Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Torin
Riley smacks around on his tappy device just outside the Door in his world, and Imani and Vinny soon arrive.
After a quick introduction, Imani starts escorting the wounded.
Thankfully there aren’t many, only about sixteen, and almost all have minor injuries.
Sadly, just about anyone who was involved in the attack had no hope of getting out of it.
It upsets me that I couldn’t save them all. It seems like almost everyone from outside the capital made it, but those inside weren’t as lucky. It was harder for me to get a Door open for them, and by the time I managed to make it inside to create a portal, many had perished.
I can’t fathom how a god could take such a precious thing and destroy it. Of course people can make mistakes. They’ve only been alive for so few years; we can’t always assume they’ll know what’s best compared to us gods who have been around for hundreds or thousands of years.
But to kill them all because of choices a tyrannical leader made hundreds of years earlier?
“What are you thinking about?” Riley asks while we lead everyone who wasn’t injured back toward the palace and the houses that are right outside of it. We’ve finally passed the mark where the grass is dead and petrified and moved into the area where the foliage blooms with life.
“It’s so beautiful,” Story says as he touches a flower. “I’ve never seen wildflowers before.”
I beam at him, pretty proud of my greenery. Riley offers me a soft smile, so I reach out to my sweet man who looks a little beat up. His face is bruised and he has blood on his forehead. I gently push his hair up and check the cut before drawing him in and kissing the side of his head.
I nearly lost him. I could have lost him… and that just…
“I would find you again and again, no matter how many times I needed to,” I whisper.
“What’s that?” Riley asks.
“He’s being creepy,” Vero says. “He’s saying that if you die, he’s going to find you and raise you and then romance you again. That’s illegal where I’m from.”
“I didn’t…” I glare at the irritating man. “Fuck off. I was being romantic!”
Vero shudders. “Creepy.”
“I never said I was… fuck off,” I growl.
“I would raise him. Little baby Riley would be adorable,” Mickey says.
“You can’t even raise yourself!” Joy points out.
“Oh… right. I would still give it a valiant effort.”
“I’m not dying off! Why are you all planning for my afterlife?” Riley asks before whirling on me. “And you! Stop fretting. You’re making yourself anxious.”
“I would never.”
Riley raises an eyebrow.
He’s just so delightful.
“Okay, fine, fine. I’ll be good,” I promise him.
Riley says, “We need to instead think about what we’re going to do. When we get to the palace, I’ll step into my realm and call for some undead to help clean up and get things sorted.”
“I can do it,” Mickey offers.
“You still look rough,” Riley says.
“I still feel weak but I can do it.”
“I think it was caused by the spell Famine used to turn Onyx’s body into a vessel for Selena,” I observe.
“That was my impression,” Mickey says. “Story told me that they recently put new brands on those with magic. Onyx was the one who placed the brands, making me believe that Onyx had magic that allowed her to deplete others’ magic.”
“Onyx had magic?” Lark asks in shock.
“After hearing what happened, I believe that Famine used both Onyx’s and Sterling’s magic to make Onyx into a vessel for the goddess.
She accomplished that by using Onyx’s magic to siphon all of the magic from everyone in the world via the brands.
Sterling’s part in it is less apparent, but my assumption is that Sterling’s power was manipulative in some way.
It must have been some type of mental magic that made it so the goddess could enter Onyx’s body,” Mickey says thoughtfully.
“So since Onyx placed a brand on everyone, she was able to draw in their magic and drained many people—including me because of the bullet—to complete the spell. I’m sure Onyx had no idea what Famine was convincing her to do.
This tells me that the goddess was so severely depleted that she no longer even had a physical form.
So in order for Famine to save her, she had to find a way to open up a body that Selena was compatible with. ”
Riley hums in thought. “I don’t think Sterling had any idea what was going on, either. Sterling was convinced she was talking to her sister. They needed her to complete the spell.”
“I didn’t know you had a brain in there,” Vero says as he flicks Mickey’s head. “Sounds empty.”
“Did you just compliment me?” Mickey asks, looking absolutely thrilled.
“I would never choose to do such a distasteful thing,” Vero says, eyes narrowed. “I compliment no one other than myself.”
“So… so that means I’m special,” Mickey announces. “Riley, did you hear that? I’m special!”
“How does this creature come to these conclusions?” Vero growls before looking at Riley. “Make it stop.”
Riley simply shrugs. “Once Mickey’s released on the world, there’s no stopping him.
” Mickey gives him a pitiful look, and without hesitation, Riley kneels down and Mickey climbs on.
He slumps down on him while I wonder if maybe we should have sent Mickey with those who needed medical attention.
He still looks extremely pale and weak, but he’s happy as can be because Joy and Tommy are back.
He sags against Riley and mumbles something I can’t hear, but it makes Riley tilt his head toward him and murmur, “I’m really glad you’re okay. ”
That’s when something Riley said earlier hits me… about him bringing the dead in to help.
I know he mentioned retrieving the dead from his world, but what would happen if we revived some dead here?
An uneasy feeling hits me, so I shake my head and decide I’ll think about such a thing later.
“The town continues down this street,” I explain to those following us. “We’ll fit as many of you as we can in the palace for now and the rest in town halls. Then tomorrow we’ll begin to set up housing for all of you.”
“We cannot thank you enough. We will do everything we can to help,” Lark promises.
“You are very kind,” I say as I lead a large group into the palace. While there are definitely not enough rooms for all of them, they find ways to cram into the dining hall and every room they can before I take those who are left to the town hall that is still in rather good condition.
Once they’re settled, I head over to my bedroom and sort through a chest before I join Riley on the other side of the Door I’d made that goes straight to the Magical Interference Unit.
He went over earlier to discuss things with some people there.
When he sees me, he smiles. “They’re going to work on getting us some food. ”
“Thank you.” I hold up a few gemstones as I notice he’s alone. “Do you know where I could sell these?”
Riley picks them up. “Are they… are these okay to sell?”
“Yeah, I can always find more,” I assure him. “They weren’t hard to get.”
He stares at them for a second before nodding. “Don’t tell anyone that they came from your world, understand? You found them in a different realm and casually picked them up hundreds of years ago. I don’t want anyone trying to come into your world looking for quick ways to get rich.”
“Understood,” I say. “But you find it sexy when I beat people up.”
Riley grins at me, and since no one else is in the room, he slides into my arms. Kit is mesmerized by the shiny gemstones, so Riley’s eyes aren’t quite following me, but once his hands are on me, he knows just where to tuck himself.
“I’m sorry I worried you,” he says.
“You’d better be,” I tease as I kiss the top of his head. Then I push his hair back and kiss his forehead before I move down to his lips. His kisses are so sweet and gentle before he rests his head against me.
“Are you okay?” he whispers.
“About?” I kind of feel like a lot is going on, and I’m hoping he mentions something specific so I don’t say the wrong thing.
“About them moving into your realm. Not that long ago, you said that you liked it being just us. Does it bring up bad memories?” Riley asks. His words are so gentle and calm, but I can feel his fingers digging into my back, like he’s desperately hanging on to every word I have to say.
I slide my hand around his back to pull him into a more secure hold. “I think… it makes me happy to see so many people. The idea of walking down the streets… seeing the shops… greeting people… who knows how many will even stay, but even if just five or ten do…”
His hands tighten. “I need to know why I did this. Why I killed everyone you love.”
“You didn’t do it,” I remind him. “You work so hard to save everyone. You’ve always done so much for them. It’s okay. I promise you that it’s okay.”
“How can I not hate myself, Torin?”
“Because you didn’t do it. Because I don’t hate you. I love you. And I want you to realize that you’re the reason so many people are still alive. So many people get to continue to live because of you.”
I tip his chin up and run my thumb over his cheek. “Believe me, please.”
Riley nods, but I don’t know if it’s just to appease me. I kiss his cheek before I hear someone knocking, and Riley pulls back to face Lt. Lindsey when she steps in.
“Lieutenant, I did have one more thing. Can you find us someone who’d be interested in Torin’s gemstones? We’d like to use the money to buy supplies and food for the displaced people.”
Lt. Lindsey examines the stones before nodding. “I know someone who’d handle this. I’ll call him now.”
“Thank you. Then I’m thinking we should go to a bulk store to buy supplies, right?
I mean… how do we buy thousands of things?
We don’t even know how many people we have yet.
Story is supposed to get us some numbers,” Riley says.
“I guess I could summon some undead who could get supplies from multiple places. I’ve been careful not to touch anyone since I touched Mickey. ”