The Barrier Between (Collector Series # 2) (21 page)

“What?” Ryker’s brows furrowed. “What are you talking
about? There is a shaman. I’ve met him... through you.”

Her purple locks danced as she shook her head. “No. I
mean I arranged this. He knows nothing.” Her dark eyes darted to
me. “It was always me.”

“You set this up?” Ryker strode to the fireplace,
closer to her.

I was locked in my spot. Shock, hurt, bewilderment,
jealousy crashed inside my chest keeping me in place. I no longer
felt the cold drifting in that had been wrapping around my legs and
arms. The only outside sensation was Sprig’s rhythmic breathing
inside my bag. It was the only thing grounding me, keeping my claws
retracted. Pure jealousy worked its way through me like poison.

“Please sit.” She picked up a cup, handing it to
Ryker. “I will explain everything. I promise.”

Ryker took the cup absently and sat in a chair,
setting it on the ground next to his feet. He positioned himself on
the rim of it, leaning his arms on his legs. The muscles in his
shoulders curled up by his ears and the familiar tick at his jaw
told me he was really on edge.

Amara took a sip of her tea and sat across from him.
Ryker peered over his shoulder, careful to not make full eye
contact with me.

“Zoey?” He nodded to a chair next to him.

“Maybe I should go.” The words were out of my mouth
before I could stop them. It was a knee-jerk reaction. The
long-lost lovers were reunited, and I didn’t want to be anywhere
near them. If I had to see her kiss him once more, I was going to
vomit on my shoes. And I was wearing flip-flops.

Ryker’s white eyes fully sealed on mine. They were
emotionless, except for a slight annoyance under the surface.

“That might be better.” Amara reached her hand out
for Ryker.

He shook his head violently, his voice gruff. “Sit,
Zoey.”

My teeth ground together as I stepped around and sat
down. I was normally good at hiding the anger and bitterness I
felt, but I struggled to keep my resentment from broadcasting off
my features like a TV screen. The wall I’d kept between us for so
long was back in place.

He must have seen the animosity in my face and turned
away from me in a grumble. “Amara?”

Amara shifted in her seat, taking another sip of tea.
“After Garrett kidnapped me, he took me to Vadik.” Amara’s words
reflected on Ryker’s jawline. “They hoped at first if they tortured
me enough or starved me, I would talk and tell them where the stone
is.”

“But you don’t know,” he growled. It was true. Amara
didn’t know. He told her the stone was somewhere in a cave near
Mongolia. My gaze struggled not to look at his boot, the true
location of the stone.

She touched his hand again and despite myself, my
eyes followed her fingers as they stroked his skin. “Vadik did not
believe I knew nothing. After a while they discovered I would never
tell, no matter how much they beat and tortured me.” She squeezed
his hand. “We made a pact.”

His face softened, his eyes taking her in.

“I think they hoped you would come for me. Make a
trade. I merely laughed at them and told them to kill me because
they would never get anything from me.”

What a martyr
. Okay, I was being a bitch, but
I didn’t trust her self-sacrificing story.

“How did you get away?” Ryker asked.

Amara’s head flicked toward the open door.
“Croygen.”

“Croygen?” Ryker stared at her with a guarded
expression.

“He heard I was taken.” Amara licked her lips, and
Ryker shifted in the chair. Their body language conveyed to me
there was more to this story than what she said. “He broke in and
got me. He lost a lot of his men. But you know him. He wouldn’t
stop until I was free.”

Ryker stood up, the chair tipping over as his weight
left the stool.

“I knew with his connection to you, it was the only
way I could find you.” Amara stood with him. “Croygen made sure I
was safe here and went to find you.”

Ryker folded his arm, staring at the ground. “I
couldn’t come for you. I am sor—”

“Stop.” Amara held up her hand, flattening herself to
Ryker. “I know.” An intense moment passed between them; their eyes
communicating an intimacy they had shared.

I wanted to jump, to be kidnapped, anything to get me
out of the room.

Another man risking everything to save Ryker’s woman
when he couldn’t had to rub Ryker’s pride wrong.

“I heard what happened... with your powers.” Her
hands glided up his arms. He jerked back. “Croygen told me. I
didn’t believe it till he revealed that he’d seen it happen. Is
this why you want to find Regnus?”

“Do you know where he is?” Ryker came back at her
with renewed interest. “I think he might be the only one who can
possibly help us. Get my powers back to me.”

“If anyone can, it will be him.” Amara nodded. “You
are right to try and find him. He is probably the only one with
enough magic to transfer them to you.”

“We need to find him,” Ryker demanded. “Before it’s
too late.”

Amara’s head dropped, her hair covering her face from
view. “It will be difficult.”

“Why? What’s going on? Where is he?”

She pressed her mouth together.

“Where, Amara?” Ryker grabbed her shoulders. “Don’t
fuck with me right now. Tell me.”

My stomach dropped as she turned her face to him,
anguish etching deep in her expression.

“He has him,” she whispered.

“Who has him?” Ryker gripped her harder.

We all knew who she was referring to, but I needed to
hear her say it. To confirm the wrenching sensation inside me.

“Vadik.”

The tattoos up Ryker’s neck flickered. He stared at
her with strained tension. “What?”

“Vadik took him to control me. He knew how close we
are. He will do anything to get the stone, and he thought using
Regnus would get me to finally confess.”

“Vadik has him,” Ryker repeated.

Pain shot up my arm. I looked at my hand and my nails
dug deep into my palm, drawing blood. All our hopes had been on
finding this one man.

“It was hard for me to leave him. You know he’s like
a father to me. The only kind man I knew growing up. I don’t think
Vadik will hurt him. He will use him as leverage. We have to get
the stone.”

Ryker pushed away from Amara and ran his hand through
his hair. “Fuck!” he yelled, making me jump.

“If we get the stone, we can offer it to them as a
bargaining tool for Regnus.”

“What? We are not giving up the stone.” My voice
found its way up my throat.

Amara whipped around, her narrowed eyes stormy. “I
never said we’d give it to him, but we need to have it. We need to
get Regnus. I will not watch Ryker
die
because of you, and
he seems to want you to live.”

It was like a brick slammed into my chest. “What?
What are you talking about?” My gaze drifted from Amara to Ryker.
His skin pinched around his mouth, not combatting her words. What
the hell was going on? What had he not told me? “Ryker?”

He cleared his throat, and his white eyes turned to
me. “If fae lose their powers, it will eventually kill them.”

My eyes widened as the information sank in.

“Not right away. It will be years, but from the
moment you fully take the powers, I’m doomed.”

The world collapsed around my feet. “Wh-why didn’t
you tell me?”

Ryker shrugged his shoulders. “Because.”

Ryker’s layers went deep, and I still had not reached
the one where he felt he could completely trust me. The sting of it
lashed me across the heart.

“Why would he tell you?” Amara looked at both of us.
Irritation flickered behind her eyes. “Your kind would only use it
against us.”

“I would never—”

“Really? I know what you are. A Collector for DMG.
Isn’t that entirely what you do? Find our weakness so you can hunt
us down?”

My mouth opened to retaliate, but no words fell out.
It was exactly who I was, once, until Ryker and Sprig changed me. I
was no longer a Collector.

“I thought so.” She nodded and turned back to
Ryker.

“So what do we do?” I struggled with the idea that
Ryker was dying. If
I
didn’t die, he would.

“We get Regnus,” Ryker stated.

“We get the stone,” Amara said at the same time.

My words belted out at Amara before they had approval
to do so. “We will
not
barter the stone, no matter what. I
thought that was the pact.”

Amara’s lids narrowed. “And what do you know of it,
human? You think because you have been with him a few weeks you
understand what is going on? You know nothing.”

My feet moved toward her, but Ryker stepped between
us before my fist could encounter her perfect face. “Whoa.” He
grabbed for my wrists, holding me back. “Zoey, look at me.”

My eyes were still locked on her. She wasn’t scared
nor was she taunting me; she merely watched me with curiosity.

“Look. At. Me.” He damn well knew with one look he
could calm me, but I didn’t want to be soothed. I wanted to punch
and kick, releasing the anger, frustration, and sadness building
up. Ryker shook me. “Zoey?”

Blowing out air, my gaze went to his, falling once
again into the icy pools of his eyes.
Damn him!

He squeezed my hands and let go, turning back to
Amara, his voice forceful. “Do not insult her again.”

Amara studied both of us. She kept her shoulders
back, her head held high. The woman did not lack confidence. The
way she watched me didn’t seem to hold jealousy or fear that
something was going on between Ryker and me. More like I was a bug.
A gross, disgusting insect that needed to be squashed. “Without the
stone, you won’t get Regnus. My escape only made Vadik more
cautious and guarded. Croygen can tell you it was almost impossible
retrieving me.” Amara folded her arms. “But if you don’t want to
get Regnus, there is another way.”

“Another way for what?” I placed my hand on the warm
spot on my bag. Feeling Sprig’s body heat comforted me.

“To get your powers back.” Amara still faced Ryker,
but shrugged over to me. “Get rid of her.”

“What?” Ryker and I said in unison.

“As soon as Croygen told me about your predicament, I
recalled a memory from my childhood, and I found something that
might help.” Amara sauntered over to a desk against the far wall of
the yurt and picked up an ancient leather-bound book. Faded gold
writing scrolled across the cover and spine. The aura of the book
twinkled with deep golds and sparkling silvers. I once touched a
fae book and almost passed out. Their history was alive between the
pages, and it showed images along with words. Kind of like the
stone. I could feel the book in her hands waiting to share its
story. “I had Croygen bring me these books, and yesterday I found
what I was looking for.” She flipped through the yellowed parchment
pages of the book. “I remembered an ancient legend. It was a fable
Regnus told me when I was a child about a boy who loses his powers
to a witch and gets them back. I can’t believe you didn’t think of
this yourself.”

“I was raised by humans. I don’t know any fae legends
or bedtime stories.” Ryker walked up next to her, peering at the
pages held in her hands.

“In the story, a witch steals the boy’s magic.
Growing weaker and weaker, he continues to search for a way to
retrieve his magic. Finally, one day he runs into a raven who tells
him how to get them back from the witch.”

“And how does he get them?” Ryker questioned.

Amara’s head lifted up, her gaze falling on me. “He
has to kill her.”

Kill her.

Of course that was the answer.

“What?” Ryker shuffled back, his gaze bouncing from
me to Amara.

“If the vessel of the thief dies, magic will be
restored to the original possessor. If the magic familiarizes fully
to the vessel, only death from the original possessor’s hand can
undo the spell,” Amara read from the book.

“What does that mean?” My voice came out in a
croaking sound.

“It means...” Amara cleared her throat and glowered
at me. “If Ryker’s magic fully acclimates to you, the only way the
powers will go back to him is if he is the one to murder you.”

“What if I die before that?”

“If they become fully yours and someone else kills
you or you die, he will never get them back,” Amara replied.

“But right now... if I die... he’ll get them
back.”

“Yes. But the moment they become fully yours, the
only way for him to get them back is if he takes your life.”

Ryker reached over, ripped the book from her hands,
read the passage, and then slammed the book shut, searching its
bindings and cover. “This is a fairy tale. Doesn’t mean it’s
true.”

Amara placed her hand on his arm. “Ryker, our fairy
tales
are
real. They are stories passed from generation to
generation, but they are based in fact. There is truth in all the
fables you read. Only humans think they are made up.”