Page 65 of Immortal Burden

Knowing he’d endured something that sadistic and appalling had my fury exploding forth, and I lost control of my strength, my scotch glass shattering into fragments from the crushing force of my fingers wrapped around it.

Ryker’s eyes shot wide.

In the next beat, he swept his hand at me, then the broken glass littering the expensive shag rug. The mess disappeared as though it had never been, my bloodied hand healing faster than even my own abilities could accomplish.

“Impressive.”

He was so determined to convey whatever it was that he had come to say to me that he uncharacteristically completely ignored my compliment.

Instead, he shifted his weight and went on, “As pissed as I am at the way he went about it, he did succeed in teaching me a lesson.” He muttered, “Self-righteous bastard.”

“What lesson?”

“I didn’t get it at first. But while him and Mia were arguing back and forth and she was doing the usual thing of defending me, it hit me. I wasn’t blameless. There was truth to his accusations.”

“You went to Mia?”

“No. She found me. Apparently, she’d been trying to track me down. She freaked when her tracking spells failed. You track a magic-wielder through their magical signature, but mine was muted with my power bound. I’m pretty sure she thought I was dead.”

“Cornelius will pay for what he’s done.”

Ryker shook his head vehemently. “No. I don’t want you endangering yourself because of me yet again. It’s over and done with now.” He stepped forward, urgency spilling from him. “None of that is why I came here. I’m trying to say, really badly, apparently, that all that shit he spouted off about me really hit me deep. It had me realizing what I’d actually done to you.”

I returned to my leather armchair and gestured for him to take a seat on the adjacent couch.

“Continue.”

He slumped down, then shifted to the edge.

I watched him fiddle with his hands, cross his legs, then uncross them a moment later.

As much as I wanted to remain unaffected, his awkwardness and his sheer force of effort was incredibly endearing.

He finally stilled and looked me straight in the eye. “I couldn’t stand the pain you were in. All I could think about was stopping it.” His eyes flashed with intensity. “Any way I could.”

“I’m not disputing your noble intentions. That was never in question.”

I wanted to give him more, to do what I always did and state it outright. But that would achieve absolutely nothing. He had to come to it on his own. I needed to know whether he truly understood the situation and its severity.

He sighed heavily. “I realized why you were so against drinking from me.” He sat forward, eyeing me shrewdly. “You struggle with your bloodlust.”

There it was.

“If I’d realized, I never would’ve pushed you. I just figured you were pulling some sort of macho crap, or that you had a major martyr complex.” He reached out hesitantly and laid his hand on mine. “Lucian, I’m sorry. It’ll never happen again. I’ll never put you in that position again, all right? I can only imagine how hard it is to live with that day in and day out, the strength it must take. It’s… incredible. The fact that I fucked all over it disgusts me.”

“All right,” I told him, giving his hand a squeeze. “I accept your apology and your assurances that it will not happen again.”

He smiled hesitantly. “Yeah?”

With a nod, I told him, “You understand the situation on a level I was concerned you would not be capable of. And without that, things between us would not have been able to move forward.”

“I know.” He pulled away and rose to his feet. “I brought you something,” he announced, delving into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and emerging with an item clutched in his fist. “With what’s coming, I don’t want you at a disadvantage like you suffered through that day in the forest.”

I frowned.

He opened his hand and there, on his upturned palm, was a thick silver chain with a circular pendant, its left side a shimmering silver, its right a vibrant green, the same hue as the magical glow emanating from Ryker.

“It’s exquisite,” I said, reaching out for it.

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