Page 37 of A Story of Sinners

Brandon’s voice was a shrill sound at my back. “That was you?”

Wrinkles formed at the corner of Ryken’s eyes from the wide grin on his face, and a chuckle slipped past his lips. “I’ll take it from here, Brandon.”

I stepped back as my vision darted between the two. Brandon expected Ryken’s arrival, and the two of them seemed to be on friendly terms. “What exactly happened in this secret meeting?”

Ryken’s brow raised as he met Brandon’s look. “You told her about the secret meeting, but you didn’t tell her about the arrangement?”

“I didn’t—”

My elbow struck Brandon in the gut, silencing him before he could tell Ryken about my visitor. The last thing I needed was a possessive male pissing a circle around me.

“What arrangement?”

Ryken’s brow furrowed, and his gaze suddenly shifted around the room, nostrils flaring at the residual scent of fire and brimstone. “Who else was here?”

“Nobody,” I claimed, and Brandon sighed behind me.

“Do I need to take you over my knee and teach you a lesson about lying?”

My core melted at the threat, and the memories of how he had spanked me and filled me rushed back, but my burning desire was immediately doused when Brandon cut in. “Gross. At least wait until I’m gone.”

“Sorry,” we both muttered simultaneously.

Brandon hastily cut around us and glanced at the door, as if he wished to be anywhere else. “I’ll be on my way. Aiden made a deal with Ryken that he can watch over you in private, but in public, I will guard you. We are to maintain appearances for the sake of the other kingdoms. We don’t want them to make any hasty actions, so everything is to be kept as normal as possible in light of our visitor.” He’d managed to take a step back with each word he’d spoken, and when his hand wrapped around the knob and the door cracked open, a physical weight lifted from his body. With one foot over the threshold, Brandon continued, “You know the visitor I speak of. The one who fled this room just before I entered.”

The door punctuated his sentence as he disappeared, and an unreleased groan caught in my chest when Ryken’s steely eyes narrowed on me.

Damn it.

“Have I told you how handsome you look today?” I asked Ryken, hoping to lighten the mood before the wild streak of jealousy could claim him. Judging by the fire in his metal eyes, it was clearly too late. “So handsome. And your arms, they look stronger. Have you been exercising?”

Ryken stepped forward, and I had to crane my neck to look at him. His scent filled my senses, a nearly feral tang filling the air. “Stop trying to distract me. What happened? Who is he to you?”

My eyes rolled, and I turned away, taking my seat once more and pushing a fresh cup of tea towards him. My room had become a revolving door, and I was running low on cups.

“We were born together, sort of. He came the day before me, and we were both gifted to the Order of Umbra. Our mothers were excess sacrifices the shade gods took as lovers.” I sighed. The Order of Umbra were the zealots who’d opened the rift in the first place. Though they weren’t magical like witches or mages, they were educated in ancient rituals. They’d taken us in. They’d worshipped us. “We grew up together. He’s a brother of sorts, but not by blood.”

Ryken took the seat across from me and shook his head. “Brothers don’t look at their sisters the way he looks at you.”

“There’s no other way to explain it. He was all I ever knew, until I was able to escape.”

“Escape?”

“Yes,” I answered. “He was sweet when he was younger. He was my family, the only family I’d ever known, but when his magic came, he changed, not only physically but mentally. He grew monstrous in his actions. He tormented anyone who dared befriend me, killed the only pet I’d ever had. He even killed a few of the Order members who’d once tried to separate us—burned them alive with black flames.” I shivered at the memory.

“What does he want?” Ryken growled, and I shrugged.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since the day the war ended, since the day your brother sealed the rift. He’d been trapped on the other side until you took your powers back.”

Ryken’s brow furrowed, and he tilted his head, a sympathetic look filling his eyes. “That’s why you were so terrified of the portal opening. Did Redmond know of this?”

I scoffed. “No. Redmond didn’t know about him. Nobody did, and I planned to keep it that way. I won’t say Malachi wasn’t the main reason I was terrified, Ryken, but it wasn’t the only one. What you did by releasing the Otherworld, freeing the shadows and him, it’s unforgiveable.” I waved my hand to the window, where dark shadows crowded. “You did that. You knew this would happen. You clearly got your revenge. You clearly got what you were looking for and damned the world in the process. Was it worth it?”

Ryken’s jaw tightened, the muscles in his cheek flexing as he ground his teeth, but he didn’t answer. After a deep inhale, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small golden box wrapped with a silver ribbon and placed it on the table.

“Happy Name Day,” he said. “I wish I would have known.”

I stared at the box for a moment, refusing to acknowledge the gift, but the urge to untie the little silver ribbon won me over. I plucked it from the table and slowly untied it. “We don’t know anything about each other. It’s no surprise you didn’t know when I was born.” My eyes lifted to meet his as the ribbon loosened and fell to the floor. “How do we know if we even like each other? How do we know that this isn’t a trick of fate? That we aren’t being forced together simply because we match one another’s level of power?”

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