Chapter 30 The Pain Of Betrayal #2
Hearing those words from Riley splintered something inside me.
Once, I would have melted hearing him say that, because I would have believed every syllable.
But now, the man standing before me didn’t match the words he spoke.
His moral compass had flipped completely, spinning in reverse until there was nothing left but the twisted echo of who he used to be.
I didn’t miss how he had avoided my question, but I pushed forward, desperate to reach what was left of him.
“I’m here now, Riley,” I said. “You saved me, but you’ve also put me in a prison.”
He frowned, confusion flickering briefly before his eyes darkened again.
“It’s not something I wanted to do, Alex. But The General wants to use you, to destroy our world and take over his. I have to keep you here until I am told what I must do with you.”
My heart thudded painfully, my thoughts spinning as I shook my head.
“Told by who?” I asked, my voice trembling. “Riley… who is telling you what to do? Who’s controlling you?”
His jaw clenched, the muscles in his neck tightening.
“I am not being controlled,” he growled, his voice low and feral. “This is my own free will.”
He bared his teeth like a rabid animal, and I lifted my hands slowly in surrender, trying to calm the storm that was building in him.
“I’m not trying to anger you. I just want to understand. You said you’d never let anyone harm me, but what if whoever’s whispering to you…”
“I’M NOT BEING CONTROLLED!” he roared, the shout echoing off the walls, shaking dust loose from the ceiling. I instantly took a cautious step back.
“Then what if they want to harm me? What if they make you do something you’ll regret?” I pushed. His head tilted slightly, a flicker of thought crossing his face as if he was hearing something that I couldn’t. Then his lips curved into a tight, unnerving smile.
“They won’t harm you,” he said.
“How do you know that?” My voice was barely above a whisper now, my courage trembling on the edge of fear.
“I just know,” he said, breathing out slowly, his fists unclenching with effort. I took one last step forward, my heart pounding.
“Then let me see you… the real you… Let me help you,” I whispered.
I reached out, my hand trembling, longing to touch the skin I had once traced with affection. But before my fingers could meet his, the shadows coiled upward between us, slick and cold, forming a barrier.
“Riley,” I pleaded, my voice breaking. “Please. Let me help you.”
His lips peeled back, revealing his teeth, his voice a low snarl that rumbled through the air.
“I do not need your help!” The last word came out guttural and warped. It was not entirely his own. The darkness rippled in response, curling around him like a predator waiting to strike. And in that moment, I knew I was no longer speaking to Riley at all. Not one single bit of him.
“This isn’t you,” I said softly, my voice trembling as I searched his face for any trace of the man I once knew.
“You would never get angry at me like this. You would never push away my touch.” Something flickered in his eyes then, a faint glimmer, fragile and human.
For a heartbeat, I saw Riley. It gave me hope that he was still in there.
“Let me touch you,” I whispered, taking a small, cautious step forward. “Let me hold you like I’ve wanted to since… since forever.”
The words cracked at the end, betraying my fear. I lifted my hand again, and though the tendrils of darkness still swirled between us, this time they didn’t push me away. They shifted and danced, unsure whether to strike.
When my fingers finally reached him, cupping the rough line of his jaw, my breath hitched. His skin was unnaturally warm, the complete opposite of what I felt coming from him yesterday. It was the kind of heat that burned from within, and the moment my skin met his, my vision dissolved into black.
The world vanished.
Something pulled me under, and a face materialized in the void.
It was not Riley’s. It was a man’s face, unfamiliar yet chillingly familiar.
His smile was cruel, wide, stretching too far across his face, and behind it radiated pure malice.
His features blurred and reformed, and I saw another face…
one that this time struck straight through my heart.
Atlas.
Or at least, a reflection of him.
This man was narrower in the shoulders, his expression sharp and mocking, not noble like Atlas’s.
His hair was darker, his skin paler, and his eyes…
oh God, those eyes… they held malice and madness instead of resolve.
They were brown at first, rich and warm, but as the image began to shift, they drained into a deep red, the color of blood turned to rot.
The darkness that consumed the Myths, that consumed Riley, twisted around him, writhing like serpents, and only then did I see that the same smoking mist was connected to another figure standing nearby.
The monstrous one that had flashed into the vision first, the true source of the infection.
Their essences were intertwined, and in that moment of understanding, a chill of horror raced through me.
The King’s brother.
Lazaros.
The connection between the two men pulsed like a heartbeat of darkness, spreading through the room, through Riley, through me.
And then something warm brushed against my lips, dragging me violently back.
My eyes snapped open, and I realized Riley was kissing me.
His mouth was on mine, desperate, forceful, his tongue pressing against my lips, trying to pry them open.
“No…!” I gasped, shoving at his chest. Panic surged through me as I tore myself free. His head jerked back, and for a moment his expression was confusion, then fury, then something else entirely… shock.
Light burst between us, blinding and white. I looked down, seeing the glow seeping through my clothes, my scars alive again, burning fiercely. The illumination filled the cell, chasing the shadows to the corners.
Riley staggered backward, snarling as if the light hurt him.
“Riley!” I shouted, heart pounding.
“You have to let me go!”
He reached for me, his eyes burning red, his voice a guttural growl.
“You’re not going anywhere!”
I darted past him, trying to get to the door, but the darkness reacted before he did, lunging like a living thing. It coiled around my waist and arms, dragging me back. I screamed, twisting, trying to break free as the last of the light from my scars flickered against the walls.
And in the split second before the light disappeared, I saw Riley’s face contort in agony, torn between rage and heartbreak, and I knew that whatever part of him was still mine was fading fast.
“You will never leave me!” The words ripped from his throat like an order from something far older than Riley himself.
The darkness surged forward, reaching for me again, but as the tendrils brushed my barely glowing skin, they shrieked.
The sound was piercing, almost human, as if the light that pulsed through me seared its very essence.
“Please,” I gasped.
“You are NOT leaving!” Riley’s roar cracked the walls. The shadows whipped around the room in a violent storm, but this time they didn’t touch me. They couldn’t. The light was still too strong, still defying whatever corruption had him in its grip.
He growled, low and furious, and then his hand went for the knife at his belt.
Before I could react, he lunged. His arm locked around my throat, dragging me down onto the filthy mattress.
The breath was knocked from me as his weight crashed down, heavy and unrelenting.
The cold steel of the blade glinted near my face, the point kissing my jaw.
“Riley, stop!” I choked out, struggling beneath him, my voice breaking as his forearm pressed hard against my chest. His other hand tightened around my neck, the pressure building until the edges of my vision blurred.
“I should have seen it all along,” he hissed.
I clawed at his arm, desperate for air. Black spots speckled my sight, and then, just as suddenly, his grip faltered. Air tore back into my lungs in violent, shuddering gasps. I coughed hard, curling on my side, dragging in ragged breaths as he rose from me.
For a moment, the room was silent, save for the rasp of my breathing. Then he turned and strode to the door, his movements stiff, mechanical.
“Riley…” I whispered, but he didn’t look back.
He stepped through the doorway and disappeared into the corridor beyond, leaving the door wide open behind him.
I didn’t wait.
Dragging myself upright, I stumbled forward on shaking legs, one hand clutching my throat as if to hold myself together.
Every breath burned, every heartbeat echoed in my skull, but I forced my body to move.
Whatever he meant by I should have seen it all along, I didn’t want to stay long enough to find out.
Then the sound came.
Footsteps. Heavy. Rushed. The groaning protest of wood under heavy boots on the stairs.
Someone was coming.
And as the shadows along the corridor began to move of their own accord, stretching, twisting, forming shapes that were not quite human, the last of that hope slipped through my fingers.
The door slammed shut just as my fingertips brushed its cold surface, and a shadow fell over me.
Before I could even look up and confirm what I already knew, his hand was in my hair.
Riley’s fingers twisted deep, scraping against my scalp as he yanked me backward.
The pain was instant, sharp, and I threw my hands up, grabbing for his wrist, trying to ease the pull before my hair tore from the roots.
“Riley, stop please…” The plea strangled in my throat.
He hauled me upright by the hair, and I heard it, that sickening, tearing sound of strands snapping under pressure. The world tilted, the floor rushing away from beneath me as he threw me onto the bed. The impact rattled through my ribs, the old springs beneath me groaning in protest.