Chapter 63

Ryker

Tucker waveda hand around the clearing. "Does anyone here look like they'd be capable of stealing from General Ryker, the Scourge of the Ghouls?"

"Anything is possible."

"I've been here for over a month, and I can assure you, no one here is the Hooded Robber. They've been forced to turn thief, but there were a dozen of them against the two of you, and look at how well they succeeded in taking your money. They're not good at their new occupations."

"They'll get better at them."

All of Tucker's amusement vanished. "Only if they don't get themselves killed first, but we're working on it."

"So it's your new occupation too?"

"We all must do what we have to for survival. Ivan has driven us into the woods with his laws, and for the most part, we can survive on what we have here, but they also need to learn other skills to survive. Most of the amsirah here were merchants, tavern workers, farmers, and those surviving by doing whatever work they could find. They're not thieves or murderers, but Ivan has changed their lives, and not for the better. They're learning to adapt."

"I see," I murmured as I surveyed the amsirah hustling around the clearing.

"Maybe you should stop looking for the Robber; he might be the only good thing about this realm anymore."

"You think he's a good thing?"

"I do. He fed many of those here at one time or another. How can that be a bad thing?"

"He fed them with stolen money."

"Did you really miss that money?"

Ellery choked on whatever she was eating and coughed loudly. Without thinking, I patted her back as she continued to cough.

It was the first time we'd touched since our kiss in the woods, and while it was an innocent, helpful gesture, warmth and a sense of calm spread from my palm to the rest of me. She took a swig of beer and sat up; her eyes were wide as she glanced between me and Tucker.

I didn't think she'd ever expected to hear someone, other than her, talk to me in such a way. But she didn't know and couldn't possibly understand what Tucker and I had endured in the ophidians' dungeon.

While his comment irritated me, Tucker was free to say it because, though we hadn't seen each other since we returned to Tempest, we shared a bond few others did. He was more than a friend to me.

Ellery stopped coughing. I could have immediately lowered my hand; instead, reluctant to stop touching her, I rubbed her back. When Tucker shot me a questioning look, I lowered my hand and immediately missed the feel of her.

I decided to ignore Tucker's remark in favor of my own question. "How did you end up here?"

"Like I said, that's not a happy tale. When I returned from the war, I discovered that Ivan had claimed the family home I'd shared with my parents. My father died in the Ghoul War, and my mother had perished years before; with no one there to pay the taxes, it became the king's property.

"That home was all I had left of them, but I returned from fighting to help keep Ivan alive to discover it was no longer mine. It didn't matter to Ivan that I was fighting for his brother and our land. I wasn't there to pay the taxes, so they claimed my home."

"How awful," Ellery breathed.

"Why didn't you come to me?" I asked.

"Like I said, Ryker, in that dungeon, we were equals, but things are different now that we're back in Tempest."

"Not that different, Tucker. I would have helped you."

"I doubt I would have been allowed anywhere near your castle."

I almost protested his words, but there was a good possibility my father would have turned him away or imprisoned him. "I'm not always at the castle."

"Oh, and now I'm the mind reader who is privy to all your actions?"

"Don't be a prick."

Tucker smiled at me as he drank more of his beer. He settled his mug in his lap as he stared at the fire.

"I'm not one for handouts," he finally said, "and you couldn't have gotten my home back; it was already sold to the Earl of Oakley so he could expand his land."

"Maybe I couldn't have returned your home to you, but I would have helped you find another. We went through hell together; there is no handout after that."

"There was no other home for me. That was our land. My family and I have worked it for centuries. My blood is in that land, my heart, and my soul."

I wouldn't care if my father's castle burned to the ground, but I understood Tucker's love for what was once his home. Ellery shared that kind of love and passion for her manor.

"Besides, if our roles were reversed, you wouldn't have come to me," Tucker said.

He was right; pride would have kept me from asking him for help.

"So how did you end up in the woods?" I asked.