Page 154 of A Thread of Breath and Bone

I shrug, stomping to the water table annoyed with the whole universe. “Gone! I woke up to a stupid note that said he’d be back before lunch.”

He glances at the sky, then back to me. “Cutting it close,” he taunts. I narrow my eyes. “If I had to guess, it’s not your emotions you’re feeling. They’re his. You need to block him off.”

I gulp down the cool water, soothing my dry throat. “There used to be a wall between us, and now I don’t know how.”

Vaeric chuckles before telling me to add it to my list of things to practice.

We practice for another hour before we call it quits, and he guides me into the shade of the forest, where he pulls out some jerky and cheese. I’m still upset, but my anger is dull now. It’s strange. I can’t feel Ryker like I can when he’s close, but I can only assume Vaeric was right. The anger had to be his. It came on so fast. I only wish I knew where he was and why he is so angry.

I’m at least grateful for the way the chill that had settled into my bones seems to be gone. I’m sure there are plenty nights ahead it will return, but for now, I feel okay.

It’s nice to have the training field to ourselves as Vaeric tells me stories of his childhood and his first skirmish. He doesn’t hold back when he talks about the shadow creatures, which he calls creatures of night. “They’re created from the darkest pits of hell. Literally born of nightmares. When I was a faeling, I was told tales of the Azeban, and⁠—”

“The Azeban? We were told stories of them as children to scare us.”

Vaeric shakes his head. “They aren’t fairytales, Raea, they’re real. And I don’t mean to scare you, but they’re the most Fae-like creatures.”

A shiver snakes up my spine, and I fight not to curl into myself. How am I expected to face it? As a child, it haunted my nightmares for a different reason, but it was haunting all the same. Now I’m afraid they’ll return to my nightmares again.

“How do you kill it?” I ask.

Vaeric looks off into the distance as if he’s recalling a time when he killed one himself. “You have to cut off the head and then burn it. Though I suspect your starfire will burn it to ash before you ever have to get close enough.”

He leans back, closing his eyes while I lean against the sturdy tree trunk, letting my thoughts wander.

The creature that had attacked us after Mori. Had that been Azeban? Before I can ask, a gateway opens near the edge of the field, and Ryker and Riven walk through. As if sensing me, Ryker looks at me, and I can see the hard edges of his jaw soften a touch.

Riven says something to him before heading back through and closing the gateway behind him. Ryker begins heading my way, and, deciding to give Vaeric a moment to nap, I meet him halfway, shoving him when I’m close enough.

“You asshole,” I seethe.

He doesn’t even move. I shove him again with a loud groan.

“Where were you? I woke up to a note saying you’d be back mid-morning. It’s after lunch now. Do you know how it feels to wake up to a note instead of you?”

He grips my wrists, pinning my hands against the steady, thundering rhythm of his chest. He is a wall of vibrating tension. “Soraea, stop,” he says, his voice low and dangerous, yet pleading. “I did what I had to do so I wouldn't burn that entire palace to the ground. I am sorry I left you alone, but I cannot apologize for making sure those males will never touch another female again.”

I growl, shoving at him again, attempting to break free, but his grip only tightens. “Dammit, Soraea, calm down.”

I glare up at him, ready to spew every hateful word I feel when I meet his sapphire pleading eyes.

“Stop, love.” He sees the moment I let my guard down, and he pulls me to his chest, cradling my head over his steady heartbeat. “I’m sorry I didn’t wake you.”

I want to keep fighting, but I can’t. I’m exhausted, and when the broody, annoying male in front of me sweeps a hand down my spine, I all but melt into him. “Why?”

Instead of answering me, he bends, lifting me into his arms. My thighs on either side of his stomach. I cross my arms over my chest. I’m confident he won’t drop me, but I’m not about to make his life easier if he refuses to answer.

When he catches me glaring at him, he only smirks. It takes everything in me not to roll my eyes. He marches us to the opposite side of the clearing from Vaeric and up the steps that lead to the suspended bridges.

A soft breeze cools my heated skin, and this time I do roll my eyes. I uncross my arms and drape them over his shoulders.

“Was it that hard?” he teases, repeating the same phrase from the first night he carried me back to the dorms.

“Painful.”

He pinches my ass, making me squeal before taking the suspension bridge deeper into the forest.

“Where are we going?”