Of Dreams and Sorcery (Royal Fae Guardians #1) - Heather Renee Page 0,27

could be. Ryland was going to learn really fast that just because I didn’t know everything about Arvayta, it didn’t mean I wasn’t capable of being a badass guardian who could protect herself from a psychotic fae.

Or so I hoped.

Chapter Ten

Jordan apologized a million and one times after the brief argument with Ryland, but I didn’t really want to talk about it. Instead, I went back to the guest house and headed straight for the stack of books I’d grabbed earlier in the day.

After picking through my horde, I focused on the ones that I thought would give me the most information about whatever Meraki meant. Once I had books in hand, I got comfy on the couch and prepared to read for as long as it took to make sense of the conversation I’d just had.

Of course, I could have asked my mom or Jordan to explain it, but I didn’t want the guarded version of anything. I needed facts, and considering they hadn’t wanted to tell me in the first place, I wasn’t sure they’d be truthful about what I needed to know.

This surprised me, because Jordan was normally brutally honest, but apparently, that ended with all things Arvayta. I missed Stryx even more and went as far as yelling at him in my head like a crazy person, but I hadn’t received any words back since our initial conversation.

After staying up for most of the night, I learned a lot of things I wasn’t happy with but tried my best to accept. First, Meraki was another word for soulmate, a predestined match by the Fates that watched over our worlds. And second, there was nothing I could do to change who my Meraki was.

I either accepted him or I would never have a soulmate, meaning I had two options: be a lonely spinster for the rest of my extremely long life or deal with him and hope for the best. Unfortunately, those options were only viable pending what Ryland truly thought about the whole situation.

From what I’d observed so far, he wasn’t happy about it, nor did he seem willing to attempt to make anything work, so maybe it was option one for me, regardless. In a way, that devastated me.

As an avid reader, romance was my jam. I loved love. Dreaming of having my own happily-ever-after happened on more occasions than I cared to admit, but maybe my knight in shining armor was merely a lonely man dressed in tinfoil and not everything the stories made him out to be.

By the time I’d groggily gotten up, the sun hadn’t even risen, but I had a renewed determination within me. It didn’t matter what Ryland thought about me, or if he was utterly depressed to have been saddled with a Meraki. We had things to do, and feelings aside, I would make sure they got done.

Jordan wasn’t up yet when I snuck out of the house at four, but I left a note for her and one on the door for cranky pants in case he actually showed. After learning as much as I could in the books that I’d devoured just a few hours before, I’d decided I could teach myself a few things, beginning with porting.

Closing my eyes, I pictured the training field Jordan had shown me the prior day and tried to summon the magic within me. Flutters erupted in my stomach, but when my eyes opened, I was still shivering in front of the guest house.

The next time I tried, I kept my eyes open and saw when my arms began to disappear, but when I got excited, they solidified once more. I didn’t have time to waste and knew there were other things I could work on, so I began jogging to the fields.

When I reached town, I was completely warmed up and feeling better about my stamina than ever before. Picking up speed, I reached the fountain and dipped both hands into the cool water. There was a momentary boost of power within me, and I decided it was now or never to try porting again.

Keeping my concentration on point, I conjured an image of the field. Within seconds, I was standing on the grassy knoll.

“Yes!” I shouted, then immediately covered my mouth in case anyone else was psycho enough to be out there before five in the morning.

I glanced around and didn’t see anyone, so I continued toward the track. Even though I’d run most of the way to the