“I came to find you,” I gasped against his hand, breathing hard.
Ryker sighed, his chest expanding against my back and his grip loosened off my mouth. “Why on earth would you do something so foolish?”
“I thought you’d left,” I whispered, trying to keep my voice from breaking.
Ryker released me and stepped back. “I was going to—”
“Please don’t,” I begged, turning to face him.
Ryker’s eyes widened in the moonlight, a frown pulling at his lips. “I can’t stay here. Unlike you, there’s those who need me—”
“But Idoneed you,” I rushed, a blush searing my skin.
His eyes flashed, confusion and pain filling them. “Why? You don’t even know me. You don’t understand.”
I flinched, his words like a slap to the face and a reminder of the truth. Ididn’tknow him. And yet, like the fool I was, I’d still developed feelings for him—a near stranger I’d known less than a month—a man who’d tried to kill me.
“Then help me understand.” I touched his hand. “I want to know the truth, Ryker, to know your people, to knowyou.”
He jerked his hand back. “No, you don’t want to know. My people are a dying race because of the one you call mother. Hunted to the outskirts of this land and forced to hide or otherwise become slaves to your people.” Running his hands through his hair, he turned away, breathing hard.
Had I pushed him too far? Exhaling, I neared. I wanted to embrace him, to comfort him in some way, but I didn’t allow myself to touch him again, afraid I would only scare him away. “I’m sorry. I grew up ignorant to the plights of your people, to the lies. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
He loosed a heavy exhale. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”
Really? Is that what he thought? Cause from where I stood,wrongwas the only thing I was capable of. Sighing, I changed the subject. “You said youweregoing to leave. Are you not anymore?”
Moonlight ignited his eyes as he finally looked back. “Not yet.”
My shoulders slumped, and a slight tension eased in my chest. I still had time. “What changed your mind?”
Ryker nodded deeper into the forest and moved ahead, weaving between the white trunks.
I lunged after him, almost ramming into his back in the near dark. He pressed a finger to his lip, then lowered his hand and grasped mine, guiding me. I shoved away the flutters in my stomach and tried to focus on my feet and not tripping over anything.
With the torch extinguished, the light of the moon and stars bathed everything in a silver glow. It bounced off the leaves and foliage around us, creating a moonlit wonderland. Wide-eyed and taking everything in, I stumbled when Ryker came to an abrupt stop, halting me beside him.
He pointed and following the direction of his finger, I gasped. A pure-white creature slept not far from where we stood, curled up at the base of an enormous tree. With its slender face tucked under a feathered wing, it had the appearance of a winged deer, but instead of hooves, it had claws, and its horns weren’t antlers but those of a ram.
“What is it?” I whispered, staring in fascination.
Ryker leaned in closer, his eyes watching me. “Fae.”
My eyes widened. So that’s what they looked like and—“This is why you’re staying?” Why? It looked more or less harmless.
“They’re the mounts of my people,” Ryker explained. “And don’t live just anywhere. I think you might be right; someone followed us here.”
My blood ran cold. His people. If one of them had followed us, then it could have only been for one purpose. To finish what Ryker had started.
Oneyear.That’showlong I would remain in the garden with Cassie, I’d decided. It would give me time to be there for her as she settled into her new home and into the new role of a mother.ThenI would return home. I tried to ignore the guilt prodding at me. Technically I’d earned the right to the final year of my life, and though it was selfish to set aside my duties to my people and mother for an entire year I wouldn’t abandon my sister.
“How are you feeling?” I peered through the rising steam.
Cassie smiled from where she sat beside me on the lip of the stone pool in a coral colored half-top and bottoms, both of our feet dangling in the naturally heated water.
“I feel great, much better than this morning.” She glanced over at Alex, who floated on his back in the middle of the pool. He gave her a thumbs up, and she vaulted from the side, pouncing on him and dragging him under in a splash of flailing arms and legs. They both resurfaced, spluttering and laughing. A smile pulled at my lips as I wiped the droplets from my eyes.
Cassie swore the water had healing properties, according to one scroll she’d read, but it wasn’t the reason we’d returned. We’d ridden the griffin’s up, and after letting them loose to hunt, had spent the better part of the morning floating around in the warm water.