For a second, my mask slipped. “What did he do?” I asked harshly.
“Broke my arm, several ribs, shattered my right kneecap, probably a few other bones. Things got a bit hazy.” Her eyes lit up with a feral quality I was used to seeing in Ryker’s. “Now ask what I did to him.”
I couldn’t stop the wicked grin from spreading across my mouth. Maybe I wasn’t the knight of her stories, but she didn’t need one anyway. “You’re the reason his voice is fucked up,” I guessed.
“Ripped out his throat,” she confirmed. “Only reason he survived is because there was a Moroi visiting at the time who was able to cast a healing glyph. Even still, his vocal cords were permanently damaged.”
“Who was the Moroi?” I frowned. Most of the Moroi who visited the Velesian realm went to the Narchis Order.
“Lucian.” The grin slid off her face. “That’s why I think the asshole is hiding there. Vail and Draven have looked all over the Moroi realm for him, and if those two haven’t located the traitor, it stands to reason he’s not in the Moroi realm.”
“None of my sources have spotted him there,” I said doubtfully. “And a Moroi, especially that Moroi, would draw attention.”
“I’m merely sharing my opinion.” She took another drink. “So that’s the story of me and Alexis. He takes any opportunity to remind me the offer is still open. All I have to do is submit to him.”
I finished the rest of my drink and poured another as I thought over what she’d told me. It would make my life so much easier if I thought Rynn was lying. If I believed she was working with either her birth clan or the Dragomirs.
But I didn’t.
Despite the strained relationship, I did believe she was loyal to her brother. If—when—he rose to the role of Alpha of the Narchis Order, that could complicate things. But it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle if we didn’t want to. The bigger concern was her unflinching loyalty to Samara. Aside from the optics, which were bad, thanks to all these moonsdamned rumors about the Blood Sovereign having the ability to control minds, it meant we could never fully trust her.
Cade, Ryker, Warrick, and I were all vastly different people, but the one thing we had in common was that there was no one else for us. We had no family and barely any friends outside the Alpha pack. There was no one else to claim our loyalty, and it had kept us strong and united.
I hadn’t met Selene yet, but I’d done some digging. She needed us far more than we needed her. I didn’t exactly know why she’d failed to integrate with the previous packs she’d joined, but I knew she’d been desperate to get out of the Fervis Order. Which meant we could make a deal about her place here.
Rynn wanted more. She wanted something we could never give her. Before we’d left to visit her family, I’d thought we could figure something out. That we could give her just enough to make her happy. But that wasn’t feasible, and the longer she remained here, the more she threatened everything.
Feverishly, I thought through options. We couldn’t just send her home; it would destroy our relationship with the Narchis Order. With Selene being here and helping to smooth things over with the Fervis Order, we had a real chance at stabilizing the Velesian realm.
Ignoring the way it made my stomach turn, I thought about what would happen if we killed Rynn. It would be difficult to do so in a way that we wouldn’t be held responsible for, but I was confident I could figure it out. Warrick would be thrilled about that plan. Cade wouldn’t like it, but he’d go along with it if I laid out a good enough argument.
The problem was Ryker. If he ever learned about what we did, he would never forgive us. And I wasn’t willing to lie to him forever.
“If your glass whispers the answer to whatever problem you’re struggling with, do let me know,” Rynn drawled.
I grunted. “Sadly, it has yet to offer any solutions to our impossible situation.”
“Which is what, exactly?”
“What to do with you.” I let out a long breath through my nose before raising my gaze to meet hers. “You can’t stay here, Rynn. Not indefinitely. But we can’t just let you go either.”
“Debating the merits of killing me?” Rynn refilled her glass, not seeming all that disturbed by the direction our conversation had gone. It was unfortunate things weren’t different, because I could admit to myself that I really did like her. Rynn had a way of surprising me just when I thought I had her figured out.
I nodded. “Ryker presents a bit of a problem there. Do you have any ideas?”
“On my untimely death? Or me leaving?” she asked dryly.
“Either.” I shrugged.
Rynn pursed her lips together. “I don’t trust you,” she said slowly. “So I won’t tell you my plan. But there may come a time when I’m in a position to bargain for my release from the Alpha pack with something that will allow you pricks to save face,” she said quickly. “It’ll help all Velesians and overshadow my leaving.”
I searched her face. She wasn’t lying. Whatever she was plotting, Rynn believed it would work. “And how do you plan to pull this off?”
She shook her head. “Sorry, Bas. Not giving you the details. But when the time comes, it would benefit us both if you could get Cade to agree to my offer. And maybe keep Warrick from killing me.” She wrinkled her nose.
“What about Ryker?” I tilted my head, watching her reaction.
Her hand drifted to her chest as she frowned at her cup. I didn’t even think she realized she was doing it. “As you’ve already pointed out, Ryker belongs to the Alpha pack. He was never meant for me. I made some mistakes, but I’ll be correcting them going forward.”
