Chapter 19

W e climbed out of the mountain and all the way back down to the inn in silence. Once there, I went right to my room and told Stryker I would meet him in the dining hall below in the morning. I wanted a bath and a good night’s sleep.

The next morning we ate a quick breakfast, again in relative silence, only asking small questions when needed, and then rode on horseback to the very eastern ends of his lands where the boat docks and seashore was. My arms were covered in bruises from my fall that Stryker kept looking at but he said nothing.

When we got to the boat docks, Stryker seemed to know the men there and rented us a boat with a small cabin that had a single bed. I hoped we wouldn’t be on the water long enough to use it because I’d rather sleep in the water and drown than next to him.

After we’d been out on the water for about an hour, Stryker turned to me, regret heavy in his gaze. “I’m sorry I left you like that.” It was as if he was reading my mind.

My eyes filled with tears but I blinked them back, forcing a strong face. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I snapped, facing the beautiful ocean and allowing the wind to bite at my skin as I tried to calm my frantic heart.

“Aribella, I—”

“I don’t want to talk about it!” I shouted, and his nostrils flared but he remained quiet.

What good would speaking about the past do? What would telling him that he’d been the first man in my entire life to kiss me like that accomplish? Telling him that I fantasized about kissing him again daily or that I couldn’t stop thinking about him.

“You know what! Let’s talk about it.” I spun around and stormed across the wooden deck until I was right in his face. He gripped the wheel and met my gaze. “I’m not her , Stryker. I’m sorry that you’ve been hurt in the past but we all have our baggage. I grew up my whole life hiding a weak heart from an entire kingdom! You’re just a coward!” I spat, hating that my cheeks were wet with tears. “And worst of all, you knew I was your mate.”

His mouth popped open in shock, like I’d struck him, and I shook my head, giving him my back and walking away.

I had intended to step down into the little cabin beneath the boat when a wall of shadows rose up before me, barring my way. I turned, and Stryker was right behind me, chest heaving and eyes glittering with a mixture of rage and passion. My gaze flicked to the wheel to see that a rope of shadows was steering the boat and then I peered into his eyes.

“What, Stryker? Say your piece and let’s just move on from this.” I crossed my arms defensively.

“I’m falling in love with you and it frightens the life out of me.” His voice was so broken and vulnerable that my walls began to crumble. His words knocked the breath out of me.

I dropped my arms and he stepped closer.

“I know you’re not her,” he said. He reached for my fingers and then brought them to the scar at his cheek. “But no matter how hard I try to forget the nightmare that she engraved on my face and my heart, sometimes it’s hard.”

I stroked the knotted skin, tracing my fingers along the scar and tried to imagine what it would be like to have someone I loved try to kill me in my sleep.

“I was already halfway to Noreum to look for you, to win you back, when Zander contacted me. Can you forgive me? Can you give me another chance to treat you how you deserve to be treated?” His voice was husky and it made my entire body melt. “I’m sorry, Aribella, I made a mistake. I see that now.”

I’d tried to resist him, but I felt that resistance crumble and I couldn’t find it within myself to be sorry about that.

I whimpered, leaning closer to press my lips against his. His arms came around me and my mouth opened to deepen the kiss.

Was I so rigid and unforgiving that I couldn’t allow him a second chance after that heartfelt confession? No, I was not. We all made mistakes and it was how we moved forward that mattered.

Even though it had only been a few days, it felt like it had been years since I’d tasted him, and I found I couldn’t get enough. I pressed closer, falling into him and cherished the feel of his mouth against mine, of the hard lines of his body up against my softness. I had to grasp onto him to keep standing because the longer we kissed, the weaker I became.

My feet might have been on the boat deck, but my head was in the clouds high above.

Nothing felt this good. Nothing felt this right. I could have stayed like this in his arms forever, and when we finally stopped kissing, it didn’t feel nearly long enough.

I was tempted to pull Stryker back down to me again when I saw the same silver sparkles hovering in the air around us, exactly as they had the first and only other time we kissed. The proof of our mate bond as I understood it from Dawn. And just like before, they stayed suspended in the air for a few moments before disappearing.

I looked up at Stryker and smiled. He peered down at me with relief, his lips slightly swollen from our kiss, and I had to stop myself from going back for more.

“I feared I’d have to go forever without ever kissing you again,” he confessed.

“That would be a crime,” I agreed with a smile, feeling lighter than I had in days.

Something behind him caught my eye and the smile was instantly wiped from my face.

Stryker spun and we both stared at the small island coming into view ahead, with a tall black smoke cloud hovering above it.

“Is that supposed to be there?” I asked.

“No,” he growled.

“Is that where we’re going?”

“Yes,” he said. “But when I left the Shadow Heart there three years ago, the island wasn’t on fire.”

Great. Just when I thought things were getting easy.

It took another half-hour of sailing before we actually reached the shore. When we did, Stryker tied up the boat to a wooden post sticking out of the sand and then carried me to shore so that my feet wouldn’t get wet as there was no proper dock.

“You’re really trying to win me back, aren’t you?” I asked him and he chuckled, sliding me down his body slowly before setting me down onto the sand. “I thought I already had,” he answered playfully.

I smiled and then a deep growl emanated from the woods. The smell of smoke hit my nose and I winced. Stryker held his finger to his lips indicating I needed to be quiet and then took my hand, leading me into the woods. We stepped over fallen logs and scorched earth until we reached a meadow and Stryker stopped. Peering through the trees I noticed a rocky outcrop and a yawning cave.

Lying in front of the cave opening was a giant winged beast. He was sleeping and around him piles of wood burned. The deep growl I’d heard moments ago was actually the creature snoring. His hulking body was made of black scales and his head bore two knobby horns with a tail of serrated spikes.

Stryker went rigid, backing away slowly, turning and not stopping until we were back where we’d tied up the boat. The sun was setting and I was shocked to find fear in Stryker’s eyes when I peered up at him.

“What is that thing?” I asked.

“It’s a shadow dragon,” he breathed, looking at the boat like he wanted to flee. “They’re attracted to objects of great power and will defend them to the death. It must have found the Shadow Heart.”

My stomach dropped. “Okay … so now it’s protecting it?”

He nodded. “Did the Wise Ones say there was another way?”

Whoa. If he was asking that, it meant that this shadow dragon was more dangerous than I’d thought.

“I can’t leave here without it, Stryker. It’s the only way to stop the curse and save my people. To save Ethereum too.”

He nodded and then removed his boots and shirt and pulled a sword from his belt.

My eyebrows shot up.

Stryker’s broad shoulders tapered into a narrow waist. He was steel covered in flesh. Everything about him radiated strength and as the warm rays of the dying sun danced over the dips and valleys of his muscular chest, I became jealous of the light.

“What are you doing?”

He peered at me with a gloomy expression. “Preparing for the fight of my life. Shadow dragons wake at sunset and they feed on … shadows. My power will be useless against him.”

Oh stars. That was possibly the worst thing he could have said.

“Feed on shadows?” I wanted to make sure I understood that correctly.

He nodded. “They only make them stronger. So get ready, darling, because getting the Shadow Heart back will cost me.”

I faltered. “Well, maybe we should think about this. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

He glanced up at the setting sun. “We’re out of time and options. You need it and I’m going to get it for you. Stay here.” He gave me a chaste kiss and then ran into the forest.

Aww, he thought I was going to stay behind like a damsel in distress. That was cute.

I waited a minute and then ran after him, staying about twenty paces behind so that he wouldn’t hear me and put up a fight. I could see now why he had taken his boots off. He was silent as his bare feet hit the mossy floor and I stopped to do the same, losing sight of him as I ditched my boots and padded barefoot in the direction he’d gone. There was no way I was letting Stryker fight my battles for me. This curse plagued both our lands, it wasn’t his responsibility to bear alone.

When I reached the clearing, I peeked into the fading light to see Stryker walking on his tiptoes before the beast, trying to skirt him and sneak into the cave while he slept. I froze, holding my breath as Stryker held his blade aloft and disappeared into the darkness.

A wave of dizziness washed over me with the anticipation of waiting for Stryker to return and I realized my heart was beating so fast that my hands shook.

Relax, Aribella. The worst time in your life to faint would be right now.

Just as I saw Stryker reappear in the cave opening, the sun sank below the horizon and shadow dragon’s eyes burst open.

Stars help us.

The creature’s nostrils flared and he whipped his head in Stryker’s direction. I leapt out from the protection of the thick trees and waved my arms to draw his attention. “HEY!!!” I yelled and the beast snapped his head toward me, standing on all fours.

Stryker slipped out from the cave and into the woods, and I watched in horror as the shadow dragon began to suck the darkness from around him. It filtered in threads, absorbing into his skin, and I gasped as suddenly he grew to nearly triple his previous size.

I heard a noise behind me but didn’t dare take my eyes off the beast, which was now forty feet high and peering down at me like I was a snack.

The noise turned out to be Stryker, who appeared beside me, covered in soot and holding a black crystal the size of a fist. The Shadow Heart. “Take it and get on the boat, float into the water and wait for me a mile offshore. I’ll swim.”

He was just saying that. If I left him alone, he’d die. He said himself that his powers didn’t work on this beast.

I shook my head. “Let’s both go. We still have time to—”

“No. I have to kill it or the beast will give chase and we’ll both be doomed.”

He deposited the cold, heavy crystal into my hands and a powerful buzz ran up my arms when my skin touched it.

Leaning forward he placed a kiss on my lips. “Forgive me,” he breathed against my mouth.

I didn’t even have time to wonder what he was talking about when shadow bands wrapped around me and began dragging me backward toward the boat.

“Stryker, no!” I screamed as he used his power to ferry me to safety. “Don’t so this. I can help!”

He turned his back to me and held his sword up just as the shadow dragon breathed a wall of fire right at him.

I struggled against the shadow ropes that held me, screaming and tearing at them with my hands to no avail. My toes dragged along the forest floor as Stryker used his power to carry me across the sandy beach and directly into the boat. The bands set me gently down onto the boat deck and then they gripped the boat itself, shoving it into the ocean and away from the shore. The post we’d been tied to snapped and I screamed in desperation as the shadow ropes disappeared into nothing.

I stood, heart pounding, tears welling in my eyes. How could he do this?

No. He would die fighting that beast. Unable to use his shadow power, with only a sword against a fire-breathing shadow monster that seemed to grow bigger as the night drew darker. I couldn’t let that happen.

I peered at the dark, deep water, almost black now that the sun had set. My childhood fear that some ravenous creature swam in its murky depths and would eat me alive rose up inside me, causing my heart to flutter wildly.

Stryker’s bellow cut through the night. It was deep and filled with pain, and I didn’t even think before dropping the crystal to the deck and then diving into the cool water.

I was always a good swimmer. The one thing my mother would let me do as she was told it helped strengthen my heart without stressing it too much. Of course that only applied as long as I didn’t swim too fast or too long. I was doing both right now, but I barely felt the icy bite of the frigid liquid as I raced for the shoreline trying to think of a plan.

No shadow powers. Fire-breathing monster.

There was only one option. I had to try to use my magic on the beast. Something I’d never attempted before. I wasn’t even sure it would work on a non-fae being, but I had to try.

I reached the sandy beach in no time, hurrying out of the water so fast that I fell over. My soaked clothing felt like it weighed four times as much as before, but I didn’t care.

I tore across the sand and into the forest at double speed, pulling on my powers as I went. I thought about sleepiness and the emotions and feelings that went into making someone fall asleep. The heavy feeling that settled over your body making your eyelids droop, the relaxed way your mind went fuzzy before you eventually succumbed to the darkness.

When I hit the clearing, which was half on fire, I took stock of the scene before me.

Stryker stood in the center of the meadow with his sword brandished as the creature lunged for him.

I didn’t hesitate. I hit the beast with the biggest blast of drowsiness I could muster just as his spiked tail came crashing into Stryker’s chest, tossing him twenty feet into the air.

My heart seized at the sight of Stryker being impaled but my magic had worked because the second it hit the beast, his eyelids drooped and his feet stumbled.

Come on, you bastard. Go down .

Keeping an eye on the drowsy but still very much awake shadow dragon, I ran for Stryker who lay motionless on the ground all the way at the other side of the meadow. I couldn’t see all of him, so I wasn’t sure how injured he was, but the fact that he wasn’t getting to his feet scared me.

Fall asleep. I encouraged the monster and he stumbled again. I pushed even more magic into him, feeling my legs go a little weak with the effort and his body finally crashed to the rocky ground, shaking the earth around me.

Ignoring the fallen beast, I ran faster and leapt over a log, stopping as I took in the sight of Stryker lying in a pool of black blood, unconscious.

No. Shock ripped through me at the sight of the blood, of his unconscious form, and it caused a wave of dizziness to wash over me as I begged my heart not to do this to me, just as I blacked out.