He reached for her. “Brynleigh?—”
She ducked away from him, her wings appearing and curling around her protectively. “No, don’t. Not right now.”
His heart ached. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” She laughed bitterly, shaking her head. “This is what Jelisette was saying. The Representatives rule this land, and obviously, I don’t agree with the rebels, but something needs to change.”
On that, they were in agreement.
Ryker slowly nodded, picking his words with care. “So… what do you suggest?”
A drawn-out moment passed as Brynleigh studied Ryker. Her eyes softened, the anger shifting and her lips slanting into a frown.
“I don’t know.” Sad eyes met his. “I just know that everything is out of balance. Life isn’t fair.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?” She canted her head, and a long moment stretched between them. “Then tell me, Ryker, what would’ve happened to River if she hadn’t been your mother’s daughter?”
A protective growl rumbled through him despite himself. “Don’t bring my sister into this.”
“She’s already in it,” Brynleigh said softly. “She’s been in it since she destroyed my town six years ago.”
Ryker stepped back. “Brynleigh, I don’t want to?—”
“Tell me,” she insisted softly. “What would’ve happened to River if she had destroyed Chavin and hadn’t been tied to a Representative?”
His hackles rose. Why was she pushing him like this? His fae instincts urged him to protect his family at all costs, and he balled his fists.
“Don’t do this. Don’t make me talk about this.”
Of course, shedidn’t listen.
“It’s a simple question,” Brynleigh whispered sadly. “What would’ve happened to River if she hadn’t been related to a Representative?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because we need to discuss it.” Her eyes met his. “We can’t just ignore it forever. Otherwise, it’ll just grow and fester between us.”
Really? Because he’d done a pretty good job of not thinking about this over the past six years.
His gut churned, and he shook his head. He didn’t want to go down this path, didn’t want to think about these things. It wasn’t that he was unaware of the consequences.
No, the problem was Ryker was all too aware of them. He didn’t need any help conjuring this specific scenario because he wasn’t some random citizen. He understood the inner workings of the Republic’s judicial system.
“Tell me, Ryker,” his wife whispered. “What would’ve happened?”
His heart beat was so loud that he could barely hear his thoughts.He knew what she wanted him to say. The truth was, he’d always known what would’ve happened to River had their mother not been able to help with the fallout from the Incident.
But to know something and to speak it into existence were two very different things.
The words rose in his throat. They were on the tip of his tongue but got stuck.
He didn’t want to say them.
Six years ago, he had convinced himself that everything he did was for River’s own good—and he still believed that. He had made reparations for the Incident as best he could. He spent hours and hours training River so nothing like this would ever happen again. He poured an indecent sum of money into flood relief and storm prevention.
He did his fucking best to help fix things.