Chapter 89 Ninety two
“Don’t move another step.”
The voice came so sharply that Ryder froze in the middle of the outer garden path. His hand hovered inches from the carved stone pillar he’d used to brace himself, but he didn’t turn. He didn’t have to. He recognized the tone instantly.
Eamon.
Sienna’s loyal guard captain. Tall, bronze-skinned, broad-shouldered, with a jaw cut like a blade and a gaze that could silence a room. His loyalty to Sienna was legendary. His hatred for Ryder? Even more so.
Ryder slowly lowered his hand. “Relax. If I wanted to kill anyone, I wouldn’t be walking through roses.”
Eamon stepped out from behind a column, dressed in dark leather armor, sword unsheathed. “You shouldn’t be here. The Queen gave explicit orders.”
“I’m aware.” Ryder shrugged once, eyes fixed forward. “I’m ignoring them.”
“You always did,” Eamon muttered.
Ryder’s lips twitched faintly. “Some habits die slowly.”
“Yours seem to never die at all.”
Ryder finally turned his head. “Move.”
“No.”
He didn’t waste a breath arguing. He simply walked. Eamon’s jaw clenched as he moved to block him.
Ryder sidestepped like water slipping between fingers.
“You cannot go to her,” Eamon snapped.
Ryder kept walking. “Watch me.”
The captain cursed under his breath and followed him through the archway leading into the Moon Gardens , the most forbidden part of the Citadel at night. It was a maze of rose-covered tunnels, marble paths, and moon-lit fountains. Roses in shades of white and silver grew in tangled blossoms, their scent heavy and cool.
Ryder had always hated roses. But tonight, every breath he took filled his lungs with a different kind of pain.
Sienna was here.
He felt her.
Her heartbeat thrummed like a faint drum through his bones. Her presence tugged at him like a whisper inside his blood. The curse reacted violently as he neared her, tightening around his ribs, making his vision ripple. He hissed under his breath and pressed his palm to the nearest wall.
Eamon caught the movement. “The curse is worsening. If you go near her, ”
“I know,” Ryder ground out.
“Then why, ”
“Because she’s alone.”
That silenced the captain.
They moved deeper into the garden. Moonlight filtered through the arches, glinting on the carved stone benches and fountains. Water trickled from the stone wolves’ mouths, catching the light in thin silver streams.
Ryder stopped suddenly.
Eamon nearly ran into him. “What now?”
Ryder lifted a hand, pointing toward the far end of the garden where a moonlit clearing opened between two tall archways.
She stood there.
Sienna.
She paced slowly, her long dark hair loose around her shoulders, catching the moonlight with faint silver threads. She wore a pale gown that clung to her waist and fell softly at her ankles, brushing the marble with each step. Her hands were clasped behind her as she walked. Her brows were drawn together, eyes heavy with thought.
She looked both fragile and powerful , like glass holding fire.
Ryder inhaled sharply, forgetting the cold, forgetting the garden, forgetting the curse that burned beneath his skin.
“Sienna,” he whispered.
She paused , as if she heard him.
Eamon saw the movement. His voice softened. “She’s been restless for hours. She won’t speak to anyone. Not even me.”
Ryder moved before he realized it.
Eamon grabbed his arm. “I said no.”
Ryder’s voice was low, dangerous. “Remove your hand.”
“Ryder, you will kill her if you get close enough.”
“Then I’ll die first,” Ryder said flatly. “Now let go.”
Eamon held him a moment longer, jaw tight, conflict flickering across his face. But the captain understood something that Ryder never said aloud.
He loved her.
Too much.
Eamon released him.
Ryder moved like a shadow between the arches, stepping behind a wall of roses. He could see her perfectly through the gaps. She paused at a fountain, touching the water with the tips of her fingers. The ripples shimmered with faint silver light , unnatural, divine.
Her breath hitched. She pressed her hand to her chest.
Ryder felt every beat of her heart like a hammer against his ribs.
He braced himself against a column. “Come on,” he muttered to himself. “Hold together.”
The curse boiled like molten metal beneath his skin. It clawed at his muscles, tugged at his bones, whispering to him in a voice that was not his own.
Go to her.
Claim her.
Break her.
Feed.
Ryder clenched his teeth so hard he tasted copper. His nails dug into his palm, drawing blood. The curse always whispered. But tonight, it screamed.
Sienna lifted her head slightly, as if she sensed something in the air. Her eyes swept the garden, stopping once where Ryder hid. She frowned deeply.
“Is someone there?” she asked softly.
Her voice hit him like a blow.
Ryder pressed deeper into the shadows, chest heaving. He wanted to step out. He wanted to be seen.
But the curse surged violently, twisting his breath into something ragged.
Eamon stepped beside him. “If she sees you, ”
“I know.”
“She’ll run to you.”
“I know.”
“And then you’ll both, ”
“I said I know.”
Eamon exhaled angrily. “Then you’re a fool.”
Ryder didn’t deny it.
Sienna moved again, pacing slowly, rubbing her arms as if cold. The moonlight fell across her face, highlighting every line of exhaustion, every shadow under her eyes.
“What did she do to you?” Ryder breathed.
Sienna stopped abruptly. Her breath caught. Her shoulders shivered. And for a moment, he saw it , a faint silver glow under her skin, pulsing at her throat, her wrists, the fragile line of her collarbone.
Lunaris had touched her.
The goddess had claimed something inside her.
Ryder’s vision darkened at the edges. The curse surged again, this time with jealousy.
She is mine.
She was always mine.
Touch her.
Take her.
Ryder slammed his head back against the column, hard enough to shake petals free from the rose vines. Eamon grabbed his shoulder quickly.
“You need to leave,” Eamon hissed. “If she calls your name, that curse will swallow you whole.”
“She won’t call my name,” Ryder said, voice cracking.
“You don’t know that.”
“I do,” he whispered. “Because she’s afraid of losing more than she already has.”
Sienna stiffened suddenly, turning toward the archway leading deeper into the garden. Ryder tensed, stepping farther behind the roses.
A soft wind swept through the clearing. The temperature dropped sharply. Sienna wrapped her arms around herself and took a step back.
Something else was here.
Ryder felt it instantly, like ice sliding down his spine.
A presence.
Not human.
Not wolf.
Something darker.
Sienna whispered, “Who’s there?”
Her voice trembled. She wasn’t truly afraid , Sienna rarely feared anything , but she was bracing herself. Preparing.
Ryder moved before he could stop himself, stepping out of the shadows just a fraction, ready to pounce.
Eamon grabbed him. “Ryder, don’t.”
“She isn’t alone.”
“You cannot protect her against something divine.”
“I can damn well try.”
Sienna took another step back toward the moonlit fountain. Her breath fogged the air. Her fingers shook faintly as she lifted them, calling a sliver of magic to her palm. The silver light flickered weakly, then steadied.
But before she could cast it, a whisper slid through the garden. Soft. Too soft.
“Sienna…”
Ryder’s blood froze.
That was his voice.
But he hadn’t spoken.
Sienna turned sharply, eyes wide, scanning the shadows.
Ryder grabbed Eamon’s wrist, panic ripping through him. “That wasn’t me.”
Eamon swallowed hard. “Then who, ”
“I don’t know.”
Sienna stepped forward slowly. “Ryder?”
Ryder felt the curse explode in his chest, ripping through muscle and bone, dragging him forward like a hook buried in his spine.
He staggered out from behind the roses.
Eamon grabbed him, fighting to hold him back, but Ryder was stronger , fueled by pain, fear, and something too primal to name.
Sienna saw movement and gasped, taking a half-step toward him.
“Ryder, ”
The curse lunged through him, seizing his lungs, crushing his ribs, flooding his vision with blinding white.
He dropped to his knees as a violent surge of power ripped through the garden, bending the rose vines, shaking the columns, cracking the marble under him.
Sienna cried out, “No, ”
Ryder lifted his head, eyes glowing with a light that wasn’t his own.
The curse had found them both.
And it wasn’t done.