Ryker pulled me closer, forcing me to him when I would’ve lunged. His arms wrapped around me, and I could feel his magic surrounding me, smothering.
“You’re not getting her, so what do you want in exchange?” Ryker asked. I was glued to him, an iron arm around my waist, his magic caging me further.
“I’m going to kill you.” My words came out slow and calm. I’d see him dead.
The Collector leaned forward, “Mighty words from someone so small.” He tilted his head, a smile revealing white fangs. “But maybe not so weak?”
The Debt Collector leaned back, as if he’d just learned a secret that amused him.
“What’s your price?” Ryker asked.
I struggled to breathe as my rage demanded more from my heart than I was used to giving. I could feel Bones’ attention on me. I felt a wave of magic trying to push at me, Ryker’s magic firming around and pressing it back.
Even through all the revelations of today, there was one that was slamming into me. Ryker, the Cursed King, the man who had his arms wrapped around me like steel and his magic like iron, had just pushed back at a creature that was terrifying. They were at a stalemate. If I hadn’t wanted to run from Ryker before, I should definitely be thinking of it now. Except running from Ryker meant I might be running to Bones. At least one of the monsters in this room wanted me alive.
“Fine. You want a trade? I want the stone you collected from Bedlam.”
“That’s not on the table,” Ryker said.
Seriously? He wouldn’t hand over a stone for me?
“Then her life still is.” The Debt Collector shrugged bony shoulders, and white fingers waved in the air, as if it were no difference to him. “I’ll give you three months to reconsider.”
I strained against Ryker’s hold. Trying to zap him. If he felt it, it didn’t show.
“We’re done,” Ryker said, turning, with me in tow.
We walked past the guards, down the hall, and out of the pyramid. My fingers were still curved into fists. I wanted to kill Bones. Neither of us said a word. If I spoke, I’d explode. Ryker’s magic was still cranked up, but it wasn’t smothering me anymore. Mine was way worse.
I couldn’t speak. Not until I got away from him. I couldn’t even think clearly after what had happened.
I pulled away from him for the fiftieth time, and he finally released me once we were a hundred or so feet from the temple.
“Why did you do that?” he asked, voice low, but there was no mistaking the fury.
He’d beaten me to the punch. That was my line. “Me? You mean why did you do that? You had no right to hold me back. That was my call, my decision.”
“Did you not hear me when I told you to keep calm and not give him anything? And what did you do?” he asked, pointing at me. “You lost your shit.” He turned away and walked a few paces farther away.
Because he told me? When did he think he took ownership of what I did? Oh no, I’d about had it with Ryker and his orders. I’d let it go too far, and now he thought he could dictate my life.
“You didn’t have the right to hold me back. It’s my choice. Not yours.”
“If you’d gone after him, you’d be dead,” he said, as if I were an idiot to think otherwise.
“You don’t know that.”
“You think you would’ve been able to kill him? You can’t even control your magic.”
“At least I would’ve given it a good fight.”
“No, you wouldn’t have. That’s the problem. You aren’t capable of giving it a good fight. All you did was show your hand.”
If he didn’t shut up and soon, he was going to see how much of a fight I was capable of as I was the one stalking towards him now. “I’m sorry my blood doesn’t run as cold and calculating as yours.”
“You should be thanking me that you’re alive.” He dragged fingers through his hair. “Although you certainly have made that more difficult. He knows how much magic you’re carrying. He’s not going to let go. Any hope of negotiating is useless now that he knows your worth.” He took a few more steps away, shaking his head as if he were on the verge of strangling me.
Suddenly the smothering cocoon of Ryker’s magic made sense. He wasn’t trying to confine mine. He was trying to conceal it. It would’ve eased the anger I was feeling, except for one major problem. And this was a doozy, the kind you choked on.
“He would’ve let me live if you gave him the stupid stone, but I guess that’s too important.” The fucking stone. That was all Ryker cared about. It was the only reason he helped me, because I could help him get more stones, and it didn’t matter if I lived or died.
“You’re right. I wouldn’t. And I won’t.”
He turned back to me, walking steadily in my direction until I was afraid he’d trample me. I held my ground, too much anger brewing to even consider backing down. He’d stopped me from killing Bones, but he was welcome to take his place.
He didn’t stop until his toes brushed mine. His head angled down, eyes boring through me and magic riling my senses. I didn’t let it intimidate me. He might be able to pull off that move with the snowflakes who lived in the Valley, but I’d cut my teeth in the Ruined City. I was forged in fire, not grown in soft afternoon sunlight.
“That stone might be the only thing that can kill him. If I were to give it to him, and he reneged, there’d be nothing I could do.” He leaned his head ever so slightly closer. “Do. You. Get. It. Now?”
I wanted to rail at him, sink my nails into his flesh and tear his arrogance apart. Only one issue: I sort of did get it now. Damn it. Still, didn’t let him off the hook for being an ass.
“That stone could really kill him?” I asked, all the heat and anger turning lukewarm.
“I’m not sure how many I’ll need, but yes. It might be the only thing that will.”
I hummed. Definitely couldn’t hand that over, then. I hated when he was right. “I might be seeing your point.”
He backed up, removing himself from my space, and continued to walk. Was he going to leave me here? No. He still needed me.
But he was still walking away. I wouldn’t put it past him to leave me for a little while just to screw with me, because that was how he rolled. I let him continue for another few minutes before I broke into a jog and followed.
Didn’t take long to catch up with him, since the big bluffer had slowed his pace. Staring at his back and trying to avoid getting whacked by the branches swinging behind him, I said, “You should’ve told me.”
“I said, ‘Don’t show him anything.’ Excuse me if I didn’t break it down for you. I didn’t think I had to.” His voice was just shy of a yell; he clearly wanted to make sure he was heard.
“You need to tell me more,” I said to his back.
“Or maybe you need to trust me more.” He continued without even glancing over his shoulder.
“Well, no wonder you fucked up, because that’s not going to happen anytime soon.” See? It was all his fault.
7
The walk back to the chugger wore away whatever anger I had left for Ryker. He was right: I might’ve died if I’d had my way. His brisk pace in front of me showed he might’ve been hanging on to his aggravation, but I didn’t care. He wasn’t completely in the right and I had more disturbing issues to worry about.
What had happened in my past? I’d thought I’d been discarded by my parents, but you didn’t sacrifice your life for someone you didn’t want. I didn’t remember much of my time with them. I’d never tried to hold on to those memories. I’d shoved them away, and hadn’t thought of what could’ve been. Thinking back to that time now was like meandering around in a fog as thick as pea soup.
There were a couple of things that I’d never forget, though. Waking up on the dead pile. Back where I was born, a small country called the Court, that was what they’d called the place where the deceased were dumped before they were incinerated. I hadn’t been sick. That much I knew, because I’d never forget the shock of wa
king up on the dead pile. I’d gone to sleep in my bed the night before, the way I always had.
Before I could escape the pile on my own, the slavers had come and collected me, as if they’d known I was going to be there. Had my parents orchestrated all of that to then sell me to the slavers? But then why sacrifice your life? It didn’t add up. Although only one person did sacrifice themselves, if Bones could be trusted. Had my father had different plans for what would happen to me?
I spent the rest of the walk to the chugger riffling through what memories I could dredge up out of the swamp I’d sunk them in. It wasn’t until I ran out threads that I noticed Ryker had been silent as well. Fine by me if he didn’t want to talk. Silence was better.
I climbed up into the cab without help, wondering how I was going to get out of this. I’d figure something out. I always did. Damn if I’d let Bones suck the life from me. Wasn’t it bad enough that he took my mother’s life?
An hour into the ride and Ryker still wasn’t speaking, but I knew he was watching. His magic was poking the hell out of me. He was reaching epic proportions of out of control. It was a good thing we didn’t have a bad mix, or he would’ve killed me already.
“Can you keep to your side of the cab?” I asked.
“I’m not…” His brow furrowed. “Minor slip.”
I could tell that admission had been rough coming out, and yet I couldn’t stop myself from digging in a little more. “Minor? I’m lucky I’m alive.” I leaned farther away from him and perched a heel on the seat, using my knee as an armrest.
He glanced over at me. “No thanks to your efforts.”
I rolled my eyes, and they snagged on his pant leg, the one the snake had went after. Its fangs had left a hole where it had tried to sink its teeth in. Tried or had? That was dried blood on his skin. Hadn’t he said that if they bit into you and you tried to pull them off, they released venom?
I dropped my foot back down and leaned closer, getting a better look. “You were bitten.”
He wasn’t flushed or sweating, and I didn’t see any redness around the wound, either.
“No, I wasn’t.”
“I can see the blood.”
“It was a scratch from walking through the bushes.”
A scratch that left two perfect spots? Right where the snake would’ve bitten? Perfectly sized for the spacing of fangs? Bull.
He didn’t bother looking at his leg, and if he was worried about being called out on it, it didn’t change the slope of his shoulders or his grip on the wheel.
I moved back to the other side of the cab, my back to the door. “Why can you pull the snakes off when you say no one else can?”
“After I answer all your questions in depth to your satisfaction, shall we discuss what you remember from your childhood?”
Bastard. I looked ahead, pulling my knee back up and hugging it. “Fine. Keep your secrets.”
Whatever. He had his skeletons and so did I. We all had a vault we kept locked. If you didn’t, you were a weirdo with no life experiences behind you. No experiences meant you were useless to me. He could keep his secrets as long as he was still going to help me, because I definitely needed it. My time was running out.
I chewed around a hangnail as I asked, “Why three months? He knows you’re not going to give him the stone. Why the pretense?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, as he turned his head slightly toward his window.
In other words, he wasn’t ready to tell me what he was guessing at yet. Didn’t matter; I knew what mattered now. I needed those magical stones Ryker was so intent on gathering more than he did.
My knee-jerk reaction had been to go in all fists and fury on Old Bones, but the cold, wet mist of the walk back to the chugger had dulled the fire and sharpened a couple of things up. If I was going to get out of this mess, I needed allies, and strong ones. Ryker still wanted his stones, so he needed me. But I needed him more than ever because I wanted them too. He had one from Bedlam. Did he have any more? If he didn’t, he still had a better idea of where to get them.
“What exactly are these stones?”
“Just magical rocks,” he answered.
And he wondered why I didn’t trust him? He didn’t trust me either. Still, Ryker acted as if he was going to help me, and that was what mattered most right now. But things changed. What if Bones made me too much of a liability? Lots of people agreed to help with all sorts of things. Then they realized what they’d agreed to and went running, possibly screaming, for the hills. Bones definitely appeared to be the type of favor that would send someone screaming. Ryker didn’t strike me as a screaming type, or a runner for that matter, but there was always a first.
Look at me, for example. I wasn’t a community type, but I was communing all over the place lately. I broke bread with people and said hello, or at least nodded, once a week.
I really needed to know where I stood with Ryker and how much I was going to be able to depend upon him. What I needed even more than that was leverage in case I found out I was standing in a ditch. With mud. If there was a ditch involving Ryker, there’d be mud too.
I did a gentle poking around at his magic to gauge his mood as best I could. I’d avoided other Wyrd Bloods for so long that it wasn’t an exact science for me. I didn’t know how much I could poke before he’d sense me. That wouldn’t do at all, since I needed him unguarded for my next topic.
I reached out with the lightest feel, barely skimming. His magic was calmer than it had been. The waters would surely churn up again in the future, considering our history. The timing was as good as it was going to get.
I relaxed back, my arm outstretched, resting on my knee. I tried to hit my most casual tone ever, while hoping my magic didn’t give away my anxiety. I needed to exude I-don’t-give-a-shit.
“Let’s lay our cards out on the table, shall we?”
He shifted the stick on the chugger, picking up speed, before he glanced over. “Sure. Let’s lay them out. I’d love to see what’s on your table.”
As soon as he agreed, I realized I needed the big spiel, the type I definitely didn’t do. That kind of thing included a hard sell on what I brought to the table. I’d been hiding my magic for years, and now I needed to make big, sweeping declarations on how great it was. Yes, Ryker was a Wyrd Blood, and already had an idea of what I was holding, but that didn’t mean this came naturally. Boasting about my magic made me feel like a slug about to jump off a cliff and fly. This probably would work out as well and I’d end up a slimy mess, a blob against the rocks.
“You’ve been helping me so far because you know I can get you through any magical ward out there. There’s also my ability to ‘juice things,’ as you say. If I could turn Burn into a flamethrower, who knows what else I might be capable of? And according to you, my magic hasn’t fully matured yet.”
I left out the worming, even if there was some asset there. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t reliable, and worse, Marra asked me not to do it. Worming was off the table, but Ryker didn’t need to know that yet. Even with that, maybe not a slimy mess after all. I sounded like a catch. I’d want to help me and then drain me for everything I had, too. He definitely should. It was the smart move.
I angled slightly, better to watch his profile while disguising it as a comfortable position. He continued to watch the road ahead of us without speaking. Didn’t he hear me? What was wrong with this man? Plus, it was his turn to sell himself.
The silence continued to roll on.
“Would you like help?” I asked in my least helpful voice.
“That would be wonderful.”
I shrugged off the taste of sarcasm. “You have established resources in place and you’re very good at killing people. Best I’ve ever seen.” Some people might not think that was a plus, but those people didn’t live my life. When every stronger Wyrd Blood you met saw you as a possible asset to acquire, you’d want a grade-A killer on your team, too. I must’ve done something right somewhere, because life had h
anded me the best killer known to man.
He tilted his head, giving me a slight nod. “Nice. I’m a wealthy killer.”
He could kid, but that wasn’t a joke. “That’s no small feat in this world.”
“Do I have any other cards?” he asked, eyebrows rising.
“None that I’m aware of, but I think that’s a decent hand as is.” And that was as much flattering as he’d get. Didn’t want him to rethink the balances here.
“That’s all right. I’m fine with your assessment.”
Time for the kill. “So, then you see the obvious? You need me as much as I need you.”
He shrugged. It made me want to reach over and shake him. Why did he insist on making everything so difficult? If I wasn’t playing it cool, I’d stick my head out the window and scream.
He leaned back, his wrist resting on the steering wheel. “Well, are you going for it, or you going to sit there and pretend you’re not staring at me for another hour?”
I shifted my gaze to the front window. “I’m not staring at you.” Anymore. And he acted as if he didn’t do the same.
“Don’t tell me you don’t have the balls to ask.”
Oh, I had balls. I had bigger balls than anyone I knew. If I were a guy, I wouldn’t even be able to pull my pants up. I’d have to wear skirts, they’d be so gigantic.
“I want in on the magic stones deal, fifty-fifty, down the center.”
“No,” he said quickly, as if he couldn’t be bothered to ponder it for a second.
“They can kill Bones. I need them more than you, and if you don’t agree, I’ll quit.” Who was I kidding? I couldn’t quit. He was the best asset I had. Plus, there was another little problem that hadn’t been mentioned but was still looming. I’d challenged him to a fight and lost. I’d basically shackled myself to him, and that hadn’t been undone.
“You can’t quit. Did you forget you lost that challenge?”
Full Blood (Wyrd Blood Book 2) Page 5
