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“No.”
Well that’s less than helpful. “Is it bad?”
The Spirit lowered his head and stepped closer to me, meeting my eye.“Devastatingly.”
“Okay,” I breathed, speaking out loud. “Then help me train. Help me manifest my gifts.”
Odarum instructed me on how to search for and grasp those orbs of my magic inside of me. The ones from him were…different. They felt shifty and loose, like sand slipping between my fingers. But I could feel them. I had been feeling them since we connected in Hylithria, I just didn’t understand what they were at the time.
I had to hand it to Odarum, he had great patience. Every time I would get frustrated and lash out, he would gently offer advice and critique my method. It had been hours, and I wasn’t able to do anything more than discern the differences between the orbs. It wasn’t as simple and easy as tapping into my invisibility magic.
“Perhaps you need a break,”he suggested.
“I’m fine,” I snapped, irritated that I was struggling so much with manifesting my new abilities.
“It’s only been a few hours. Give it more time.”
I scoffed. “You were the one who said I needed to train harder, to push myself. Well, that’s what I’m doing.”
“Do you know what shifting she will receive?” Ryker strolled into the training area. I turned, and my lips parted as I drank in the sight of him.
His hands were in the pockets of his dark suit, with the jacket unbuttoned and fitted to his body, sculpting the shape of his muscles. His hair was neatly styled and atop his head sat his circlet. A beautifully crafted and simple piece of black metal that was in a twisted pattern, like shadows. It wrapped around his head, coming to a point, like an arrow, down the center of his forehead. He looked magnificently imperial.
Though Ryker spoke to Odarum, the Spirit was unable to communicate back.
Or so I thought.
Odarum flared out his wings and flapped them gracefully.
“I thought you said you didn’t know?”I balked.
“This is merely an assumption and the most likely manifestation of myself that you have.”
“Have you manifested anything?” Ryker stood beside me. His fingers came up to lightly graze over my back, and he looked at me as if he were seeing me for the first time.
My cheeks heated. “No. Nothing. But he said it would take time.” I pressed into his touch.
Ryker hummed in response, seeming to contemplate something. His lips thinned and he looked at Odarum again. “Has she pushed herself?”
The pegasus shook his head slowly, his mane swayed. My mouth fell open in an offended scoff because, of course, I had pushed myself. I had been pushing myself all godsdamned day.
“Would you like me to try?” Ryker asked, still speaking to my Spirit.
Odarum hesitated, looking at me then back to Ryker, then bobbed his head once.
The side of Ryker’s mouth twitched with a ghost of a smile before looking down at me. “Come with me. I know of a better place.”
He removed his suit jacket and button-up shirt, placing them on the stone. He took off his circlet and set it on top of the clothes.
I furrowed my brows as he manifested his leathery wings.
He held his hand out to me and I took it. His expression was hard, making me feel apprehensive. He swept me up and held me tightly to his body. I relished the feeling of him against me.
With a push of his wings, we were airborne and flying high into the mountains.The air was so much colder up there, and I shivered through my fleece-lined leathers as we continued to go higher and higher to the mountain tops. The wind rustled a few strands of my hair out of my braid. I smiled in delight when Odarum came into view from behind Ryker, wings fanned out and gliding through the crisp air. I had never seen him fly.
His majestic, feathered wings pumped to push his body through the sky next to us. We crested and curved around the mountain, leaning into the wind.
Ryker held me even tighter. “Hold on,” he said into my ear.
