Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Ellery

It was a question I probably should have asked a while ago, most amsirah would have. I already knew the answer, but I shouldn’t. However, my shock could explain my lack of questioning over seeing my home destroyed.

When a loud crash resounded from upstairs, the sheriff smirked. “As I told your mother, we’re hunting thieves.”

“You won’t find any here.”

“Maybe not, but I’ve found a sympathizer.”

I couldn’t stop myself from gulping as his gaze raked me again. “I don’t sympathize with thieves. Mouse is a child who lost his family and his way. I didn’t want him maimed.”

The sheriff didn’t respond, and when my mother tugged on my arm again, I went with her. I was eager to flee this man and the home that was once my sanctuary. As I stepped outside, the sheriff’s question stopped me again.

“Have you seen Ryker lately?”

The mention of Ryker’s name sent an arrow through my heart. I hadn’t expected him to ask about the man who owned my heart and was determined to destroy it. Thankfully, I was looking away from the sheriff, as I couldn’t stop myself from wincing.

I understood why Ryker couldn’t forgive me. I’d stolen from him and then led him around the Revenant Woods, all while knowing I was the robber he sought.

I’d lied to him, hurt him, and betrayed his trust. To him, I was the enemy he liked to fuck on occasion.

It didn’t matter that I’d revealed my deepest secrets to him, including that I was a lightning bearer and could control all five weather elements. The first had never occurred in a woman, and the latter had never happened in any amsirah before me. He knew it all and still couldn’t trust me.

Earlier this morning, when he’d touched me so tenderly, I’d sworn something was different between us this time. That things had been more like they were before he learned the truth, but I’d woke to discover him gone.

It was a good thing I’d started taking valovay root from the Revenant Woods for birth control again. Ryker was also taking something, but I couldn’t risk getting pregnant. Bringing a child into this messed-up realm and situation would be a huge mistake.

Ryker would never forgive me for what I’d done, and I had to accept that, but I wasn’t going to discuss him with this man.

When I turned back to the sheriff, the shrewd gleam in his eyes gave me pause. Ryker had stepped in to save my hand when I offered it instead of Mouse’s, but this wasn’t about that.

Normally, no one in Tempest cared who was sleeping with who, but Ryker was the son of the only duke, the Scourge of the Ghouls, and Tempest’s only known lightning bearer. And I was the woman caught in Ryker’s bed, in his father’s castle, and because of that, the duke despised me.

No, not because of that. He hated me because I’d brought his son joy… if only for a little time.

The duke could never forgive me for that, and he’d gone out of his way to make me pay for it. He’d spread the word about it too; I had no doubt the sheriff knew of it.

“No, I haven’t seen Ryker,” I lied smoothly.

This time, when the sheriff’s yellow-brown eyes raked me, I felt stripped bare by him. It took everything I had not to cover myself as his gaze lingered on my breasts.

“Interesting,” he murmured.

My mother tugged at my wrist again. “Outside, Ellery.”

Nausea churned in my belly as I followed her outside while crashes and bangs resounded from within. We emerged onto the porch when Scarlet; her younger brother, Billy; her father, Mr. Fletcher; and mother, Ruby, emerged from the stables.

Like Scarlet, they all had bright red hair and brown eyes. Freckles covered her brother’s face, but the rest didn’t have as many.

More guards remained in the road, holding the horses and keeping watch, but none of us acknowledged them as we met in the middle of the yard.

“This is horrible,” Ruby whispered.

We flinched when a loud crash sent birds flying from the woods with loud, disgruntled caws.

“They’re doing the same to our house,” Billy whispered.

The haunted look in his eyes tugged at my heart, and I rested my hand on his shoulder. I also considered him a little brother and wished to protect him from this. He was only eight, but he’d seen far too much in his short lifetime.

Guilt tugged at me again as I looked at Scarlet and saw the same emotion in her eyes. We were doing this for all of them, but so many would suffer before we could make it right.

I’ll make sure it’s worth it… even if it kills me.