Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Torin
Something startles me awake, and I glance around for what might have caused it before I realize that I feel an influx of magic next to me. I jerk upright, discovering it’s unexpectedly coming from Riley. He’s thrashing in his sleep, curling in on himself as if he’s in pain.
“Riley!” I call while trying to shake him awake, but he’s not waking up. I can feel immense magical power radiating off him as I quickly turn on the light he’d stolen from Mickey.
He’s coated in sweat and the black stain on his hands and arms seems to almost be glowing as I see it crawling up his arms, spreading across his skin. I’ve never seen it spread like this, and I have absolutely no idea what’s causing it.
“Riley, wake up!” I shout while Kit whines, worried about what’s going on. But he isn’t responsive. Is he not even dreaming? Is something else going on with him?
“Riley, dammit, please wake up,” I beg, feeling anxious.
The magic that’s radiating off him is overwhelming, but I don’t understand why or what’s causing it. I shake him again, and then even smack his face, hoping to startle him.
“RILEY!” I shout, and his eyes snap open right before I can feel a surge of magic that tears out of him and he shoves me back, throwing me from the bed as I hear him hit the floor on the other side.
I scramble up to my feet and rush to the other side of the bed where I find Riley kneeling on the ground, practically curling in on himself while the magic continues to build.
“Riley! Riley, what’s going on?” I ask, but he doesn’t even acknowledge me. The walls are rattling against such power, and I question whether the magic is about to level this place like it did where the Door first opened. And if it does… Mickey is here… and will Riley himself be protected from it?
“Riley, it’s okay. Riley, I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to fight it,” I plead as I pull him into my arms. He tries to fight me again, thrashing and throwing himself backward in almost a mindless state, but I hold him firmly, refusing to let him go.
The dark stain continues to inch its way up his arms, and I grab him tightly and tuck his head against my chest. I kiss his forehead while I beg for it to stop, to not take away what is so important to me.
“Please, Riley. Please, I can’t lose you,” I whisper.
He seems to freeze for a second before he just crashes into me. The magic disperses immediately and he collapses into my arms. When I tilt his head toward me, he doesn’t appear to be conscious, but that magic has left him and the stains have stopped spreading.
“Oh fuck,” I mutter as I tighten my grip on him, squeezing him to me while I rock where I sit. I don’t know what just happened; I only know I need my Riley to be safe.
I hear the pounding of footsteps a moment before the door is flung open and Mickey stands in the doorway.
“What the hell was that?” he asks, looking as alarmed as I feel.
And I realize how bad it really must have been for him to have felt it from his wing all the way across the palace.
“I…” I look down at an unconscious Riley sprawled across my arms. The stain is now up to his elbows and ankles. “I don’t know,” I admit. “He just… I woke up and he was just… it was the magic from the Door. I could feel the magic he acquires every time he gets close to a Door.”
Mickey stiffens. “Did a Door open here?”
“I don’t feel one. Maybe back in your world?”
“I’ll send my undead out,” he says as he rushes off.
I pick Riley up and lay him down on the bed, not wanting to let go of him but knowing that if a Door did open, I can’t just ignore it. Quill is waiting for me right outside the bedroom.
I cup his cheek. “Search to see if there’s a Door open here.”
He’s gone just like that as I hesitate, not wanting to leave Riley alone in case a Door has opened.
I kneel down, feeling the ground and sending my magic along it.
Touching the floor of my bedroom does very little.
Back when I was at my full strength, feeling the status of the realm would have been easy from here, but in this state, I think I need to touch the ground directly to check the ley lines and magic of the realm to make sure there are no disturbances.
Not knowing what else to do, I pick Riley up and carry him outside to the garden.
I lay him down on a bench and kneel down to place my hand on the ground.
My magic spreads out, but I don’t feel a Door anywhere near me.
I am pleased how far my magic can reach, though.
I feel like I’m actually starting to get my power back for the first time since my people died.
I crawl back over to Riley and pat his face while Kit paws at him. “Riley, wake up. Come on, Riley.”
Still, he doesn’t stir. I close my eyes and sense what Quill is feeling; though my connection to him is not like Riley’s is with Kit, I can still feel him. And I can tell he hasn’t found any semblance of a Door.
Apprehensively, I look around, uncertain what’s happening but most of all fearful about what this means for Riley. What if the curse doesn’t stop? What happens when it consumes him?
Kit is anxiously pawing at Riley, but nothing manages to wake him. The door to the palace opens and I look over as Mickey hurries out.
“I’ve sent my undead out and called to alert Lt. Lindsey, but so far no one has felt anything. He’s still not awake?”
“No.”
“Was he ever awake?” Mickey asks.
“Briefly. He shoved me back and fell off the bed, and then the magic seemed to hit a peak before he passed out. I have no idea what happened or why. I’m still not convinced a Door hasn’t opened somewhere that I just can’t feel.
I should pass through the Door to your realm and see if I feel anything on the other side. ”
“I’ll stay here and watch him,” Mickey offers, but I don’t like that idea either.
Seeing my hesitation, he asks, “You’re just going to carry the unconscious man around?”
“Yes.”
Mickey shrugs. “If that’s what you want. I need to find a man like you who’s willing to carry me everywhere. I mean… you’re muscular enough you could probably carry us both.”
“I could, but then Riley would be jealous.”
“He’s unconscious.”
I ignore him and pick up Riley before passing through the Door, but as soon as I’m in Mickey’s house, it’s clear I don’t sense anything here either. I still set Riley on the couch and step outside to feel the earth with nothing manmade between it and me. Still nothing.
That doesn’t mean the Door hasn’t opened so far from here that I can’t feel it, but the horseman who Mickey thinks is Conquest has picked this city again and again, telling me he likely doesn’t know how to open a Door somewhere we won’t expect, which isn’t surprising.
A Door often appears where it wants to appear.
The creator can influence it some, but making the Door appear on the opposite side of the world would be difficult or even impossible.
“Are you satisfied?” Mickey asks, peeking out at me through the Door.
“I’ll be satisfied once I find out what’s going on,” I say as I slide my arms under Riley’s legs and back, wishing to erase the curse from his body.
If I had all of my power, could I do it?
The problem is that I don’t even understand it or what caused it.
Mickey trails after me while I carry Riley back to my room and lay him in bed.
“Well, this has been fun… you know… with you naked this whole time. But I guess I’m going to head to bed. Let me know when Riley wakes up.” His eyes dart down to my dick and he gives me two thumbs up before fucking off.
I glance down and discover that I am quite naked. Riley did slip some underwear on when he wandered off last night to grab something he forgot downstairs, but I was freeballing it when I crawled into bed.
Ah well.
I climb into bed and pull Riley up until he’s half on me so I can hold him in case this happens again, which is how we remain until he wakes up hours later.
He yawns and kind of presses harder into me before noticing me beneath him.
“Are you holding me? Is this a sex move? Because you feel very naked.” Then he grimaces and I see him flex his hands, but he must not have seen the damage yet because he doesn’t react to it.
Kit has remained awake with me this entire time, but she’s so focused on Riley’s face that he’s not being allowed to see much else.
She’s anxious and cries while she burrows up against him.
“What’s… going on?”
I pull him closer. “I’m so sorry I left you to fret over me for six days. I nearly died after three hours.”
“Three hours? What are you talking about?” Riley asks, sounding reasonably confused.
My hands tighten on him as I tug him up until I can rest my face in his hair.
“Torin, you’re freaking me out. What happened?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “You… your magic woke me up. You were unresponsive but still able to interact with me since you shoved me off the bed, and your magic seemed to escalate to the point that I was afraid you were going to level the place. Then you passed out and have been unconscious since.”
Riley tenses in my hold, his shaking fingers running over the stains on his arms that he’s finally noticed. “Did the Door open?”
“Not that we’ve found, but they have many people still looking, including Mickey’s undead. We’re searching this realm and yours, but so far, no one has felt or sensed anything.”
Riley seems uncertain as he looks down, and I realize he’s seeing through Kit’s eyes and taking in the fact that the curse has spread so much. He clenches his trembling hand and turns to me.
“It’s going to be okay,” I say, my fingers tracing down his back, trying to soothe him.
“Maybe today it is, but someday soon it won’t be,” he whispers.
“No, we’ll stop it. We’ll figure out what this is.”
“That book has gotten us nowhere. Mickey told me he can’t figure out what the curse has to do with any of this.”