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“It may not be my abilities…” Ryker rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve had this…giftfor nearly three hundred years, and I’ve never once mentally projected before. And now that the bond has been enacted, you’re seeing through my mind. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. I think it’s a part of the bond.”
I contemplated this. It made sense. And not everything was known about the connection that mates had with each other once the bond was sealed, or even before it. If it was anything like what I had just experienced, they could have thought it was a dream or didn’t tell anyone about it. I knew I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t have wanted those kinds of details recorded either.
“Well, this should be fun then.” I huffed a humorless laugh.
Ryker stood and started pacing the floor in front of me, running his hand through his hair. “I feel like I’m going crazy. I know it’s mostly the bond, but I can’t stop thinking about you and I want you so badly,” he growled.
Mostly.
My stomach fluttered. Was this more than just the bond to him?
“But we can’t. We can’t risk your people. We can’t risk that the council will find out and force the Raith on us or worse, the Nex.”
I paused for a moment. I hadn’t wanted to say this. It was one thing for me, as I didn’t have much to lose out of it, but Ryker’s entire Nation was on the line. Even though it would have broken me and been the most unbearable experience of my life, I would have done it.
“Do you want to deny the bond? It would solve so many things and—” I whispered.
“No,” he snarled. In the blink of an eye he was bending over me, his nose nearly touching mine and his hands braced against the back of the couch. “You belong to me. And Iwillhave you. As my mate, as my wife, as my Lady.” My heart skipped a beat. His voice softened, “I’ve got you and as I already promised you, I will not allow anyone, or any threat, to take away what is mine.”
His possessive demands shouldn’t have excited me the way that they did. I belonged to him—he belonged to me.
I had to keep my door shut until morning to keep the temptation to seal the bond at bay for the both of us. I didn’t sleep much after that. I couldn’t stop thinking about his words.
As my mate, as my wife, as my Lady.
Wife? Lady? I knew the whole mate part, but wife and Lady were things we hadn’t discussed. To be wed by a Sage throughthe Spirits wasn’t always customary for mates, sealing not only the bond that the Gods gifted but also by binding your soul on a spiritual level as well, as most mates didn’t love each other and were driven solely by primal lust.
And I had never heard of both a Lord and a Lady ruling a Nation. While a Lord could have a wife, that did not make her a Lady. Only a Worthy, someone powerful enough to protect their Nation, could be Lord or Lady. Which I technically was. Except I wasn’t chosen by his God. I was chosen by Kleio, whose Nation was practically non-existent. Ryker wasn’t threatened by me taking his Nation, he wanted me to rule itwithhim. I didn’t know how to feel about that. Part of me was excited, while another part was terrified by the idea. Not to mention, if I were to be Lady of his Nation, could I still be Lady of Atara and bring my people back? That’s what Kleio meant, wasn’t it?
I shook the thoughts from my head and settled in the bed.
I had finally fallen asleep for a few hours, but woke before dawn and everything came rushing right back as I lay there staring at my ceiling. I needed to talk about it, sort out my thoughts out loud, that always helped me.
I placed my bare feet on the ground and concentrated on the vibrations. Sure enough, I could feel Malina moving about in her rooms, she was usually up before daybreak. I quietly but hurriedly got dressed, remaining barefoot, and tip-toed out of my bedchamber into the sitting area. Thankfully, Ryker was sound asleep, and I silently made my way out of my rooms and down the hall to Malina’s.
I gently knocked on her door and she opened it moments later, looking behind me before stepping aside and letting me in. We lounged in her sitting area, sipping hot tea, as I told her everything. From the council and the Sage’s threat, to the dream, and what Ryker had said after. She remained quiet for the most part, only interrupting to ask a question here or there.
“But you want this? You want the mating bond with him?” she asked softly.
“Yes? But I don’t trust him fully, and it seems like it’s too much trouble to deal with the consequences.” I released an exasperated sigh.
“And if you two can somehow figure all of this out, get past the trial of your bond, and solve the Glaev as your God instructed of you—all while resisting fucking each others brain’s out—he wants to make you Lady of Oryn?”
“Pretty much.”
She shrugged. “Sounds simple enough. Thoughcanyou be Lady of Oryn?”
“Which part of this is simple, Mal? And yes, I believe that technically I could be Lady of Oryn.”
“I said it was simple, not easy,” she said from the rim of her cup. She took a sip and set it down. “Wait… Kya, if you became Lady, that means that you could bring them back. Just like Kleio said.”
“Yeah, I thought of that too. But that would only put them in harm’s way, wouldn’t it? Taking them from the Drift Islands and bringing them to a Nation that could also be destroyed by the Glaev. There wouldn’t be anyone left of our people if I did that.”
“Which is why you need to figure out how to stop the Glaev so that the main threat to everyone would be eliminated,” she said.
