Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Torin
“The barrier broke. We couldn’t keep it active any longer.
Where is the horseman?” Imani asks as she runs toward me.
Her exhaustion is plain to see. She’s probably never created a barrier of such magnitude, let alone kept it active for so long.
And with her strength, she likely bore the brunt of it.
“He’s gone,” I say, but my attention is on Riley… or, to be more exact, where Riley went.
I don’t have to search hard; the orbs are steadily floating toward an alley he must have gone through.
My hand tightens on Quill’s mane before I walk toward the alley, my head a mess.
Riley is the horseman who killed everyone I loved? Everyone I cared for?
He doesn’t look like the horseman I fought… but as his magic has begun to settle and even out, I’ve felt hints of it.
I did last night in bed.
And I definitely did during the fight.
I turn the corner and see Riley on the ground, sending fear through me. What if he got hurt and I didn’t realize it? What if the magic was too much for his body?
Letting go of Quill, I rush forward and discover that he’s conscious, just curling in on himself.
“Riley!” I shout as I drop down beside him and draw him into my arms. “Riley. Hey…”
He pushes back from me, and for an instant, I wonder if that magic has consumed him again, but I see the tears and the horror on his face. “Don’t touch me. I don’t deserve any kindness from you.”
I ignore him and gather him into my arms. He fights against me, but his body is weak and he ends up sinking into me while I cradle him.
“How can you show me an ounce of kindness?” he whispers. “How can you not hate me?”
I pull him closer and gently tilt his chin up. “Do you remember killing them?”
His face shows his pain. “No. Of course not.”
“Then why do you blame yourself for it? I killed the horseman who attacked my land. My guess is that the horsemen are beings that cannot fully die. They are part of the prophecy for the end of all worlds, after all. They likely reincarnate when ‘killed.’ You can’t blame yourself for something that happened in the past that you don’t even recall.
It would be like you hating Mickey for something his father did.
It wasn’t you, my sweet Riley. You may share the same powers…
you may be a reincarnation of him, but it was not you.
I’m sorry if I made you worry. My mind was just reeling and trying to focus on the fight, so I forced myself to cut off all thoughts but killing that man. I could not spare any.”
I draw him in tighter and squeeze him to me. “Riley, you are so very special to me. You are everything I love. You are my world. We will get through this together, okay?”
Riley seems uncertain but he does allow me to continue holding him.
I know he fears that the relationship between us has changed, but I know that the person in my arms is not the man I’ve spent nearly two hundred years hating. Riley is kind and selfless, but that’s partly why it’ll be so hard for him to process what happened in a life that was long before this one.
Before we can say anything else, Mickey comes barreling onto the scene, batting away the souls that seem to be flooding around Riley.
“Why are these things all crowding around here? Don’t they realize I have shit to do?” he asks as he rushes forward and grabs Riley’s face in his hands. “Asshole!”
“Why am I the asshole?” Riley retorts. “The fucking Door exploded. You act like I did it on purpose.”
“I didn’t know where you were or what happened to you. And I couldn’t fix the Door and I couldn’t help you and I…”
Mickey dramatically sinks down to the ground right then and there. “I burned so many calories in my panic. The pain… the suffering…”
He kind of just… falls into Riley, hugging him to himself as Imani comes around the corner.
“Is Mickey hurt?” she asks.
Mickey nods, even though he looks perfectly fine. “I have been wounded… I require pampering and care.”
She takes her foot and rolls Mickey off Riley before kneeling in front of us. “Are either of you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” Riley says as he tries to hide his trembling hands against my body. “Torin is hurt, though.”
I shake my head, refusing to let go of Riley so anyone can check. “I’m fine. Nothing serious. I’ll soak in some healing water and call it a day.”
Lt. Lindsey seems to have also found us around the corner, which might have something to do with Quill’s ass sticking out of the alley and all of the souls bouncing around us.
“Is the horseman gone?” she asks.
“Momentarily… but I’m not quite sure he’s gone for good,” I say.
Imani asks, “How long is momentarily?”
Riley doesn’t say anything, so I respond, “I would think we’d have some time to recover and think of our next move. Could be months… could be years. Whatever the god did to him, I think it’ll take him a while to return.”
“Why did he do that?” Riley asks as he draws back from me, and more than anything, I want to pull him in. “Why take away the power of one he needs to fulfill his plan?”
“I don’t understand myself. I assume it has to do with the fact that Conquest was faltering because of you,” I say.
“Because of Riley?” Imani asks.
Riley refuses to engage, so I twist it around a bit. “Because of Riley’s magic. The horseman started to withdraw, and the god was not pleased by that.”
“I see,” Lt. Lindsey says.
“Why are the souls drawn to the two of you? Is it you, Torin?” Imani asks.
“No… it’s this magic,” Riley replies. “I think they’re drawn to this magic.”
I notice he has his body turned slightly away from me and appears to be trying his best to focus on the others. I just want them all to leave so I can talk to Riley, but right now, I’m not sure he wants to talk to me.
“Torin, let’s get you cleaned up,” Imani says.
“No, I’m fine. Please worry about the others out there.”
Imani hesitates because she seems to notice that something more is going on here, but I don’t think Riley is ready to talk about it just yet. He’s acting like he doesn’t want to even engage.
“Let’s begin scouring the area and find anyone who has been affected by the horseman,” Lt. Lindsey orders as she sets off. “When you two are able, go see someone about your wounds.”
And now there’s just the three of us.
Mickey eyes us before cupping Kit’s face to make Riley look at him. “Am I going to be left out of the loop? Because that’ll make me sad.”
“Oh, it’s nothing much,” Riley says. “I just found out that I’m a horseman, and not just any horseman but the very one who slaughtered all of Torin’s people. Lovely, yeah?”
“Could be worse,” Mickey comments.
“How?” Riley asks.
“I don’t know… you could have also like stepped in gum or something.”
Riley gives him a push to try to make him join the others, but Mickey doesn’t seem interested. “Why do you act like this isn’t even surprising?”
Mickey simply shrugs. “I don’t know. I think my body isn’t built for being overly surprised by things, so I just take in the information and go ‘Oh, interesting’ and move on. Anything more would burn far too many calories.”
“Riley, please stop acting like you’re the one who did it. You are a reincarnation of the horseman who killed them,” I say, but Riley still won’t turn to me, and I’m startled by how much that bothers me. I really just want to grab him and pull him into my arms, but I don’t want to force him.
“I’ll leave you two to talk for a minute,” Mickey says, but Riley grabs his wrist.
“No. I just…”
I stare at him, upset that he doesn’t even want to be alone with me. “Riley.”
“We’ll… we’ll talk later. We need to get you help and get things cleaned up… and what do I do with these things?” he asks as he gestures at the souls hovering around him.
“Do you think you can put them back?” Mickey asks. “Just like stuff them in.”
Riley shrugs before he carefully stands up, pulling away from me and heading down the alley. I sit and watch him go, uncertain what this pain in my body is. Am I more hurt than I thought I was? But then why is it only when Riley won’t look at me?
He disappears out of sight while I remain here, wild turmoil racing through me.
Quill comes over and nuzzles against me.
I press my hand against his face, knowing that simply petting him always makes me feel better, but this time, it’s as though the issue is too much.
I feel like I can’t breathe, and I’m a god! I don’t even need to breathe!
I debate opening a Door and just going home.
I’m not sure what that’ll solve, but I know how to be miserable there.
I don’t know how to deal with this, and I don’t like it.
I grab Quill and he pulls me to my feet as I look down the alley in the direction Riley went before realizing that I don’t want to face the pain of him turning away from me. I don’t think I can handle it anymore.
I reach out to Quill, planning on swinging onto his back, but before I can, Riley asks, “Where are you going?”
I hesitate when I hear his voice. For a long moment, I don’t know what to say, and I can’t decide whether I want to turn around and face him or keep looking away. “It’s been too long since I’ve ridden an escalator.”
“You know you’re not allowed to ride escalators without me there to laugh at you,” he says.
I turn to look at him. “I assumed…”
“Well, you assumed wrong. I just… I needed a minute. I didn’t know that you would just…
” He grits his teeth. “I didn’t know you’d take that as an invitation to leave.
I only…” Riley falls quiet as he bows his head.
“How do I even face you, Torin? How do I even apologize? How can I even handle what I’ve done? ”
I take a step toward him, but I’m so afraid that he’s going to turn around and run from me that I feel nervous. And I’m someone who rarely experiences what being nervous feels like. “You’re you, Riley. You’re not the man who did it.”