Chapter 92

Ryker

I didn't knowhow to react as I rode away from Ellery's. Try as I might, I couldn't process what had happened.

On the ride over here, I'd been looking forward to seeing her again, holding her, kissing her, and she'd already decided she didn't want to see me. Instead of entering the woods and losing myself in her, I had the earth ripped out from under me and was left with… nothing.

Things were good between us when I left her to go to my mother's estate. They weren't as great as they were before my father intruded on our lives, but she was the one thing that made every day better, and I'd had no intention of ever letting her go.

I couldn't say the same about her. I contemplated turning Xanthus around and riding back, but I wasn't about to beg her to stay in my life.

She'd made her choice and, in doing so, decided against fighting for us as I would have. I was aware of all the obstacles in our way, but I loved her enough to fight through them; she didn't feel the same.

And that was the worst part of it. I would have fought to the death for her, and she'd just walked away from me.

When we rounded the top of a hill, and my father's castle came into view, I signaled for Xanthus to stop and leapt off his back. With a pat on his ass, I sent him into the pastures below while I teleported into the woods.

I couldn't return to that castle, and I wasn't fit company for anyone right now. I would kill someone if they so much as looked at me wrong.

Opening a portal into the forest, I emerged in a thickly wooded area Ellery and I explored a few days ago. I stood for a minute, listening to the creatures as my wrath grew with every breath.

With a bellow, I unleashed my rage on a nearby tree. I pummeled it until the trunk cracked and a giant split raced up its center. My knuckles split, and blood coated the bark, but I continued battering it until the tree splintered in half and crashed to the ground.

Stepping back, I flexed my broken knuckles while I welcomed the pain the movement caused. This physical pain was a welcome relief to the emotional anguish battering me.

I'd endured a lot in my life, but I couldn't recall a time when I'd felt myself spiraling out of control as badly as now. This couldn't be it with her. It couldn't end like this.

I loved her too much to let her go, but I couldn't make her stay with me. Yes, it would be difficult for us against my father and all those who would disapprove of our relationship, especially since we couldn't leave the realm, but I was willing to fight to keep her… she wasn't.

That was what infuriated and hurt me the most. She'd chosen to walk away instead of trying to figure out how to make things better… together.

I was sure the incident with my father had started this series of events. I never should have taken her to the castle, but it was too late to change that. We still could have figured out how to make it work between us.

Instead, she decided to quit on us while I would have battled until my very last breath for her.

Fuck her!

There was a fine line between love and hate, and that scale was tipping toward a very dark place inside me when it came to her. Another bellow erupted from me as I released my heartache in a barrage of lightning.

It smashed the ground, pulverized trees, exploded rocks, and created a firestorm of electricity that swirled and zapped around me. Sparks filled the air until they danced like thousands of glow bugs around the forest.

Lightning zigzagged around me. It bounced off the trees until it encircled me in a pure white radiance while surging down from the sky.

The ground became little more than dirt as bits of splintered rocks and trees flew. Overhead, thunder rumbled and crashed. The ground quaked when another round of thunder sliced it apart, creating a jagged tear.

I had no idea how long I unleashed my fury, but fire surged around me as the trees ignited and lightning pulverized the woods. When I'd exhausted myself, my shoulders heaved as I stepped back to survey the damage.

The fire was spreading deeper into the woods, and while I'd love to watch the whole realm burn, I couldn't destroy the forest and those residing inside it to appease my rage. Gritting my teeth, I brought in rain to keep the fire from spreading as the lightning and thunder faded.

While unleashing my wrath hadn't caused it to ebb any, I did feel a little more in control as I surveyed the wreckage I'd released on this section of the woods. The flames crackled and popped beneath the onslaught of water as smoke filled the air.

Rain fell on the nearly two acres of barren, charred earth whose ashy remnants resembled those of my heart. Tilting my head back, I let the rain fall over me, but it did nothing to douse the inferno burning inside even as it extinguished the one surrounding me.

With the fire dwindling, I felt in control enough to open another portal and return to my father's castle. I was drenched and covered in mud, but I didn't care as I strode through the hallway toward the stairs leading to my room.

I was halfway down the hall when my father emerged from his private solar. His eyes widened when he saw me. "What happened? Why are you dragging mud through my home?"

"I'm not dealing with you today."

"Was there something wrong at your mother's property?"

"Fuck off."

As the dukewatched his son storm up the stairs, he smiled. The girl had done as he'd ordered. Now, it was time to put his plan in motion.