Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

Ryker

When I spotted Ellery only a few feet away, my fingers squeezed the hips of the woman straddling me; I resisted the impulse to shove her away. I wasn't doing anything wrong, but whereas the woman mildly entertained me before, she repulsed me now as my traitorous body screamed for Ellery.

Unaware of the tumult of emotions battering me, the woman continued dancing on my lap. Everything else around me went still while rage and yearning boiled through my veins.

I'd spent weeks trying to forget Ellery by burying myself in booze, the hunt for the Hooded Robber, and women—well, at least trying to lose myself in women. They weren't as appealing as they were before her, but I was determined they would become so again.

My determination was paying off a little as this woman's touch didn't make my skin crawl as badly as others had. Maybe that was because she was maintaining more distance than some of the others, but I liked to think it was because I was finally moving on from the treacherous bitch standing next to the man I'd considered my friend.

I was rethinking that.

Having Ellery staring at me with those wide, uncertain, and wounded eyes was not helping me forget her and move on. It had the opposite effect as I sneered at her before shifting my attention to Tucker.

"Get her out of here, Tucker," I growled.

Tucker glanced uncertainly from me to her and back again. "I think you should hear what she has to say."

"I don't."

I'd spent the past three weeks trying not to think about Ellery Marian. When I wasn't in some bordello trying to forget about the traitorous bitch with a black heart, I was hunting for the Hooded Robber. That was how Tucker and I discovered this place located a quarter of a mile into the Revenant Woods on the outskirts of Windruff.

The farthest town from the palace, Windruff had always been wilder and more lawless than the other towns, and this place was no exception. Many amsirah who frequented this place were wanted criminals for one thing or another.

Most of them would gladly slit someone's throat. I liked it here; it was a place where no one cared who you were or what you did. It was a place to forget… until now.

It had taken Tucker and me a while to gain entrance, but eventually, someone happily took my carisle to let us in. This was a perfect place for the Robber and a great place to distract myself from Ellery.

For the past five days, I'd set up camp here with the expectation of doing both. So far, it wasn't working as I'd hoped, but it was going well enough… until she walked into my sanctuary.

No, not walked in. Tucker, my friend… or so I'd believed… led her here. He at least had the decency to look chagrined when I glowered at him. His shoulders hunched up, and he gave a small shrug.

Over the past weeks, Ellery had haunted my dreams more than the Ghoul War and the torture I'd endured at the hands of the ophidians. She'd replaced my nightmares with dreams of ecstasy, whispered words, and soft laughter that caused me to wake aching and fuming all over again.

Her presence rekindled my rage because, when she intruded on my life while I was awake, I hated her. It was far easier to feel that way about her than to acknowledge the loss of the heart she'd carved from my chest.

The organ remained behind my rib cage; I could still feel it beating, but it possessed a hole that she'd created. I'd once loved this woman; now I loathed her.

"Should I go?" the woman on my lap inquired.

I gripped her hips, holding her in place. "No."

She grinned at me as she leaned a little closer, and it took all I had not to shove her off my lap. The heady scent of roses briefly replaced Ellery's apple scent. Instead, I took a deep breath, inhaling it further into my lungs to soothe my temper.

Finally, I felt stable enough to look at Tucker again. I'd gladly beat him into a bloody pulp, but he had to get her out of here first. We could fight about this later.

"Why did you bring her here?" I snarled.

"You should hear what she has to say."

"Fuck no."

Tucker turned to look at Ellery. "We should go."

When he reached for her arm, I stiffened. Don't touch her.

I immediately cursed myself for the overwhelming and irrational compulsion to rip his hand away from her. I hated her, but I didn't like anyone else touching her.

Before he could grab her, Ellery stepped away as her chin rose in that defiant way I once found exasperating but cute. Despite having the other woman much closer to me, Ellery's enticing scent engulfed me.

Like her, that sweet apple aroma had haunted me for weeks. I'd put on clothes I'd believed clean only to have apples rise from the fabric.

At other times, it flashed across my memory again with an intensity that made me think she was right there , but she never was. Every time it rose, it stopped me in my tracks and thrust me back to a much happier time when I foolishly believed nothing could hurt me again.

Ellery's aroma was so strong it eclipsed the sex, alcohol, and smoky odors permeating this place. Memories of our time together tried to rise, but I swiftly buried them; they didn't do anyone any good, especially not me.

Though she smelled the same, she was different than the last time I saw her. Shadows encircled her stunning blue-green eyes, the color of cyan.

In all my three hundred and fifty-two years, I'd never seen eyes quite their color or vibrancy, but something had dulled them. She'd hidden the enticing, hourglass figure I knew so well beneath a forest green, loose-fitting shirt and tight brown pants, but I could tell she'd lost weight.

Her shoulders were back and her chin up, but she emanated despair, exhaustion, and sorrow as her gaze went from me to the woman and back again. When her misery tugged at a heart I'd believed destroyed by her, I shoved it aside.

She'd chosen this course in our lives; our paths would have been different if it weren't for her . And we certainly wouldn't be in this place.

Her long, dark mocha brown hair dangled in a braid over her shoulder. In the dim red light, the hues of chestnut and chocolate interwoven through it took on an almost auburn hue that didn't exist in those strands.

I'd spent a lot of time running my fingers through those silken tresses while marveling at their color. I'd memorized everything about this woman, and all those numerous, small details haunted me.

Despite her cheekbones standing out more and her paler coloring, she was still achingly beautiful with her golden skin and smattering of freckles over the bridge of her pert nose. I knew every location of them on her.

She'd laughed over my fascination with them. Buried beneath the sheets on my bed, and with her eyes sparkling, she'd beamed at me while I kissed each one of those spots.

The memory was a dagger to my heart, and for a second, I couldn't breathe as I struggled to suppress it. I'd been so happy, and now… I was simply surviving, but not very well.