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Why would I dream of a Lord with wings?
I realized then that the burning sensation inside of me had started to recede, like a fire that had sated its voracious appetite, and left a swirling of smoke that was soothing and comforting. I didn’t know what to make of it, but at least it was better than the continuous inferno in my chest I’d had since returning from Hylithria.
I didn’t go back to sleep, too curious to stop my mind from wandering, and remained awake for the next few hours. Then dawn came, and I met with Nikan outside the doors of Morah, thankful that the storm’s intensity had lessened to a downpour, then we mounted our horses and left Ilrek.
Chapter Twenty-One
Ryker
The bond did exactly what I hoped it would do—what I needed it to do.
After leaving the palace in Voara, I let the bond guide me to my mate. That constant pressure inside of me pulled me toward her, a constant nagging stretched taut that couldn’t be ignored and edged on the side of pain.
Whenever I would veer off course, it would tug me back in the right direction, to Riyah. The bond was desperate to be with its other half. Nothing would stop it—would stop me. I could feel myself getting closer. The connection calmed as I closed the distance between us.
For days, I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. Every muscle in my body ached in protest as I pushed myself harder and farther. Until, finally, that unbearable pull eased, and I knew that I had found her.
She’s here.
I dropped down, mud squelching beneath my boots. Rain poured from the storm above. My hair whipped wildly in the harsh wind as thunder rumbled. I looked up at the monumental tower before me as I stood at its base, silhouetted against the night sky with streaks of lightning to illuminate it briefly.
She’s in Morah.
She couldn’t have been native to Riyah, no one was born there. But even Vicria mentioned she was from Riyah. She must have abdicated her citizenship from another Nation to come here. And of all places, she had to be so close to the central location of the Sages. Though being in Morah, where no Sage would go, they wouldn’t find her.
I waited atop a house across from the doors of Morah. Lying in wait, like a hunter stalking its prey. The storm had let up, but left a constant downpour that had begun to piss me off. I heated my body to keep warm, the water steaming off me. I kept hidden behind a stone chimney, peeking out to keep an eye on who came and went from the library on the other side of the gravel street. A few Scholars came and went, shielding their books rather than their heads from the rain. A hooded male exited and rushed down the street, leaving the inner ring of Ilrek.
The sky brightened the slightest bit, noting dawn had arrived. But with the cloud cover, it was still dark enough to stay concealed. I could mask my body with shadows if needed anyway. The male who had left before returned a while later with two horses and waited outside Morah. Not long after he arrived, the doors opened. Someone, cloaked and hooded, exited the library.
My heart instantly raced. My body felt electrified and my cock hardened.
It was her. My mate.
Seeing her was breathtaking. It was like finding a precious gem I’d been searching for—shining amongst the dullness of the world.
She mounted one of the horses, and the male the other. A growl rumbled in my chest, and my lips curved into a vicious sneer at the thought of another male with her. I shook my head, trying to stave off the possessive feeling the bond was forcingupon me. I braced myself against the chimney, so that I wouldn’t go to her.
That wasn’t what I had imagined. I thought that I could find her and control myself long enough to talk to her. But it hadn’t occurred to me that she would be with another male. And why wouldn’t she have been? She was fucking gorgeousanda Worthy.
Seeing her here in Riyah and not in one of the other Nations meant that she hadn’t challenged. And the only God that could have chosen her that didn’t already have a Worthy was…shit. Kleio. I released a shaky exhale.
My mate was chosen by the Silent Goddess. The mate to mine.
It didn’t make sense. Why would Kleio choose a contestant? Her lands and her people were destroyed by the Glaev. She had never chosen before when she had a Nation, but she decided to choose when she didn’t? And she chose my mate, when her own mate was the God that chose me.
They had to have known. Did they do it on purpose just for that reason alone? There had never been two Worthy alive that were mates. Or was it something else?
She started riding off on her horse. With the male… She wouldn’t have wanted this. She had to have felt the bond once it snapped into place. Yet she was still with someone else.
Gods, this is not how I thought this would go.
I thought for a few moments, contemplating what I needed to do next as they rode off out of sight. It took everything in me not to charge after her and claim what was rightfully mine.
Mine!
But I couldn’t do that to her. I refused to force the bond on her. I wanted this to be her choice. Perhaps it was for the best. For her and for Oryn. My Nation, my people, had been threatened if I bonded to my mate. I needed her to deny it. But I didn’t wanther to… I had wanted this for so long and it was finally within my reach. There had to be another way.
I stood facing the direction she rode. Even now as she was getting farther away, I could feel the bond urging me to go to her.
