“You need to get out of this room.”
I snort. “You’re giving me commands now, brother?”
“No, brother. I wouldn’t dare to order the great King Rot around,” he bites back. “But you aren’t eating, you’re barely sleeping, and you smell like shit.”
I roll my eyes, ready to shove him out of my room. My mood plummets more each day when Auren doesn’t wake up. I haven’t left her side a single second, concern and fear risen up to my ears so it’s all I can feel and hear and think of. “Get out, Ryatt.”
He lets out a disappointed sigh. “You need to get a grip.”
My eyes flash up to his face. “Get a grip?” I snap, on my feet in an instant, my face in his. “You think that I don’t have a white-knuckled grip on myself every second of the day? I don’t have the luxury of never not having a grip on myself.” My entire body is tense, my tone gnarled. “Since the moment I had to use my magic against her, I’ve been this fucking close to snapping. Do you get that? I have to hold the reins around my power constantly, can’t give it a single fucking inch. So no, I don’t need to get a grip. Because I haven’t been able to loosen it since I got here and realized she’s not waking up.”
Ryatt takes in my fuming expression, but we’ve gone head-to-head many times, and while most people would back down in the face of my anger, he’s not one of them. “This is exactly why you need to get out of this room.”
I shake my head, spikes trying to shove through the sleeves of my shirt. Even now, I can feel the smallest ones punching through the curve above my eyebrows.
“Look at you,” he says with a note of disgust. “Let me see how bad it is.”
Scoffing, I turn away, stopping in front of the fireplace. “Who sent you in here? Lu? Tell her she doesn’t need to worry about me.”
“No one sent me, but we’re all sick of your shit,” Ryatt replies. “Now let me see.”
“Fuck off.”
“You think I want to babysit you? I’ve got better shit to do. So roll up your Divine-damned sleeves and let me see. I’m not leaving until you do.”
Fuming, I spin around and shove up both sleeves, just to get him to go away. As soon as my arms are revealed, Ryatt’s lips press into a thin line. “Fuck.”
I shove my sleeves back down. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine,” he retorts. “You need to go expel some power before it eats you alive.”
“What about the scouts?”
“Don’t try to change the subject. I’m handling Midas’s scouts, don’t worry. Now you go handle your shit.”
“I’m not leaving her alone.”
Ryatt strides over to the chair I was sitting in and plops his ass down while I stare at him incredulously. He even goes so far as to brace an ankle on his knee and grab one of my books from the floor to start reading.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “I’m staying with the golden girl so she won’t be alone. Now go away and rot some shit before you explode and destroy all of Deadwell.”
My fists ball together, the roots along my fingers writhing and snapping against my skin, trying to pierce through me like thorns. “I can’t.” Watching her, staying by her side, it’s the only thing that’s keeping me from losing my shit entirely. Because she’s still not awake. She’s still not okay.
Ryatt looks up at me, and for the first time since he strode in here, his expression sobers. “The sooner you take care of your magic, the sooner you can get back here by her side,” he tells me, his tone no longer biting. “So go. I’ll stay right here with her. I promise.”
I start to shake my head, but he cuts me off. “Slade. You’re about a second away from snapping. Sitting here watching her isn’t going to help, because even when she does wake up, you’ll have to leave immediately to take care of your magic. So go do it now before you fucking implode.”
I agonize in indecision, but now that Ryatt has very unapologetically pointed out how strained I am, I can no longer ignore it. My power is writhing beneath my skin, prickling over my back and chest, snapping at my arms, and making my fingers throb as it pushes against the underside of my fingernails.
“Fine,” I finally relent, realizing I can’t even let out a full breath. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Take your time. Make sure you expel enough so that I don’t have to shove you right back out into the storm again two hours later.”