Chapter 21 Riley
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Riley
We cleaned up the kitchen together.
It was disgustingly domestic, wiping down the table we’d just defiled, washing the dishes, putting away the cream and strawberries. Caelan kept finding excuses to touch me. A hand on my hip as he passed. A kiss pressed to my shoulder. His fingers trailing down my spine when I reached for a cabinet.
I didn’t complain.
“You’re very helpful,” I observed as he dried the dishes I’d washed. “For a prince.”
“I’ve been known to make myself useful on occasion.”
“Does the palace staff know you can operate a dish towel?”
“They’d be scandalized.” He set down a plate and slid his arms around me from behind, chin resting on my shoulder. “But I’d scrub every dish in every realm if it meant staying here with you.”
“That’s either very romantic or very codependent.”
“Can’t it be both?”
We showered after, together, because apparently we were incapable of being in separate rooms now. It was surprisingly chaste. Just hot water and gentle hands and his arms wrapped around me while I leaned against his chest. No sex, just closeness.
“I could stay here forever,” he murmured against my wet hair.
“We’d prune.”
“Worth it.”
It was nice. Really nice. Almost suspiciously nice. The universe was giving us a moment of peace before dropping the next catastrophe on our heads.
When we finally emerged, clean and dressed and looking like respectable humans instead of sex-crazed maniacs, I finally turned on my phone.
I immediately regretted it.
The notifications were endless. Messages from my friends, a cascade of increasingly worried texts spanning from yesterday afternoon to this morning.
Sloane: You okay?
Sloane: Riley?
Sloane: If you don’t answer in the next hour I’m coming up there.
Margo: Sloane says you’re having a breakdown. Should I bring wine?
Jade: Are you alright? Thessa says Caelan is with you. Is that good or bad?
Sloane: Okay I heard you through the door. Some of it. Wolves? Portals? Riley what the FUCK is going on?
Margo: I’m officially concerned. Call us.
There were more. Dozens more. I scrolled through them, wincing, making a mental note to grovel appropriately later.
Then I saw a message from an unfamiliar number. I opened it.
Unknown: Hi Riley, this is Margaret from Chapter & Verse. We were expecting you yesterday but you never came to pick up your materials. Hope everything is okay! Also found an item on the floor that might be yours? A watch? Let me know when you can come by!
Oh shit. I’d completely forgotten about my belongings at the bookstore.
I turned to tell Caelan… And the world tilted.
I grabbed the counter as dizziness washed over me. Everything felt strange, tingling, electric. A current buzzed just under my skin. My head throbbed. My limbs felt leaden and weightless at the same time.
“Riley?” Caelan appeared at my side in an instant, hands on my arms, eyes intense with concern. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t... I don’t know.” I blinked, trying to clear my vision. “I feel weird.”
“Weird how?”
“Tingling. Weighted. My senses are...” I trailed off, unable to describe it. Everything seemed more intense suddenly. The light was too bright. I could hear Caelan’s heartbeat, actually hear it, steady and strong and slightly elevated with worry.
“Is this from the claiming?” I asked. “Another symptom?”
His jaw tightened. “It shouldn’t be.”
“What do you mean it shouldn’t be?”
“The claiming doesn’t cause physical symptoms like this.” He was studying me head to toe, searching for answers. “Not beyond the initial bite healing.”
His worry hit me through the bond, a spike of genuine concern that made my own anxiety double.
After a few minutes, the sensations faded. The tingling stopped. My vision cleared. The strange weight in my limbs dissipated.
“Better,” I said, straightening. “That was... weird.”
“What happened just now?”
“I don’t know. But I’m fine. Really.” I forced a smile. “Let’s go to the bookstore. I need to pick up my stuff.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he nodded, grabbing his jacket.
“I’m watching you,” he said, and it wasn’t a threat, it was a promise. “If anything else happens...”
“You’ll be the first to know.” I patted his arm. “Relax. I’m sure it’s nothing. Probably just low blood sugar.”
We walked to the bookstore.
Caelan kept one hand on my lower back the entire time, possessive and protective in equal measure. He was watching me from the corner of his eye, tracking every breath, every step, every micro-expression.
It was sweet.
Chapter & Verse was a cozy independent bookstore that had been in Lysmont for decades. Margaret, the owner, was a kind woman in her sixties with silver hair and reading glasses perpetually perched on her nose.
“Riley!” She brightened when we walked in. “I was starting to worry. You were supposed to come yesterday.”
“I’m so sorry. Things got... complicated.”
“Life has a way of doing that.” Margaret’s eyes drifted to Caelan, who was hovering behind me, a very attractive shadow. “I see you’ve been busy.”
My cheeks heated. “This is Caelan. He’s my... fiancé.”
The word still felt strange on my tongue. Like wearing someone else’s shoes. Very expensive, very royal shoes that I hadn’t technically agreed to put on. Margaret’s eyebrows rose.
“Fiancé! Congratulations!” She clapped her hands together. “Well, let me get your things. The banners are in the back, and the signed stock too. Oh, and...”
She disappeared behind the counter and emerged with a small object in her palm.
A watch.
My heart stuttered.
“Found this on the floor after you left the signing,” Margaret said, holding it out. “It looked antique. Figured it had to be yours.”
I took it with trembling hands.
The watch was mine. The one my godmother gave me when I turned eighteen. The one that belonged to my family, my birth family, the parents I could barely remember.
I’d been so scattered lately, so overwhelmed with everything, I hadn’t even noticed it was missing. Should have been in my room, locked in the little jewelry box where I kept precious things. Because apparently I couldn’t keep track of the one irreplaceable item I owned.
If I’d lost it...
“Thank you,” I breathed. “Thank you so much. I don’t... I would have been devastated if...”
“Happy to help, dear.” Margaret patted my hand. “Now let me get those boxes.”
Margaret headed into the back. Caelan moved closer, his hand finding my shoulder.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Just...” I turned the watch over in my hands, running my thumb across the worn metal. “This is the only thing I have from my parents. My birth parents. If I’d lost it...”
“You didn’t.” He squeezed my shoulder gently. “It’s right here.”
Margaret returned with a box of promotional materials. Caelan took it from her easily, balancing it on one arm with no apparent effort.
“Thank you again,” I said.
“Anytime, dear. Come back soon!”
We stepped outside. I clutched the timepiece in my hand as we walked, not wanting to lose it again. A few steps later, I paused to fasten it around my wrist.
Caelan glanced over, and went completely still.
“What?” I asked, finishing the clasp.
He didn’t answer. He was staring at the watch, at my wrist. His expression was unreadable, carefully blank.
And then the dizziness hit again. Worse this time. Much worse. The world spun, my vision went in and out, stuttering, unstable. I staggered sideways, hand shooting out to grab the brick wall.
“Riley...” Caelan dropped the box, catching me by the shoulders. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know... I don’t...”
My knees threatened to buckle. He was holding me up now, concern bleeding into alarm.
“I’m calling Aedan,” he said.
“Maybe it’s just...”
“You’re not fine.” He scanned me head to toe, cataloging everything, and then stopped. On my arms. “Riley.”
“What?”
He lifted one of my arms, pushing up my sleeve, studying the skin there.
“Not to be rude,” he said slowly, “but were you always this hairy?”
“Excuse me?”
I looked down. My forearms were covered in hair, way more than usual. I’d always had a normal amount, but this was different, denser, more noticeable. Almost like...
“Huh.” I stared at my own arm. “Not... not like this.”
Well. That was concerning.
“What the fuck is going on?” Caelan muttered, half to himself.
His gaze dropped back to the watch, and he froze again. Very, very still.
“Where did you get that exactly?” The question came out strange, tight, controlled in a way that suggested he was anything but calm.
“The watch?” I touched it reflexively. “My godmother gave it to me. When I turned eighteen. It was my family’s.”
“Your family’s.”
“My birth parents. I can barely remember them, but my godmother, she raised me after they died. She said this was the only thing she had of theirs.”
Caelan’s eyes were locked on it. His jaw was clenched so tight I could see the muscle jumping.
“What?” I asked. “What is it?”
“This watch.” He reached for my wrist. “Can you take it off? Let me see it.”
I unclasped it, handed it to him. He examined it closely, the ornate metalwork, the delicate engravings. His thumb traced the design. Then he flipped it over. “I’ve seen designs like this before.”
“So it’s valuable? My godmother said it was old...”
“It’s not just old.” He turned it over, studying the back. His breath caught. “There. Look.”
I looked. There was an inscription on the back, small, elegant letters I’d seen a thousand times but never really examined.
MIRABELLE
“I always thought that was the maker’s name,” I said. “Like... the company that made it.”
“It’s not.” His words were barely above a whisper. “Mirabelle isn’t a company, Riley. It’s a noble house… From Duskmere.”
The words didn’t make sense. I heard them, processed them, but they refused to form coherent meaning.
“What?”