Their relationship had been a battlefield, but they would emerge victorious from this war.
Ryker lost track of time as he held his wife. He rubbed her back, murmuring quiet nonsense until her tears slowly gave way to deep, shuddering breaths.
Still, he held her. He would hold her as long as she needed. There was something incredibly powerful about the way this strong, fierce vampire was allowing him to comfort her. He wasn’t sure he deserved the honor, but he would work for it.
Eventually, Brynleigh pulled back. She sniffled and plucked at his shirt, making a face.
“You’re all wet.” She glanced down at herself, where the center of her sweater was noticeably darker. “And I am, too.”
Ryker had honestly forgotten all about it. “Yeah. Marlie and I went for a run.”
She frowned, and her gaze swept over him. “Things didn’t go well with your mother, did they? I’m sorry, I should’ve asked earlier.”
“Don’t worry about it. You were upset, and that was more important. Besides, Mother is… testy.”
Brynleigh’s lips tightened. “She’s upset because of me.”
It wasn’t a question.
By the Obsidian Sands, Ryker wished he could lie. Just once, so he could shield his wife from this pain.
“Not just you,” he hedged. “She also thinks I’ve failed her because I’m not the perfect son she expects me to be.”
Tertia’s standards were impossibly high.
Even if Ryker had Chosen Valentina Rose—which would’ve been a monumental blunder—he wouldn’t have been able to live up to his mother’s expectations. Sooner or later, he would’ve made a mistake.
“I see.” The sigh that left Brynleigh’s lips confirmed she understood. “And does she know the whole story of…?”
The rest of her sentence was unspoken, but he clearly heard it.What I planned to do?
“She does. She found out the day she called me when you were first released.” His heart clenched, recalling the utter agony of those first few days. “I tried to keep it under wraps, but keeping things from her is practically impossible.”
Ryker had learned that many times over when he was a teenager. The first time he snuck out of the house and went to a party, someone called Tertia in the middle of the night.
She’d shown up, eyes blazing and magic at her fingertips, and dragged him out of the gathering at three in the morning.
Brynleigh’s eyes hardened, and she stiffened in Ryker’s arms.
Did he say something wrong?
The air in the apartment shifted, and Brynleigh stepped out of his embrace.
“It’s because she’s a Representative. You can’t hide things from them. This isexactlywhat Jelisette was talking about earlier.”
Ryker stiffened. “Your Maker isn’t sane. You know that.”
That was the wrong thing to say. Instead of calming Brynleigh down, the words seemed to incense her.
“No, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.” Brynleigh’s voice was cool, and shadows slipped from her palms. “It always comes down to this.”
“What does?”
“This. Us.” She waved between them. “Every single fucking time Ithink I can forget about the things dividing us, something else comes up. There’s the Representatives and everyone else.”
Ryker frowned. “I know there’s some division, but?—”
“Some? No. ‘Some’ implies a relatively small amount. There’s a canyon standing between the Representatives and the rest of the world.”