The Rycke (Monstrous, #3)

by Lily Mayne

My job? I was our scout. Our tracker. I could slip in and out of places unseen, unheard. I always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to overhear the right conversations; see the right situations. That was why I had the raider name Ghost, which I’d adopted almost as soon as I joined the camp.

Rig and I stared in silence for a long, long time, but the creature in front of us didn’t move.

They were slumped on their knees, bound arms resting on their thighs. Night-black hair with a strange, greenish sheen fell around their pale face in heavy, dirty hanks. I couldn’t see their face, but I could see how deathly white their skin was. I could see the greenish-grey fingernails tipping their weakly flexing fingers.

Not that the humans living in the built-up, military controlled cities didn’t think of us as savages anyway. To them, anyone who willingly lived closer to or—in some very rare cases—side-by-side with the beasties were no better than animals.

He didn’t comment on how uncomfortable I seemed to make the monster, but it was obvious to both of us.

Then the beastie turned their head to look up at Rig with big, pitch black eyes, and I got my first proper look at their face. Their dark, greenish-black hair was no longer falling over it in unwashed waves. I exhaled a sharp, quiet puff of breath, glad my mask muffled the sound. They were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

But I couldn’t take my eyes off them. Even filthy and injured, the beastie was… breathtaking. Their features were unusual, almost alien, but they worked together in perfect harmony. They were fascinating.

“of the one thing we have all learned out here. Appearances mean nothing. Monster or human—it means nothing. Our actions define us.

The thought made me deflate. Alright, so I clearly found One… attractive. I’d had some weird, instantaneous reaction to him. But I had to be realistic here. What the hell would someone like One see in me? Especially with people like Rig and Lilac around. Rig was handsome and good-natured and charismatic in a goofy way. Lilac was mysterious and brooding and interesting looking, with his black hair and bright green eyes.

My eyes dipped to his lips. They were pale, and as I stared, One’s smile slowly dropped. A second later, his tongue darted out to wet his lips, and my gut clenched at the sight. His tongue was black. And forked.

“I read one of the others while I waited for you.” While he’d waited for me.

“My kind are… we abhor violence. We try not to hurt others, even if they are hurting us.”

“Wait… what’s your real name?” After a moment, One’s face broke into a huge, beautiful grin, and I knew that was it. I was utterly smitten. Totally, one hundred percent gone for this strange, winged monster with creepy black eyes and ghostly, green-tinged skin. “Aury,” he said.

But Aury was different. Aury was visibly sweet. And kind.

His back was… beautiful. Aury was tall and lithe, but his shoulders were wide. I could see now that his back was strong and perfectly defined, probably from carrying the weight of his wings.

I suppressed a shiver as I nodded. His request felt oddly intimate, but I wasn’t about to deny this monster anything.

Aury was touching me. Kissing me. It felt like I’d wanted this for so long, even though it hadn’t been long at all. But I’d freaking pined for him, almost since the moment I’d met him.

I didn’t add that, up until the point Moth left me alone to fend off half a dozen creatures that had looked like a cross between a garden gnome and an ant, we’d been kind of… flirting. And my ego was evidently so fragile that I still couldn’t decide which had offended me more.

“You know him?” Anchor was silent, staring at Moth. He shook his head once, lips thinning. “I know of him. Every monster does. He’s the rycke.”

“I’m happy for you. You two are so cute it makes my teeth hurt. And I would be a terrible friend if I didn’t encourage you to keep doing whatever it was you two were doing last night, because by the sounds of it, it was exquisite. Please, keep having as much freaky monster sex as you can. I’m living vicariously through you.”

“But just trust me on this—Aury is the strongest monster you will ever encounter. I don’t get why that’s so hard for you to understand.”

His pale cheeks flushed pink, like he hated pointing out how his monster kin had rejected him just as much as humans mostly had. I felt a flash of pity cut through my dislike for Moth. He straddled both worlds and didn’t fit in anywhere. We didn’t trust him, not after he’d abandoned me on a simple scouting trip—but that was his own doing. And I doubted beasties trusted him either, thanks to his human half.

Aury was the opposite of chaos. He was like a… a calm, steady island in the middle of a tumultuous sea. He was soft and soothing. A balm.

“Did your… friend say anything more about me? Moth.” Then he added, “He’s not human, is he?” I shook my head. “Half monster.” Aury nodded once. “That’s rare.” He gave me a faint smile. “Almost as rare as the rycke. It’s a lonely existence.”

And then, for reasons known only to the deepest, darkest recesses of my anxiety-driven brain, I blurted out, “I love you.” Aury froze instantly. When I realised what I’d said, my entire body went hot with embarrassment. Panicking, I ripped my hand out of his grip and fluttered it uselessly, casting about for something, anything, to say to distract him. “Gage.” Aury turned me to face him, his black eyes so beautiful and warm as he smiled down at me. “I love you too.” He laughed, and my throat ached at the sight of his happiness. “You have terrible timing. I can’t even kiss you.”

I turned to grab Aury, but he was gone. And in his place was something that my mind struggled to process for a moment. My eyes turned up. And up. My limbs clenched up, paralysing fear locking me in place. Because in Aury’s place was a true monster.

This was my fault. I’d trusted Aury. I’d brought him here with me. And Aury… Aury had murdered them all for me, he’d said. To protect me.

Maybe there was something wrong with me, that I could still love this monster after witnessing what he was capable of.

I didn’t care what he could become. I didn’t see that monstrous face when I looked at Aury. This was my sweet, gentle, kind monster. He was still my Aury.

“Ghost…” She stopped, and I heard her throat click as she swallowed. “It’s… Rig is gone. Not dead,” she clarified quickly when my breath whooshed out of me in an awful rush. “He went—he went with Mary.” I struggled to process what she’d just said. “He… what?” “He went with Mary and her… pets. He said he wanted to try and help free them, and she was leaving because Aury was gone, and…” Anchor shrugged helplessly. “It wasn’t like I could hold him hostage. It was his choice.”

“I’ve left something for you on the nightstand, but it’s not a big deal and when I come back, I don’t want you to mention it.” I frowned, looking up from my book. “What—” But he had already slipped out of the room. I looked over at the nightstand and froze when I saw the little wooden figurine on it. With big wings. One damaged.

“I knew he wouldn’t have gone far, because he would want to watch over you. So I just walked around until I got the sudden urge to flee in terror, which meant he was nearby.”

There was still a hint of trepidation in his gaze, but Aury nodded at me. “I do feel… It feels different here,” he admitted, voice soft. “Safer. Like I…” He trailed off, but I could tell what he’d been about to say. “Like you belong.” I leaned forward to kiss him. “Because you do.” He belonged with me.

Humans could die so easily, but the rycke chose its death. Our bodies didn’t fail. The life seed didn’t die. When we were done with living, we simply allowed the earth to take us back, to use our body for new life. When Gage’s human life came to an end, I would follow him. I knew it deep in the core of me already—there was no question. He was my mate.

He would be a balm, a reprieve from all the darkness. A sweet, delicate bloom that stayed rooted deep in the earth in the eye of a swirling storm of death and rage. I would make sure of it—I would make sure that my memories of him were never lost. I would make them the brightest spot in my mind. But first, we had our lives to make all of those memories. We still had many, many years left, and I planned to spend all of them with him.