Page 93 of A Game of Love and Betrayal

Someone roared. Arms wrapped around her.

Cold. So fucking cold.

She moaned.

Someone yelled her name.

Everything went black.

CHAPTER 23

Protective Measures and Perfect Control

“Sit down, son. If you keep that up, you’ll wear a hole in the floor.” Tertia Waterborn, Representative of the Fae, raised a chestnut brown manicured brow from where she sat at the dining room table and frowned.

Somehow, Ryker’s mother looked put together despite the hell they’d endured over the past twenty-four hours. Her hair was perfectly coiffed in her traditional chignon, pulled away from her face.

Ryker didn’t look so good. He raked a hand through his hair for the twentieth time that hour and groaned. Last night, he’d been kissing Brynleigh—a thoroughly enjoyable activity that he planned on resuming as soon as possible—when chaos had erupted.

“I can’t do that, Mother,” Ryker growled. How could his mother sit there having a coffee as if they hadn’t left the Hall of Choice covered in blood?

“And why not?” Again, with the pleasant tone. It was driving Ryker up the walls. He loved his mother, but sometimes, she did not seem connected to reality.

Although Tertia Waterborn appeared like a human in their third decade of life, she was almost three centuries old. Fae aged slowly, and of all the species that lived on the Continent, they Faded the slowest… when they weren’t hit with the Stillness. There was a chance Ryker’s mother could live for another thousand years or more.

Ryker pointed to the closed door, his finger shaking with pent-up frustration. “I should be out there right now.”

Tertia shook her head and slid her attention to the tablet before her. “Let the army handle the rebel situation,” she said calmly, tapping the screen. “That’s why we’re here.”

After the bomb had gone off last night, the Chancellor had ordered that all the Choosing Participants, the attending Representatives, and their families be brought to The Lily to be guarded. It was the most expensive hotel in the entire Central Region, and as such, it already boasted strong security measures. Chancellor Rose had pulled some strings and ensured there were enough rooms for everyone. Once they’d been transported here, soldiers were stationed at every hotel entrance and in front of every room.

Ryker hated places like this. Everything, from the floor to the ceiling, was gilded, expensive, and lacking in life. He’d much rather be at home or his cabin curled up with Brynleigh on the couch.

That wasn’t possible right now, though. He was locked in this room, separated from his vampire. Fuck, he hated this.

He balled his fists. “I’m in the fucking army, Mother,” he snapped. “It’s my job.”

One he wasn’t allowed to do because he was trapped inside this gilded room like a prisoner.

“Excuse me?” Tertia’s brown eyes, a mirror of his own, widened. She placed a hand flat on the table and power rippled through the room. A reminder. A warning. Tread lightly.

Ryker had seen what his mother could do. Witnessed her power. There was a reason her children were such strong fae.

He dipped his head ever so slightly, the message clear: I understand.

It wasn’t enough for Tertia, apparently, because she said, “You may be going through a lot right now, son, but that doesn’t give you the right to speak to me in such a vulgar manner.”

Ryker’s nostrils flared as he breathed heavily through his nose. Damn it all. His mother was right, but he had nothing left. Manners were something civilized people used, and at the moment, he felt anything but that. How had everything turned out so badly?

The Masked Ball had been going without a hitch right up until the moment Brynleigh dropped her glass. She’d seemed shaken, but before he could find out what was wrong, the bomb went off.

“I shouldn’t be here right now, Mother.” Ryker tried to keep his voice flat, even though every single part of him shook with the urge to roar. “I need to be with her.”

The Chancellor had decreed that all the participants needed to be kept apart while the soldiers contained the threat.

This separation was driving Ryker mad.

“The vampire?” Tertia sipped her coffee. “She’ll be fine. They got to her in time.”

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