Chapter 88

CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT

Ryker

From within the confines of the small shelter, I watched as Ellery, Ianto, and Tucker filled the pouches. The coins clattering while they landed on the growing heap of money drowned out their words.

My eyelids drooped before springing open again. Sleep would help me heal faster, but I couldn't take my eyes off her. Any number of things out there could attack; if they did, I'd tear their throats out.

I wasn't in the mood for anything's shit. Tucker was right; I should rest, but not while she was out there.

Over my many years, I'd endured worse at the hands of the ophidians and my father and healed faster, but exhaustion and weakness plagued me. Shifting, I pulled myself further up the back wall and leaned my head against it.

The gradually healing wounds throbbed with every lumbered beat of my heart. If Ellery wasn't here, I would return to Tucker's encampment and rest, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from her.

That knowledge festered in me like a splinter gone too deep, except Ellery was the splinter digging further in even as I repeatedly tried to rip her free. I wanted her out of my system.

But do you really want her out?

As soon as the question went through my mind, I pushed it aside. Of course I did; after everything she'd done and all her lies, I didn't know how to trust her again.

If you can't trust her, then why did you rob the king with her?

It was a good question and another one that festered.

She made a fool out of you!

And there it was.

It wasn't that I didn't trust her, because I did . It was that she'd hidden the truth from me and taken me on a wild goose chase while pretending to help me hunt for the Hooded Robber.

That simple truth infuriated me the most. I could trust Ellery; I wouldn't have included her in the plans for this robbery if I couldn't, but it still pissed me off to think of her hunting for the Hooded Robber with me , all while knowing it was her.

I fisted my hands against the humiliation burning inside me. She had her reasons for what she did, and I could understand them better now than I could a month ago, but it still bothered me… especially the part where she hadn't come to me about my father.

You either have to get over it or accept there can never be anything more than a business partnership between you again.

Repressing a groan, I shifted again while I pondered the idea of always being nothing more than an associate to her. My life would be far emptier without her; after the Ghoul war and everything following, she was the one who brought joy back into my bleak existence.

And then she brought a whole lot of misery.

If I let her in again, she could do the same thing. It was all such an infuriating mess that I couldn't untangle.

As the night crept onward, the creatures prowling the forest grew louder or quieter depending on where they were and what they hunted. Ghosts floated across the clearing, and a poltergeist wandered in, but when Ianto, Tucker, and Ellery ignored the maddening creature, it floated away.

My eyelids drooped and then opened again. When Ellery laughed and brushed aside a loose strand of her hair, my fingers flexed as they ached for her. I kept them at my side.

After Tucker threw another pouch onto the pile, they all rose, stretched their backs, and talked for a few more minutes. Ellery broke away as Tucker and Ianto gathered the pouches to stash them in the holes we'd prepared earlier. There was still a lot more to sort through, but they must have decided to call it a night.

We'd start dispersing the money after the Earl of Oakley's ball… if things settled down by then. I had no doubt the king's guard would be crawling all over the Revenant Woods in the coming weeks, so we would have to be extremely careful.

Fortunately, most amsirah were too scared to roam too far into the woods, and if they did manage to get close to Tucker's encampment, the increased number of guards patrolling the woods and numerous traps would ensure they didn't find it.

If one did happen to get through, there was a plan to retreat here. Tucker and I had already picked out a new spot where we would rebuild, but I didn't think it would be necessary.

With her head bent and shoulders slumped, Ellery approached my shelter and ducked inside. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted me sitting against the back wall.

She planted her hands on her hips. "You're supposed to be sleeping."

"I am?"

She didn't look amused by my response. "Did you get any rest?"

"I am resting. That's why I'm sitting here."

"Did you sleep at all?"

My gaze went past her to the others. "Are you done for the night?"

"I noticed that change in topic."

"Are you?"

"Yes. We ran out of material for the pouches, but a lot of what we're giving away is ready to go."

I smiled. "Good."

Ellery came to kneel beside me. "Can I take a look?"

I watched her warily before nodding. I craved her touch, but nothing good could come from tormenting myself with her when I couldn't have her.