Page 26 of The Knight
She paused in her ribbon curling to look up at me. “Ryker, this isn’t safe. I wish you wouldn’t.” Her eyes locked onto mine
Her melody was partly shielded, but I felt her feelings of worry and fear flood me as I let mine out just a small amount, only what was necessary. I sent back my emotions to her, emotions of peaceful calm like the waves of the sea. She shoved them away and sent me more feelings of sadness. I looked up at her, and my melody faded away—she seemed done with it.
“Mary—” I responded, reaching out to her.
“If you get killed, Ryker, I don't think—" I jumped from off the table, sensing her tears were about to fall.
“Mary, I will come back.”
She snorted, “Ryker, you and Emma are all I have left,” and she gasped.
“Mary, I have a vow to fulfill—and an oath. Once they are complete—”
She held up her hand. “Just stop. Just for one second, don’t talk about being a guardian knight, with duties and honor.”
“That is who I am, Mary.”
“Yes, that is a big part of you.” She looked up at me, her face, showing sadness as she touched my cheek with her hand. “But there is so much more to you than that, Ryker. I wish you knew that—I wish you could see it.” Her melody floated to me, and mine was still partly unshielded, so I could sense her feelings again. She considered me family, felt that I was like a brother; I smiled. I had never felt more loved than when I was with Lamont’s family. It was truly remarkable.
“I appreciate it, Mary. Really, but Emma is everything, and I have to protect her. Please, I am begging you. If I fail—if I don’t call you, please do not come for me—under no circumstances are you allowed to come after me, Mary. Do you hear me?” I didn’t realize the anger in my voice until I was silent and heard my shouts echo off of the brightly colored walls of her flower shop.
“You’re telling me what to do?” Mary stood tall, her shoulders squared and her eyes trying to be fierce as they looked at me.
“Yes,” I said, my chest rising and falling at a rapid rate.
“You—guardian knight, do not tell me what to do.” She was in my face, her finger almost touching my nose. I pushed her hand away.
“Mariela,” I sighed, using her Terran name, looking at her small body and her trembling hand, trying to be something she was not—trying to be commanding.
“No—you are my family,Rykerian Dallard, and I will not leave my family behind. Go. Do what you have to do, but if you don’t call me when you are supposed to call me, I will come after you and save you. That is what families do.”
She had used my full name; she must have been really serious, just as I had been when I used hers, but she wasn't listening.It was important for her to understand. I wasnothingin comparison to Emma,nothing.
“She could die, Mary!!”
“This conversation is over. I have work to do. Call me every other day so that I know you are well.” She left the room to enter the front of the store, and I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I knew that Mary considered me to be family, and I knew that we cared for each other. How could we not—when we had been living so close to each other for so long—but that? That was desperation because of all she had lost when Ara died, of all that meant for Emma, for what that meant for her life. That was not Mary—that couldn’t be sweet and kind Mary, I thought. Finally, as the door chimed, and a customer started talking to Mary, I slipped through the back door and made it back to my car. I didn’t know what I would do if she came after me, but I knew that the vow I had made to Emma was unbreakable. I had to discover who that man was, and it was then my chance. I needed to succeed. I could not fail her, not again, and I certainly could not let anyone rescue me. I didn’t need rescuing. I was the one who did that; that was my job. That was what I was born, bred, and trained to do, and I would do it.
Chapter 16
Istood in my hotel room at the Terran colonies. I was near the caves, and soon, I would call Mary and check-in. I looked at my phone as a text came in from Emma.
Emma:“Hey, are you doing okay? Will you be back for homecoming? Sam finally asked Ash. Miss you.”
Ryker:“I am out of town, might be longer than I thought.”
Emma:“Your dad said a relative is sick?”
She must have gone to my house.
Ryker:“Yeah, you talked to my dad?”
Emma:“No, Mary told me, she talked to your dad, I guess.”
So she didn't go to my house.
Ryker:“Well, I am doing some research. Promise you won’t be mad?”
Emma:“Ryker, I think we need to call the police. You’re driving me crazy over this. I do want to find my parents’ murderer but not at the expense of your happiness, Ry.” She sounded like Mary.
