Page 120 of Spirit Trials
“I came to bed, and you weren’t there.” His voice is low and soft. I blink and try to take in what he’s saying. “Is there a reason you’re not in our bed?”
Our.
I think I forget how to breathe. “I didn’t think you’d want me there.”
He stares down at me. It seems like a million emotions flash through his eyes in a moment. But he settles on, “I do.”
He puts out his hand to me, and I reach for it without thinking. He pulls me to my feet and doesn’t release my hand as we slip out of the girls’ room. He leads me down the hallway to his room and closes the door softly behind us. He drops my hand, and I stand there uncertain a moment. But he doesn’t keep me waiting. He palms the back of my neck. “I’m sorry I left the way I did. I was overwhelmed and not thinking straight.”
I stare up at him.He’s apologizing? To me? “No, Rysden, please don’t apologize. This is all on me.” I look right into his eyes. “I am so sorry.” And then I take a deep breath. “I killed your mom.” I put the truth out there, though I’m pretty sure he already knows. But I can’t have this between us. He needs to know the truth. I wait for the hate to appear in his eyes, but it doesn’t come. There’s a deep sadness but also a steadiness.
“I know. She told me she asked you to.”
I suck in a breath. “What?” My word is barely a whisper.
His hand tightens a moment on my neck, and I know he’s remembering. “When I laid her down, she grabbed my hand and told me that she asked you to. She said she knew I’d never be able to.” My breath stalls in my chest while I wait for him tosay what he’s going to say. He swallows hard. “She told me,” he pauses. His hand flexes on my neck again. “She said to tell you thank you.” His eyes tear up, and I don’t know if my heart can take this. He bends so that we are eye to eye. “Thank you.” The words are barely a whisper. “You ended her suffering, something I should have done a long time ago.”
“No, Rysden. You couldn’t. She’s your mother.”
A tear drips from the corner of his eyes. “She was a good one.” And my heart cracks open. I pull him close and wrap him in a hug as tightly as I can.
“I’m so sorry.” I can barely speak around the emotion in my throat. After a little bit, he changes for bed, and I settle in for the night. Neither of us say anything for a while. He wraps his arms around me and holds me close. My heart feels like a weight is off it. I’m still so sad for him, but the fact that he doesn’t hate me is a gift. “You’re going to make an amazing king,” I finally say, breaking the silence.
“You think so?”
I roll towards him and study his gorgeous face in the light of the fire. “I don’t think so. I know so.”
He pulls my hand to his mouth and kisses it. “I want to be a good king.” He reaches out and tucks my hair behind my ear. “I've already signed the order to bring the banished back.” My heart nearly stalls in my chest.
“Rysden,” I breathe. “Thank you.”
“It’s the right thing to do.”
“That’s amazing. Kinsley will be sad, though.”
“Kinsley?”
“Yeah. She will be sad that Kaldar won’t be taking them to his kingdom.” He frowns, but I pat his chest. “Don’t worry about it tonight. That’s amazing.”
I settle against him, finally feeling tired. Just before I drift off to sleep, Rysden kisses my temple. “I only wish we could have had Terron bind us before he passed away.”
“He told me before he died,” a yawn overtakes me. “That the wolves would know how to do it.”
Rysden goes still behind me. “Really?” I nod and start drifting off again, but Rysden starts chuckling. That wakes me right up, and I roll over and stare at him.
“What’s wrong?”
He shakes his head, his eyes finding mine in the dark. “Shade said we’re already bound.”
“What?”
“I guess because we’re both bonded to wolves that are mates, as soon as they bonded, you and I were bound as well.”
I stare at him. “What if we didn’t want to be?” He arches a brow. “Hypothetically speaking.”
Rysden shrugs. “I don’t know. I’m guessing that’s something the Creator took into account when making us soul mates. You’re not rethinking this, right, Baby?”
“No. Are you?”
