by Ivy Asher
The Reclamation
Ivy Asher
Copyright © 2020 Ivy Asher
All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the author, except in cases of a reviewer quoting brief passages in a review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Edited by Polished Perfection
Cover by Rainy Day Artwork
For Sunny. You stepped up so I could live the dream, and I fucking love you so much for it. You still can’t have a motorcycle though.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
I know!!! I know!!!!!
Also by Ivy Asher
Ivy Asher
Prologue
Warm metal touches my neck. I don’t even have time to process that it’s a blade before Loa slices across my throat with it.
Pain explodes across my neck, and then I can feel warmth gushing out of me. I try to gasp, but the sound is a sick gurgling that hammers home the reality of what just happened. I press my palms to my slit throat, terrified by how quickly they’re covered in blood. I press at the wound and watch as Treno falls to his knees, his large hands clutching his own neck.
The realization that he’s experiencing some fucked up echo of what I am flashes through my mind as I press at my wound and wonder how the fuck I’m going to survive this. I blink slowly, and it’s as if the world around me has exploded. It’s hard to focus, because my mind seems to only want to be aware of the fact that I’m bleeding to death. I feel like I’m moving underwater as I try to comprehend what’s happening.
Panes and shards of shattered crystal come raining down from above me, and I fall to my knees, unsure if they are too weak to hold me up anymore or if the strong burst of wind in the room shoved me down. I feel pieces of things fall on me, but all I can really focus on is trying to press the escaping blood from my throat back into my body. I fumble for the skirt of my dress and shakily bring a wad of the fabric up to my throat and press it there.
I’m having trouble breathing, but I can tell some oxygen is getting into my lungs and brain because neither is screaming for air, or maybe my brain is no longer working right because of the blood.
A roar fills the air, but I can’t focus on the rage and retribution billowing out and surrounding me. All I can focus on is clumsily pulling more of my dress up and pressing it as hard as I can against my neck. I taste blood in my mouth, and for some reason, it sparks a flash of panic. I try to rein it in, knowing instinctively that keeping my heart rate down is better right now, but it takes root despite my efforts to crush it down.
I don’t want to die.
Black talons and skin drop down in my line of sight. They step closer to me, and I can just make out a black paw impossibly far behind the ebony forelegs of what has to be a gargantuan gryphon. I blink lazily, and my vision blurs. Something sniffs at me and nudges me gently, and I can feel strength draining out of my hands. A keening purr kind of a sound reaches out to me, and I want to go to it. More roars and crashes suddenly fill my ears as if someone just unmuted a battle scene in a movie.
I go weightless.
I know I’m dying. I can feel myself rising in the air, like my soul is finally leaving my body. I’m surrounded by warmth and surprisingly...pissed. I’ve never thought about what it would be like to die, but there’s no loved one to greet me. No calm or peace for my soul to float on as I make my way wherever souls go. There’s not even a light. There’s just pain and guilt and sorrow. All I can think, over and over again, is that I’m sorry any of this happened.
I know my death will pull the others with me, and it feels horrible.
I’m jostled, and my hazy vision blinks out altogether. I grumble internally about how the road to the afterlife shouldn’t have potholes. This shit should be gentle and easy; why does it hurt? Something wraps around me, and then the sensation of flying fills the last of my working senses. Peace finally trickles through me, but so does panic because this must be it.
I don’t want to die!
Everything around me grows quiet, and in spite of the cool wind I feel caressing my body, I’m warm all over. A flash of Ryn, then Treno, and finally Zeph streaks by the last of my consciousness before I can feel it finally start to shut down. I whimper, and death squeezes me tighter.
“Don’t worry, little sparrow, I have you,” it growls deeply into my ear, and then everything...goes...black.
1
I’m floating, but not in a soothing, calm kind of way. I feel like I’m floating in a vat of pain. It burns, and the sensation is draining. I would feel like a popsicle being dipped into hellfire, except the burning is cold. Instead of a searing sensation, I feel like a million needles are all trying to stab me at once. I get the distinct impression that something’s trying to settle in the cells of my skin, but for some reason it can’t, and now it’s angry and punishing me painfully for it.
I wait for the torture to ebb. For some reason, I know that it will, and that alone is keeping me from giving up and just saying fuck it. Am I dead? Because if I am, it sure does hurt, and it’s noisy as hell too. I focus on the angry voices swimming around me and try to make sense of everything going on.
“Why did you bring him here?” a deep menacing voice snarls.
“I had no choice, he’s her mate now too,” the other, normally smooth voice bites back.
“And how did you let that happen?”
“How did I let that happen? How did I let that happen!” Ryn roars. “I should rip you apart right now. How I ever listened to anything you had to say is beyond my understanding. You forced her to leave. You knew she wouldn’t be safe, and you did it anyway! I didn’t let this happen. You did!”
“Watch yourself. I am still your Syta!” Zeph barks.
The laugh that fills the void all around me sounds manic and angry. If every inch of me wasn’t currently frostbitten and hurting, that laugh would give me the chills.
“My Syta? You’re Syta of nothing. You were so busy looking for outside threats that neither one of us saw the one sitting right beneath our noses. We have no idea what damage my sister did to the Hidden. We don’t have the slightest clue what she told him, but if it was one word shy of everything, I’d be surprised. We have no chance against the Avowed now. They’ll know the entirety of what we’ve been planning. Lazza will be ready for every move we ever thought to make.”
“So we’ll start over,” Zeph states simply.
“Not with me, you won’t,” Ryn declares evenly.
“What does that mean? You’d walk away from everything we’ve worked for...for some female?” Zeph d
emands, his tone seething.
“Not for some female, for my mate. I listened to you and your poisonous thoughts about who she was and who she might be. I let your issues cloud the truth.”
“And what truth is that?” Zeph bites back.
“That it doesn’t matter who she is, was, or what she could be, she’s mine. I’m not going to waste another breath pretending otherwise.”
“She could be the solution to all of this. Are you saying you won’t do what needs to be done if the time comes?”
“I’m saying it’s more complicated than that,” Ryn growls. “We called, she answered. I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t matter, that she doesn’t matter.”
I blink and suddenly, instead of blackness all around me, I can picture Ryn and Zeph perfectly. We’re in some kind of cave. It’s huge, and there’s a massive fire in the middle of it. I can see the legs of a body on the far side of the fire, and my heart slams in my chest as Treno’s name pounds in my head.
Zeph stands, his massive wings folded against his back, blood dripping steadily from a gash on his side. His honey eyes watch Ryn like he’s still deciding if he wants to rip him apart. His demeanor doesn’t shock me. The sky shadow pretty much always looks like that, but there’s an undercurrent of defeat and rage that normally isn’t there.
Ryn on the other hand looks downright terrifying. The normally easygoing and snarky gryphon wears a solid mask of betrayal and rage. I’ve never seen him look this pissed, and I just watched him find out that his sister sold him out. Not even that induced this level of anger. I can feel the phantom of a wall against my back, and I realize that I’m watching all of this from the deep shadows of whatever cave we’re in.
I question for a moment if this is real. I shouldn’t be up and spying given what just happened to me, but then I remember the weird dreams I’ve been having with Zeph. This feels like one of those. Just as that thought flickers through my mind, Zeph’s honey gaze snaps to my shadow shrouded hiding place.
“She’s here,” he announces quietly, his tone vacillating between shock and confusion.
Ryn steps more into the light and follows Zeph’s focused gaze. He looks like shit. Half his face is swollen, tight and shiny and mottled with black and purple bruises. He’s bleeding from a cut on his head, and small rivers of blood break up the black and purple landscape of his face. His hair is matted and dirty, his clothes torn, tattered, and stained with red streaks and splotches. I can’t tell if it’s his blood or someone else’s. It’s probably a combination of both, but I’m completely shocked by the state he’s in. How is he up and walking?
I notice he’s holding one arm close to his chest as he looks from the shadows I’m standing in to Zeph. And he has a pink line across his throat like something scratched him there. I look over to Zeph to see the same mark on his neck.
“Who’s here?” Ryn asks warily, like he’s not sure he wants the answer.
“Our little sparrow.”
Zeph’s nickname for me drips off his full lips, and confusion flickers through Ryn’s battered face. His head snaps to a place on the other side of the fire that I can’t see.
“She’s still out,” he observes, his gray gaze moving back to Zeph and then once again to me in the corner where Zeph’s still staring.
Can Ryn not see me?
I step out of the darkness, and Ryn’s widening panic-filled eyes answer that question.
“What is going on?” he demands, looking from me to the other me that I’m assuming is lying on the other side of the fire. Terror floods Ryn’s features, and he scrambles toward my body. “No no no no no no no,” he chants. “She can’t be dead. Falon, you are not allowed to die,” he yells at me, and if his tone wasn’t so heart-wrenching, it would be funny and irritating that even in death, he’s trying to order me around.
A keening sound pours out of his throat, and I clutch at my chest. The sound feels like it’s ripping me apart. I’ve never heard anything like it, and the lamentation sinks into my soul and settles there, promising to be something I never forget for the rest of my life.
“She’s still breathing,” he exclaims, shocked, his head snapping back up to where I’m standing, and he scrambles back over to where Zeph is still just watching me.
I can’t decipher what the sky shadow’s face and eyes are communicating.
“You’re not dead...we’re not dead?” Ryn announces, like somehow saying it out loud will help him wrap his brain around what’s happening.
“So those dreams?” I ask Zeph, needing to confirm what I already suspect.
I’m here, and yet I’m not here at the same time.
“Not dreams, it seems,” he answers, his demeanor still oddly calm.
“What happened?” I ask, trying to make sense of what’s going on.
“You almost...died,” Ryn replies, his tone devastated and confused.
“Treno?” I ask, my chest hurting. I move to go check on him where he’s lying unmoving by the fire, but Zeph steps in my way.
“He’s still breathing too,” Ryn explains, stealing my attention back to him.
I’m confused, and everything feels muffled as I slowly try to make sense of what’s happening.
“I think since he was the last to bond with you, the connection was stronger. When you were dying, you pulled at our force to help replenish yours,” Ryn goes on, tapping his open palm to his chest. “Treno was more affected.”
I move to sidestep Zeph, and once again he blocks my path. The bewilderment I’m swimming in becomes an afterthought as irritation prickles through me.
“What are you doing?” I demand as my eyes move up Zeph’s massive body and settle on his honey-dipped gaze. He looks...unsettled. The unfamiliar look in his eyes swirls with the usual pissed off gleam that I find in his golden stare. I don’t know what he’s doing here. Fuck, I don’t even know where here is or why I seem to be split in two right now. The things I saw and did with Zeph while I was in Kestrel City weren’t a dream, and I’m not sure what the hell to think about the sides of him I spied when he thought no one was looking.
“Keeping you from repeating your mistakes,” Zeph states. His tone feels like a quiet earthquake, both threatening and making it hard to keep my footing.
His meaning crawls over me like the rays of a slowly rising sun, and I heat with rage. “Mistakes...repeat my mistakes?” I growl. “That’s super funny coming from you...mate,” I snarl at him, stepping into his space until we’re chest to chest.
He doesn’t move, and his eyes heat at the challenge in my tone and radiating out of every tense muscle in my body. I want to rip him apart. Eviscerate him for everything he’s done and tried to hide from me.
“The only mistake I see around here is you, you arrogant piece of shit.”
A growl crawls up Zeph’s throat, but I’m done being intimidated by him. I’m done feeling sorry for him. I’m fucking done with it all.
“You mated an Avowed. Lazza’s brother, of all the rutting marked filth!” he yells at me, like he still doesn’t see the level of fucked up that he achieved by not telling me about our connection.
I shove at him, and satisfaction blooms in my chest when he has to drop a foot back to keep his balance. “You mated me and didn’t even fucking tell me. You forced a bond between us and didn’t even bother to explain what the fuck was happening.”
“I didn’t force you into anything,” he snarls back. “You cried my name and begged for more all on your own.”
My entire world flashes red. My fist smashes into Zeph’s cheek in less time than it takes to blink. Pain screams up my arm, but I don’t care. I pounce on him like a rabid beast, ready to break every bone in my body if it means he hurts too. Zeph does nothing other than try to protect his face from my wild hits. Arms wrap around me from behind and pull me off of him. The noises slipping out of my lips as I’m yanked away are feral bellows demanding retribution and promising pain.
I’m drowning in my need to hurt him the way he s
o carelessly hurts me. I’m not sure what Ryn is saying to me, but it’s clearly meant to talk me down. All I can focus on though is that Ryn is just as deserving of my wrath, and I turn on him. Pigeon surges inside of me. She wants in on the action, but I slam a vault door on her, wrap it in chains, and chuck the key as far into the recesses of my mind as I can. They’ve all betrayed me, and they can all rot in fucking hell.
“You knew!” I screech at Ryn as I twist and try to get my feet under me so I can wound him too. “You fucking knew after what happened in the woods. That’s what you were keeping from me when I woke up. Side effects of a Trammel magicked rope, my ass!” I yell at him. I get one arm out from under his hold and claw down the side of his face. He hisses and shoves me away from him.
I land on my feet and charge. He backs away, hands up, like that’s going to keep me from trying to rip the asshole apart.
“We had to know who you were once and for all. That’s why I came back to Kestrel to see what information had been recorded about your parents. To figure out if there was anything that would tell us where you’d come from and what you might be doing here now,” Ryn defends.
“I fucking told you who I was and what I was doing here, you stupid assholes.” Zeph growls, and my head snaps in his direction. “Oh, fuck off with that shit. You screwed up, not me. Maybe if you had clued me in, I would have known the warning signs of a mating and none of us would be in this situation now. You are to blame for all of this, so go growl at yourself.”
Ryn and Zeph both step closer, clearly not liking my point, and I ready myself to go full feral bitch in my efforts to mar them both. Pain explodes in my chest, and suddenly my neck feels like it’s on fire. I gasp and grab for my throat. I feel warmth there, and a flash of what happened to me in Kestrel fills my mind. I can feel the blade again as it slices across my neck. The shock and panic crawl back up my esophagus to bleed out of the open wound in my throat. Clawing fear ices through my veins, and my eyes land on Zeph’s. He looks just as panicked, and then everything blurs and I feel myself falling.
