The Barrier Between (Collector Series # 2) (7 page)

Sprig slept at the bottom of my bag, stuffed full of
churros, papaya, and Inca Kola. The drink was way too sweet for me,
but he had downed it, hopped out of my bag, and went crazy with the
zoomies, until he passed out mid-climb up a tree, and fell asleep.
He was narcoleptic, but sugar triggered episodes faster. Getting a
sprite to stop eating sugar was like asking him not to breathe.

Venturing out of town, we followed the train tracks
through a valley of trees and flowers that looked like they had
been dipped in green, orange, and purple dyes. I had studied and
looked on the Internet at pictures of this area, but nothing could
describe actually being here. A café, Mama Angelica, across from
the entrance of Mandor Gardens, was almost too quaint to be real.
Plants wrapped up posts, draping their arbor in vivid blue and
purple blooms, and shading patrons from the sun. It was almost too
idyllic to eat there.

“Anything?” Ryker scanned the groups of people
around.

The entire way I kept a sharp eye out for fae who
thrived in gardens and nature, but my seer sight never found an
aura to clasp onto. I shook my head.

“Maybe by the water.” Ryker headed inside the
entrance of the garden.

The ground was wet from the rain overnight, slicking
the trail. It was another mile hike to the waterfall, and I got
lost in the smells and beauty of the rainforest. Dense green
vegetation cascaded down the mountains, carpeting every inch of
space. Strange plants sprouted bigger than my head, finding their
way to the sun through the thick foliage. Huge banana leaf trees
lined the trek, making me feel like I stepped into a prehistoric
land.

Ryker noticed I was more into investigating the
pretty scenery than searching for fae, but he didn’t say
anything.

When we reached the waterfall, I couldn’t help but
sigh. Everything about this place was beautiful. Except the crowd.
Several groups of tourists hung around the cascade. Ryker
immediately locked up, folding his arms, his expression growing
dark. Like me in reverse, his dislike of humans didn’t disappear
because he could tolerate me.

“Come on.” I nodded to a trail leading away from the
waterfall. We followed it to an isolated part of the river.

Seeing a perfect spot to sit and relax, I stepped on
a stone, glossy with water. My feet slipped from underneath me.
“Whoa.” Hands came down on my hips, holding me in place. His warm
fingers gripped at the bare skin between my pants and top. I
straightened up, regaining my footing, and glanced over my
shoulder. “Thank you.”

He nodded and let go. I climbed a bigger rock,
settled myself down, and placed my bag next to me. Sprig’s snores
were drowned out by the river, but the bag pulsed with his
breathing. I inhaled a deep breath, the soft rush of water flowing
down the river, soothing me. The heavy, sweet smells of flowers,
fruits, and plants growing around filled my nose. Sunshine trickled
through the leaves. A ray fell across my face, and I turned to its
warmth. It was cooler by the water, but higher in the forest
moisture clung to the earth, heating it.

Feeling a body settled next to me, I opened one lid
and looked over at the Viking next to me. He kept his attention on
the river, but he knew I was watching him. We sat in silence,
listening to the sounds of water and forest.

“I’m sorry about earlier.” I hugged my knees to my
chest. Ryker ran a hand over the top of his head then rubbed at his
beard, not able to settle down. “What’s up with you?” He still
didn’t look over at me when I spoke. “You’re the one acting odd
now.”

A long exhale of air blew from his lips, and he
stretched his legs out, leaning back on his elbows. It was still a
full minute before he finally spoke. “As you probably know, fae
aren’t big talkers... at least about feelings or anything.”
No
shit, really?
“It’s seen as a weakness, guaranteeing it will be
used against you.”

“Doesn’t sound much different from how I grew up.” I
let my folded legs drop, my knee hitting his thigh. Neither of us
moved away from the contact.

A slight grin tilted his mouth. “Yeah, strange how
different our worlds and experiences are, but we still have a lot
in common.”

“Unfeeling criminals who like to rob and beat the
crap out of people.” I smiled, stealing a glance at him. His eyes
flickered over me, watching me. My stomach clenched.

When did this happen? When did his gaze start
knotting my stomach and halting the air in my lungs?
My focus
went back to the water.

“You’ve been through a lot lately.” He stared out at
the forest across the way. “If... if you need to talk about it or
anythi—”

“No.” I cut him off, detaching myself from Sprig’s
carrier. I rubbed at my shoulder where his weight sat, then let my
arms fall to my lap.

Ryker gave a quick nod. “All right.”

I watched as my fingers coiled around themselves. I
sucked at talking to people, letting them in. The DMG therapist
told me it was the way I protected myself from being hurt. If I
didn’t let anyone in, no one could hurt me. The problem was the two
people I actually did let in were dead. My heart was already
broken. But not even Lexie or Daniel knew all of my past. Ryker
did. At the time I felt secure talking to him. Almost like speaking
to a pet. Someone who wouldn’t judge or care about what happened to
me. Simply listen. Now his presence looped around me like rope. He
no longer seemed safe.

We stayed quiet for a long time, but Ryker’s
shoulders never relaxed. Then his deep voice broke the silence.

“I didn’t tell you the complete truth about the day I
lost my family. The fire. I didn’t go and save my family first like
I told you.”

“What?” I jerked my head toward him.

“That day... I also lost the woman I was going to
marry.”

My mouth fell open.

Ryker pulled his knees up; his hand clasped the other
wrist, locking his arms around his legs. “Even though the village
knew I was different, I’d grown up among humans, and I naïvely
thought I could have a normal life. A human one.” He stared down at
his hands. “Her name was Tanvi. We were quite young and thought
ourselves in love. Her father did not approve of our relationship,
already seeing what I didn’t want to—my life and world was never
meant for her. But try telling that to young lovers.

“Her father and mine banned us from seeing each
other, but of course this made us even more anxious and careless.
She became pregnant...” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed.
“This was back in a time when shame in a family would get you
killed, but she would not get rid of the baby. She hoped it would
get her father to relent and let us marry. It did not.” Ryker
closed his eyes briefly before continuing. “On the day of the fire,
I was out hunting. She was supposed to meet me in the woods. We
were going to talk about running away together. But she never
came.”

“What happened?” I twisted to face Ryker, feeling the
dread of where his story was going.

“When I saw the fire and ran back to the village, it
was her house I went to first. Her father was standing in front,
watching it burn. He turned to me and said, ‘She brought shame on
this family. I no longer have a daughter because you took something
which never was supposed to be yours. You do not belong to this
world, Wanderer, and nothing in it belongs to you.’”

“He let his daughter burn to death?”

“Yes.” Ryker nodded. “In some cultures, shame is the
worst sin. Death is the only way to redeem yourself or your
family.”

I laid my hand on his arm, understanding his sadness.
His eyes darted to my touch, but I didn’t pull away. His stare
lingered on my hand then slowly rose to my face, causing heat to
flush my cheeks. The intensity of his gaze was like a boom in my
chest. I quickly pulled my hand away, breaking the contact.

I heard him clear his throat, his focus shifting to
the water. “I heard later he had caught her trying to sneak out and
locked her in her room. He set the fire.”

“What? He started the fire? He wanted his own
daughter to burn to death?”

Ryker nodded. “It was only meant to kill her, but he
lost control of it. It took the whole village.” He rubbed a hand
over his face. “Trying to save her was the reason I didn’t get to
my family in time and why my little sister died. In the end I lost
them all.”

Including his unborn child. My heart ached for him.
Even if it wasn’t his fault, he felt every death as though it was.
I understood his resistance to humans even more. “I’m sorry.”

Ryker’s lips pressed together, then he slid off the
rock, his feet hitting the riverbank. “Since then I’ve lived away
from humans. Grown to hate them. I accepted I’m fae and believed
humans should not coexist with fae beyond being their energy and
food. Even if none of the villagers died that day, they would have
eventually. If the baby took after Tanvi, and was human, it would
be dead now too.”

The thought of Ryker having a child did something
inside me. I felt torn between empathy for Ryker’s loss and a
strange sense of jealousy that he would have had a baby with
someone else. This notion didn’t sit right with me.

I scooted to the edge of the boulder. I knew human
lives were a blink compared to a fae’s, but I wanted nothing more
than to change his mind. To show him caring for a human was still
worth it.

His demeanor changed. Ryker picked up a rock and
threw it into the riverbed. It bounced off another rock and burst
into pieces, shattering into dust and coating the top of the water
before it washed away. Anger rose off his skin, coiling the muscles
in his back. “I was happy with hating humans. Content,” Ryker
yelled, spinning around to face me. His eyes were full of fury.

I blinked and slid from the rock. “Wait. Why are you
mad at me?”

“Because.” He shook his head, forcing his heated gaze
from me, his voice low. “You changed
everything
.” He turned
away from me, my hand automatically grabbed his. He stopped but
didn’t look at me, keeping his head down.

My body felt out of my control as I moved in front of
him and reached for his face. He tensed as my fingers slid along
his jawline and cupped his cheeks. “Look at me,” I whispered. When
he did this to me, it centered me.

He resisted, but I didn’t move, nor did I ask again.
I stood there waiting for him. Finally, his lids flickered up. Our
gazes latched on to each other’s. There wasn’t much I could say. It
would not change the past or the fact I was human and would
eventually die. Actually, now that I had his attention, I felt at a
total loss. I wanted to comfort him, ease his pain, thank him for
revealing something so private from his past. Most of all I wanted
to kiss him. This impulse was as strong as my fear to do it.

His brow cinched, his hand came up, tucking a strand
of hair behind my ear. “Fuck you for screwing everything up,” he
whispered hoarsely, letting his hand glide down my face.

“And fuck you, Wanderer, for wreaking havoc in mine,”
I responded in the same breathy tone.

He pulled me in, and my heart dropped to my knees. He
tipped his forehead against mine. “What am I going to do with
you?”

Only one response came to my lips, and I swallowed it
back.
When the hell did this happen?
It was so gradual I
could not really pinpoint a moment, but they were there...
feelings.

Dammit. I wanted them to go away.

No, that was the problem; I didn’t want them to go
away, which made me wish they would. Emotions between us, or even
purely on my side, were pointless and stupid. They could lead
nowhere. I didn’t want them to. Deep down, we both knew fae and
humans didn’t belong together. And when I thought about the fact I
wanted a
fae
to kiss me... Except he wasn’t only fae. Ryker
was the man who put a candle in a bread roll a couple nights ago to
celebrate my birthday. Who came back from the dead, fighting
everyone in his path to get to me. Who held me when my dreams
turned to nightmares.

I stepped away from him, staring at the water
trailing between the rocks I was standing on. “Maybe we’ll find fae
on the way back.” So far the day had been a bust.

He cleared his throat and placed his hands on his
hips, peering back at the trail. “Yeah, we should get back before
it gets dark. The fae who come out at night in these forests are
not
ones we want to run into.”

I grabbed Sprig and was up the path before Ryker
could even take a step. I was hoping the faster I walked, the
quicker I would leave those newfound emotions behind, drowning them
in the rushing water.

I should have known once you open a sealed jar, it
can never be truly closed again. Feelings and thoughts bled into
the cracks and seeped in. Modifying, changing, corroding what had
worked perfectly before.