Page 182 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
My question landed like a bucket of ice over the slowly-building tension in the room.
The smirk fell from Ryker’s face. He even averted his gaze, which was so out of character for a man who used his gaze to uncover in the same way I used my mind, that I got worried.
“Ryker?” His name on my lips suddenly sounded that much more limited here, in our rooms, where we were truly alone. “What’s going on?”
He’d said he hadn’t seen his former allies in years and had been activated by me asking about the Ashrift Clan. Something was wrong.
Very wrong, judging by the way he kept on working his jaw–and not saying anything.
“Hey,” I said, voice gentler than I ever heard it. I took a cautious step toward him. “Talk to me.”
“That’s just it.” He huffed a sad laugh. “If I tell you, you won’t look at me the same. Nobody will.”
He sounded like my grimmest thoughts. The ones held only by someone who’d been told the truth was too much too many times.
But alarm bells blared in my ears all the same. “Try me.”
“It has nothing to do with you.” He shook his head.
The shadows were crowding his eyes once more. But the way his shoulders slackened, defeated, truly worried me.
Ryker was a force of nature. One who had faced the storm inside of me, then tried his damndest to bring it out of me again when everything inside of me felt dead and frozen.
He’d said he hoped I’d do the same for him.
He’d helped me fight my ghosts.
I wanted to battle his away as well.
“Doesn’t matter.” I took another step, just as slow as the first, but more determined. “Does it have something to do with the crater?”
He nodded.
“With the fallen star?” I asked.
He nodded once more. If he clenched his jaw tighter, he’d corrode his teeth down to the gums.
“Then it has everything to do with me,” I declared with more certainty than I felt. But The Huntress was slowly crawling back up toward the light. Gods, I’d missed her.
Ryker frowned. “How’d you figure?”
“What’s mine is yours,darling. Isn’t that what you said during the contract negotiation? I don’t need to share your family jewels. I want to share your responsibilities. Your successes. Your failures. Though let’s have more triumphs than defeats, okay? We still have a reputation.”
In the stillness that followed, apprehension pierced my heart.
What if I said too much too soon?
That wasn’t a thing I worried about usually, but emotions had never been my forte–and I’d never had to face a man likehim.
Instead of the tension deepening or the atmosphere turning awkward, Ryker surprised me once more.
He tilted his head back, neck so exposed I saw a droplet of water cascading down his skin, and let out a rumbling laugh. It was so deep and raw, I wondered how my room didn’t shake.
“How can you say something so sweet and genuine and still make it sound like a threat?” he asked between laughs.
The heat in my cheeks turned into a blaze. “Well, that’s my secret. I’ll share it if you share yours.”
That damn silence fell upon us again.
