Riven doesn’t turn.His eyes remain fixed on the rod’s molten glow.“Pain is revelation, scholar.”He finally looks at Kael, his upper lip curled like a predator caught mid-meal.“You would know that if you got your head out of those damn books.”
“You’ll break her before the Triarch even touches her.”Kael’s eyes find mine as my vision fades at the edges.My ears pop, muffling the world behind the thudding vibration of my own pulse.
Kael’s voice just breaks through.“Restrain yourself, Riven, before?—”
“Don’t you talk to me about restraint, boy!”Riven snarls, lifting the rod to give me a momentary reprieve.“Now, leave us.”
The guards at the door shift.Kael’s silence tightens the room.For a heartbeat, I think he’ll refuse.Then his boots scrape across the floor, stopping at the threshold.
Riven’s eyes meet mine, the smile on his face never reaching them.“Good boy.”
The door slams with a final, deafening thud.
My spine twists as the searing heat finds purchase once more.Breathing becomes an effort as the air turns to ash in my lungs.
“Look at me,” he demands.I can’t; the pain has me pinned.His fingers find my jaw, cruelty imbued in his calloused touch.
The mirrors brighten, the scripts around the room answering the rod.Heat blooms beneath my sternum—an amber glow stirring under the skin.Riven inhales like a pilgrim seeing relics.“Ah.There you are.”
The warmth gathers until it burns.Copper coats my tongue; white blinds my eyes.
“Stop,” I manage, hating the plea in my voice.
“Soon,” his voice penetrates the light, landing like ash.
The torment evaporates in an instant, leaving me breathless and confused.Sweat lines Riven’s temples, trailing in narrow rivers down his neck.He steps back with a reverent disgust, as if he’s handled something both holy and unclean.
“Dress her,” he orders the silent observers.
A guard drapes the robe over my shoulders as I sit up, my arms too weak to find the sleeves.Riven turns to a piece of parchment, writing in a neat, narrow hand.
“At first light tomorrow, we proceed to the next phase.”
“Wha—what phase?”My voice sounds hoarse and distant, as if belonging to someone else.
He glances up, his eyes crinkling.“Control.”
The door opens and cold air rushes to meet me.Kael stands there—a shadow rimmed with light.He doesn’t look at Riven.He looks only at me.
“Same time tomorrow.”Riven says severely.
* * *
The hallbeyond is just as quiet as before.I don’t remember standing.Or walking.I simply follow the lift of the chain, trying to clear the haze from my head.My skin thrums everywhere the rod pressed, like a bruise trapped under glass.
Halfway down the corridor, my knees soften.The ground rushes to meet me, but Kael’s hand closes around my arm to steady me.The warmth emanating from him is a silent comfort, but I shrug him off regardless.I don’t need his pity.
Our steps echo as we climb back toward the higher levels.Corridors swim in and out of focus; the light feels too bright, the floor too smooth.I keep moving only because the chain does.
“He’s finished with the rod,” Kael says finally.“Tomorrow will be…different.”
“Lovely,” the word scrapes my throat raw.
We reach the stairs that spit us back into the gilded corridors.The scent of honeysuckle is a relief compared to the stench of Riven’s breath—something I never thought I’d ever appreciate.
The door to my chamber comes into view, and I slow.He does, too.The chain between us draws into a thin, silver line.
“Seren.”
