“I am! She knows nothing about the Hooded Robber.”
He continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “—then she doesn’t deserve to be imprisoned. No innocent deserves that.”
Ryker knew that better than anyone after all he’d endured at the hands of the ophidians. That reminder made my heart ache, and though I couldn’t see most of them, I knew well the hundreds of scars marring his large, powerful body.
Now that I knew where to look for them, I could see some scars on his neck and temples, but they were from the war. The others were all from those monsters, Doomed Valley, and his father.
What they’d done to him was beyond brutal and cruel; what I’d done to him was as bad… if notworse. When I first put on the hood to become the Robber, I never could have known it would lead to me falling in love with this man, but I’d never hated myself more.
“Who is it, Ellery?”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before lifting my chin. I held his gaze as I spoke the words that would forever sever us, but I couldn’t look away. “It’s me.”
CHAPTERNINETEEN
Ryker
At first,I felt no reaction to her words, but then resentment swelled inside me. It wasn’t her; itcouldn’tbeher!
The Hooded Robber was a lightning bearer andnofemale amsirah had ever been a lightning bearer.
Which meant she was lying to me.
I understood she wanted to free her mother, but I was so sick and tired of her duplicitous ways. “You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not. It’s me.I’mthe one who stole your money; I put it in a tree behind a pixie door and gave some of it to those in need. On the day I robbed you, I swung out of a tree, landed on the back of your carriage, cut the straps, and took your chest.”
A flicker of uncertainty ran through me as she revealed details only the Hooded Robber would know, but it couldn’t have been her. It was impossible. However, after everything she’d said, I was convinced sheknewwho it was.
“Iamthe Robber, Ryker, and my mother doesn’t know. She was never supposed to know, but I can’t avoid that anymore. She’s going to be so disappointed in me.”
I recalled the look on Ellery’s face when her mother volunteered her to help me search for the Hooded Robber. She was reluctant to help, but I’d assumed it was because of our argument on the day the sheriff wanted to cut off Mouse’s hand.
Was it because she was the Robber and didn’t want to hunt for herself?
The possibility niggled for a few seconds before I buried it. The Hooded Robber was alightningbearer.
While I’d never asked Ellery what weathers she controlled, lightning wasn’t one of them. There werenofemale lightning bearers.
Which meant she was lying to keep from revealing who the Robber actually was. She’d protected him, and now she was sacrificing herself for him.
Is she in love with him?
I’d believed I hated her, but the possibility of her being in love with someone else thewholetime we were together sent a fiery, all-consuming rage through me. My nails bit into my palms, peeling back skin and causing blood to well.
It wasn’t a possibility I’d ever contemplated, considering she’d given herself to me. An immortal in love with another wouldn’t do such a thing… unless their lover was dead, but the Robber was alive…
Or maybe they had died. No one had seen him in months. Had Ellery turned to me in her sorrow over losing the one she loved?
But no, that couldn’t be right either. She was a virgin when I claimed her as mine. If she was in love with another, she would have given herself to him before turning to me.
However, she loved the Robber enough to sacrifice herself for him.What is going on?
It irritated me that the idea of her with another man bothered me so much. I’d prefer not to feel anything for this woman… other than pure, unadulterated loathing. It was much easier that way.
“I don’t believe you,” I told her.
“I was able to take the chest without you knowing because you were distracted by getting your dick sucked at the time.”
