Page 71 of In Between Darkness

I meet his eyes and nod my head.

“Okay, give me the elixir,” he says, and I pour it carefully into his mouth, watching him gulp it down.

“The date didn’t go well; you only see Asha as a friend. She went back to her dorm, and you fancied a walk in the woods. You drank too much and passed out,” I say, knowing that my lie will register to him as truth in his hypnotic state. The friend part hurt the most, but I know it’s for the best. No more Asha and River. I watch as his eyes glaze over. He nods his head, and I know the serum has worked. Ryder unties him, and we both move behind a tree to hide from him when he comes to.

River gets to his feet, confusion plastered on his face.

“What am I doing here?” I hear him whisper. “That drink was lethal.”

He stumbles a little and briskly walks back toward Sun property.

Ryder and I share a sigh of relief. Crisis averted. So why is the pit in my stomach still there?

I get up and walk further into the forest as sadness takes over me. I hear Ryder behind me.

“Asha?” he calls out, but I ignore him.

“Asha.” He speeds up and grabs my arm, making me turn back to face him. He can see the sadness on my face, and the floodgates open. Tears stream down my cheeks, and I can’t see clearly over the wall of water in my eyes. I feel a warm embrace as Ryder pulls me in for a hug. I lose myself in his bear-like grip and sob into his chest.

“You did good… Stalker,” he says, chuckling a bit at his ‘stalker’ line.

This makes me laugh, and I playfully push at his stomach and wipe the tears out of my eyes. I stand in front of him and smile up at his face, which is empathetic.

It’s funny; this is the first time I’ve seen him show a typical human emotion. He looks kind of innocent, and for some reason, I have never found him more attractive. He catches me staring in thought and quickly changes his face back to his normal, harsh self. Gods forbid he actually lets himself be vulnerable for one minute.

“You know you can’t be the same around him as you used to,” he says, crossing his arms in a lecturer-type way.

I wipe my eyes again and nod at him, but my eyes drift off to the side.

“I’m serious. If he’s around you too long, the effects of the serum may wear off. Do you understand this?”

“Yes, I understand,” I say in a huff as I shift in my stance.

He’s right. We’ve gone through so much to keep my secret; the last thing we need is River’s veil slipping.

“I will keep my distance.”

He nods down at me, which sends a shiver down my spine. The sun is rising now, giving Ryder an orangey glow to his face, which is somehow making him even more appealing. I can’t believe we have been out all night.

“Okay, then,” he says, also shifting slightly in his space. “I guess this is goodbye.”

He looks towards the sunrise as a sign that he should be turning in now.

“Yes, I guess it is,” I say, looking up at his dark chocolate eyes. “Thank you for your help. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Just take it as you owing me one.” He winks before turning to walk back to Moon Sovereign.

“Wait!” I call out to him as Oriah’s words repeat in my mind -‘You know the way of the Sun now you must learn the way of the Moon.’

He turns back and walks closer to me until we are face-to-face again.

“Can’t bear to see the back of me?” He smiles again, making me want to melt right there and then. My cheeks blush. He’s not wrong, but luckily for me, that is not what I want to talk about.

“I was thinking… Oriah said I need to learn the way of the Moon.” A pause encompasses us. “Will you teach me?” I ask, waiting for him to shut me down.

“Sure,” he says almost too quickly for me to register.

“Really? You’re not going to make a joke about me just wanting to see you more, or something?” I ask, genuinely surprised by his lack of cheekiness.