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CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Ellery

When Ryker entered the tower, I hurried forward to follow him up the stairs. The others fell in behind me as Ryker ducked to avoid hitting his head on the arched, stone doorway.

When he stepped into the stairwell’s shadows, I considered stopping him as apprehension wiggled down my spine and clawed at my belly. I dug my nails into my palms to keep them to myself.

We had to know what was up there, but I hated that he’d be exposed first. However, we were less than twenty feet away from the source of that strange light, and it hadn’t killed us yet.

At the very least, our deaths would be fast. We’d evaporate before we knew what hit us… hopefully.

The stairwell twisted upward in a spiral that made it difficult for Ryker to ascend without hitting his head and damn near impossible for Ianto. The giant climbed with his back against the wall and his shoulders hunched to avoid smacking his head on the steps above.

Hunched and trying to make himself small, the stairwell was so tight the railing bit into Ianto’s stomach as he slid along the wall. In his stooped posture, he looked more like a troll than a man.

When Ryker reached the top, he straightened his shoulders and stepped into the open. The light illuminating him turned him into a shadow, and for a disconcerting second, I thought he’d evaporated too.

My heart lodged in my throat, and I staggered forward as Ryker moved. That movement settled my heart back into its rightful place, but its rapid rhythm thundered in my ears.

Ryker moved to the furthest point in the small tower so everyone else could filter out of the stairwell. I stopped across from him as the others spread out around us.

Four stone pillars held the top of the stone tower ten feet over my head. The tower allowed for a better view of the entire town as, from here, the view was only blocked by the other towers.

And in the center of the tower, on a black stone pedestal, sat a blood-red gem that would fit into my cupped hands. The stone pulsed like a beating heart, and with every beat, the color engulfing the town deepened from pink to red.

I expected to hear a thump-thump with every pulse, but the gem didn’t issue any sound; it only emitted the changing color.

Then the gem took another mighty beat, and a blast of red energy emanated from it. That blast radiated across my skin, lifted the hair on my arms, and sent a shiver of pleasure throughout me.

Its discharge of power was terrifying, but it was also… invigorating . It penetrated my bones, seeped through my muscles, and spread from my limbs to my heart before settling in my veins.

The unfamiliar yet exhilarating sensation caused a ripple of apprehension. Would it now eradicate my bones as it burned me from the inside out?

I held my breath as I waited to explode into ash, but instead of crumbling away, my skeleton remained firm as the power pulsed through me. My fingers flexed as I itched to touch the stone, but that was probably a good way to die, so I kept my hands to myself.

Lifting my head, I looked at Ryker, who stared raptly at the stone. Does he feel it too?

I shifted my attention to the others, but they were also studying the stone. Each of them looked as dazed and confused by it as I felt.

“Do you all feel that?” I whispered.

“There’s a lot of power here,” Tucker murmured.

When Ryker lifted his head, his gaze met mine, and something sizzled across the distance separating us. As if an invisible thread was pulling us together, my back bowed a little as I restrained myself from throwing the pedestal aside to get at him.

My nails dug deeper into my palms as I fought the impulse to tear my clothes free and rid myself of their suddenly confining weight. When his eyes turned the color of night, I knew he was thinking the same thing as lightning fired through them before he stifled it.

With the effort it took to remove a pebble from tar, I tore my gaze from Ryker’s before I stripped naked in front of everyone and threw myself at him. While the prospect of doing so was enticing, exposing myself to everyone was not.

Air whistled in and out from between my clenched teeth as I lost the ability to breathe normally. Closing my eyes, I gathered myself before opening them and looking at the others; I was afraid they’d somehow sensed what passed between me and Ryker and would be gawking at us.

Instead, they remained fixated on the stone. I couldn’t look at Ryker again; I was too scared of what would happen if I did, but I felt his gaze boring into me.

Before us, the gem continued its deliberate, rhythmic heartbeat. The light it emanated when it flashed over the village was so powerful it kept the cavern illuminated, even as it faded to pink.