting my own life at risk—something I can’t really afford at the moment, in case you didn’t notice.”
WAKENED (The Silvervane Chronicles Book 1) Page 8