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I wondered if he felt the same way.
“Were you born in Oryn?” I asked. It was time I got to know a little more about him and while I knew of each Worthy, I didn’t know the details of their past. I wanted to know his.
“No. In fact, I was born in Dusan.” He looked down at me with a glint in his eye. “Where were you—”
“Well, at least you know the area.” I cut him off before he could finish his question. I wasn’t ready to divulge my past, but I also didn’t want to lie to him. “That could prove to be beneficial while we’re there.”
He eyed me for a few moments before he responded. “Yes, but even though I lived there for over thirty years before my Trial, I haven’t been there much since. Worthy aren’t exactly welcome in other Nations. Strictly speaking, it would be best if we encountered as few people as possible.”
“Do you miss your homeland?”
He hadn’t lost his people, his family, like I had, but I imagined it wasn’t any easier to be ripped from the Nation you’d known all your life.
“Oryn is my home, and it will be until I die. I love it and my people. I’d like for you to see it.” His lips lifted into a soft smile.
“I have seen it.” He raised his eyebrows at me. “Roav. Remember?” I chuckled.
He opened his mouth to speak, but the wind whipped around us faster, and I pressed into him. He didn’t say anything else, just held me tighter.
After several hours of being cuddled into his warmth, flying across Riyah and Dusan, my eyes began to feel heavy. The sound of the wind roaring in my ears and the rhythmic beating of his wings lulled me into a dreamless sleep.
When I woke, it was dark and still night. We were no longer flying, but I was still carefully cradled in Ryker’s arms. I gently lifted my head off his chest to find that he was asleep, sitting up with his back propped against a tree.
My heart fluttered; even after being exhausted from flying for hours, he still held me.
His black shaggy hair was wind blown, his face slackened in sleep. His wings were wrapped around us, keeping in the warmth, as they rose and fell with his tempered breaths. Shifting slightly, I caught sight of the packs sitting on the grass next to us. It was late, the moons were high in the sky and the stars were in full view above the large deciduous tree.
As lovely as this moment is, I really have to pee.
I carefully crawled off him, pushing one of his wings aside and glancing at his face to ensure that he remained asleep. He stirred slightly and adjusted, but didn’t fully wake up.
Quietly, I rushed behind a bush, far enough away that he wouldn’t hear me, and finally relieved myself. When I got back, he hadn’t moved. I opened my pack and removed a blanket, too tired to bother with setting up a tent, laying it on the soft grass next to Ryker. I touched his exposed arm, rousing him gently, and gestured for him to lie down. He deserved to have a good night’s rest.
Once he lay down, I made to retrieve another blanket for myself, but before I could, he grabbed my hand, grunting in protest to my leaving. Without fully waking, he pulled me down next to him, resting my head on his arm, and placed a protective wing over me. Even on the cold, hard ground, I had never felt more comfortable anywhere else in the world than I did in my mate’s arms.
What is wrong with me? I shouldn’t be snuggled up in a Lord’s arms, but here I am. Happy, like a love-struck adolescent.
A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth when he released a sigh and rested his head on top of mine, and we both fell asleep, not waking until morning.
When the sun rose, Ryker flew us to where the narrow path was supposed to be, between the end of the Rip and running parallel along the edge of the decimated lands of Atara heading straight to the sea. We continued to fly to the other side of the Rip, deciding that it would be safer than risking the line between two forms of death.
The eerie grave of Odes was daunting, especially when we reached the other side. Circling around in the air, there was nothing but water below. No land that Malina had spoken of, no beach where the seller supposedly found the book.
“There’s nothing here. It doesn’t make any sense. Mal distinctly remembers coming to this place, the seller said he came here,andthere’s a map of it,” I shouted over the thunder of the crashing waves.
“I don’t know. But let’s get away from here. I don’t like being this close to the Rip,” Ryker shouted back.
“Agreed.”
He flew us back inland, not stopping until we were a safe distance away from the Rip and the Glaev-stricken land of Atara. I didn’t want to think of how close I was to my homeland, having not been there since I was a small child.
Ryker set me on my feet when he landed, and I immediately began pacing back and forth.
“I don’t get it,” I said with a frustrated snarl. “Umana wouldn’t have lied to me, and she wouldn’t have given me any information she didn’t think was solid. It has to be there.”
“Who’s Umana?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as he followed me with his eyes.
I inwardly kicked myself for saying her name. I had never revealed Umana’s name to anyone. “My contact. She told me that the seller of the book found it on the beach here, which I found highly unlikely, but she insisted. So we came all the way out here for nothing, a dead end.” I threw up my hands.
