Page 36 of Ravaged Devotion

Getting hit wasn’t anything new, and they’d learned from a young age it was better to accept the one. If they avoided it, it only earned them an extra.

The slap echoed in the room, and Ryker kept his face turned away for a lengthy moment, inhaling through his nose in an attempt to calm himself so he didn’t do anything foolish. His cheek burned where he’d been struck, his pride seething even more, and his nails dug tiny halfmoon carvings into his palms.

Once he was certain he’d contained the rage, he dared turn back, eyes meeting his father’s head on.

Rhys clicked a few buttons on his multi-slate and then turned the device so that Ryker could see the screen. There wasn’t any sound, and the picture was somewhat blurry, but its purpose was clear.

Ryker hadn’t known there was a camera in the library.

A video of him with Rue folded over the table played, his hand moving somewhere off screen—somewhere obvious, despite the fact it wasn’t visible. The video captured the entire room at an angle from a high corner, so the two of them weren’t very large, but still.

“First your brother and now you?” Rhys sneered, pulling the device away so he could wave a finger in Ryker’s face instead. “You will not disgrace this family, do you hear me? Whatever this was, it ends. Now. Good Light, Ryker. I am married to his mother. The two of you are—”

“Not blood related,” Ryk interrupted. “Never were, never will be.”

The second slap, he saw coming.

As expected, he let it happen.

This time, he tasted copper.

“If I find out you’ve put that filthy thing between your legs inside of your stepbrother again, I will have it surgically removed,” Rhys threatened.

“Going to give up any chance of grandkids, huh?”

“Ryder’s sperm can easily be harvested,” he stated. “Worse comes to worse, he never wakes, and we go that route for your future children. No one has to know.”

Ryker lost control of his anger and took a threatening step toward his father.

“Going to hit me, boy?” Rhys puffed up his chest and stared down his nose at him. “Go right ahead. Show me what you’re made of.”

His fist twitched at his side.

“You don’t get to talk about Ryder that way,” he growled.

“You’re right, perhaps I did misspeak,” Rhys surprised him by acknowledging, before adding, “Why should I sacrifice my own lineage when the obvious problem here is Rue.”

Ryker didn’t like the sound of that, and it must have shown, because his father snickered derisively.

“I ordered him back to planet to help protect the family image,” Rhys said. “Since it’s become clear his presence is going to have the opposite effect, he shouldn’t be allowed to stay. I’ll have the paperwork drawn up as soon as we’re back in the city. He’ll re-enroll on Tulniri next week. You’ll be the one to tell him.”

“What?” No. He couldn’t. “Dad—”

A third slap.

Ryker went quiet.

“Tell him,” Rhys commanded. “And then stay the hell away from him.”

He didn’t know how much time passed after his father left, but Ryker stood there for a long while.

Everyone kept telling him what to do.

Even Rue thought he could yank Ryker around. Confusing him with kisses and sad, sappy looks. He’d stayed out of Ryker’s way for months, and now suddenly he was responding to his touch? A touch that was meant to be punishment?

The bar by the door was fully stocked and unmanned, so Ryker helped himself. No one disturbed him as he drank, chugging down a full bottle of hard liquor before moving onto another. Typically, he could handle his alcohol, but Ryker was trying to drown the voices in his head now. Trying to get wasted so he could block it all out.

Or lose himself completely and act.