Chapter 52
Skye
I stepped into the clearing and was immediately swept off my feet.
I breathed a laugh as River’s lips met mine, kissing me senseless, pushing me up against the trunk of a tree. One of his large hands reached around my thigh, hiking up my leg so that it wrapped around his waist.
I groaned, then slipped my arms around his neck, pulling him even closer. River reached for my other leg, and with a small hop, he held me up completely, bringing us impossibly closer.
“Anyone see you?” he groaned in between kisses.
I huffed a laugh. “No,” I replied.
I’d been surprised when he woke me up by only speaking to me telepathically, but then I’d been so ecstatic to hear from him again, I’d left without a second thought.
“You want me?”
“Yes,” I moaned as he kissed my neck. “Please.”
“Then come with me,” he whispered.
“Where?” I asked breathlessly. Of course River was going to be like Rafe. Where the hell could I find someone to fuck me up against a tree? Sure, it wouldn’t be the most comfortable thing, but–
“Away,” River replied, still in a whisper. “We’ll run away. Together. You and me.”
My heavy breathing stalled. I blinked open my eyes, my vision blurry before it focused on River in front of me, barely illuminated from the dim moonlight.
“What?” I breathed.
“Come with me,” River said, his grip on my thighs tightening in desperation. “We can leave all of this behind. No cult. No academy. No fucking rules.”
My heart began to sink.
The idea of having River to myself was tempting, but…there was no way.
“River,” I licked my lips. “I can’t leave my Links.”
River’s grip on me loosened, slowly lowering my feet back to the ground.
“Your Links,” he said, his tone flat.
I cupped River’s face in my hands, forcing his blue eyes to stay on mine.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I love them, River. I can’t leave them.”
“They hate me,” River said, shaking his head. “When they find out what happened–”
“They’ll get over it,” I said, my hands trembling as River pulled away. “I told them. I told them…that I liked you.”
River scoffed. He faced away from me, running his hands through his hair and pulling at the ends.
“They will get over it,” I insisted.
River shook his head. “I set the fire.”
My heart stopped.
My affinity jolted, but settled, then anxiously wormed its way into my fingers.
“The fire?” I repeated, desperately hoping he wasn’t about to tell me the worst thing imaginable.
“In the dungeon,” he said, then turned to face me. “I set the fire in the dungeon.”
My blood ran cold.
“I didn’t know,” he said quickly, turning away again. “I didn’t know who they were to you, but…I don’t think it would’ve made a difference, Skye. I would’ve done it anyway.”
I shook my head. I didn’t want to believe that.
River whirled around, narrowing his eyes at me. “I don’t have a choice, don’t you get it? I have to do what I’m told.”
Rafe’s words rang through my head.
Compulsion.
I finally found my voice. “You can fight it.”
River shook his head before I was done speaking. “No, I can’t. He’s in my head. Whenever he wants to be, he’s there. He tells me what to do, and I have to do it.”
This sounded awfully familiar. My heart clenched as I remembered how Landon had once said something similar.
And then I thought of what happened to Levi…
“I can keep him out,” I said.
River’s blue eyes roamed over me, and he shook his head. “You believe that, but you’re not actually sure. Not exactly a lie…”
“River,” I groaned. “I’ll do anything to help you.”
“Except leave them,” he muttered.
“That’s not an option and you know it. You could be one of them–”
“I’m not!” River snarled suddenly, advancing on me so quickly I took a staggering step back. He scoffed. “See? Afraid.”
“I’m not,” I argued, though I wasn’t sure if I believed it anymore. “You could be one of my Links–”
“I did my testing,” River cut me off. My heart skipped a beat. “You didn’t get a notification, did you?”
My hands dropped to my pockets, seeking out my phone, but I paused as River shook his head.
“I’m not one of your Links.”
“Oh,” I breathed. Okay. That was fine. “So…Who…”
“I’m a Key.”
Still fine.
Didn’t care.
“Who are your Links?” My voice almost trembled.
“Two girls,” River swallowed thickly, pausing almost dramatically before he went on. “Grace…and Zoe.”
My mind filtered through every chick I’d ever met at this damn school, every name I’d ever heard, every professor and staff member. There was a Grace in the administration building, but it was an older lady. No way she was one of River’s Links. As for Zoe, maybe–
“They’re dead.”
I stopped breathing.
Dead? How?
A piercing pain split through my chest.
“River…fuck. What happened?”
“No,” he scoffed. “No. Don’t pretend you fucking care. You’re pissed I’m not meant to be with you.”
“Of course I care!” I snapped. “My own mother had to reject one of her Links! She was fucking sick my entire life because of it!”
“Sure,” River growled. “This was stupid. Just go away. I’m not supposed to be with you, you’re not supposed to be with me. Whatever this was is over.”
“No, I want you,” I said a little petulantly.
“Shut up,” River snapped. “Don’t.”
“I don’t care. I…want you.” I repeated.
River lunged, and I flinched, squeezing my eyes shut, praying my affinity didn’t react.
It didn’t.
The tree trunk crunched when River punched it.
Next to my head.
“I don’t care,” I said shakily. “I still want you.”
“You don’t trust me. You’re afraid of me.”
“If that were true, you’d be dead.”
River stared at me, his jaw working like he wasn’t sure what to do next.
His arms began to glow slightly, and my affinity perked up at that.
“Do I have to hurt you?” he said lowly. “Because I will.”
“You can’t,” I said shakily.
River’s expression changed finally, from a scowl to shock.
“You believe that,” he said. “You actually believe I won’t hurt you.”
“You won’t,” I said firmly. “You’re right. I don’t completely trust you, but I know you wouldn’t hurt me. You don’t want to. You’ve had every opportunity, and you haven’t yet.”
“Maybe it won’t be physical,” River said, and I gulped. His blue eyes zeroed in on my throat, and he clenched his jaw. “Maybe I’ll bring up how Wyatt rejected you. You weren’t good enough for him, but Flynn was.”
“Nice try,” I said, though my stomach churned slightly.
“Or how the Prince didn’t give a shit to meet you. Just stalked you. Wasn’t sure if he wanted you.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Or how Aiden was chasing drugs so hard he walked right into a trap. Twice.”
I almost rolled my eyes, but…that one gave me pause. Aiden walked into a trap?
River tapped his chin. “And now that your friends are fucking your brother, I’m sure they’ll be gone, soon, too.”
“And what about you?” I snapped, pissed he’d hit a nerve and also pissed I was letting this go on for so long. “No Links, so you have to steal a Key from someone else?”
River’s lips parted in shock. “Shut up,” he growled. “I know what you’re doing.”
“What?” I taunted. “Think I’m messing with your head again? Scared I’ll go into your mind and fuck it up more?”
I heard a groaning sound behind me, but I ignored it. Adrenaline was pumping anger through my veins too quickly for me to think twice. I was sick of River giving me whiplash. I’d offered him anything he wanted, and he still found ways to throw it in my face.
“I want you, and that’s not good enough for you. I’m offering you a family. Brothers. Me. My brother. His Chain. Don’t you want that? Or are you content to be alone and miserable forever?”
“Stop,” River snarled. “I know what you’re doing. It won’t work.”
The groaning behind me turned into a creaking, and I shook my head, ignoring how the trees around us seemed to sway harder in the non-existent breeze.
“You’re the only one allowed to hurt me?” I snapped. “No. You deserve some of this bullshit, too, River. I’ve done a lot for you. I’ll still do a lot for you. You deserve to be happy. You can be happy with me!”
There was a massive crack from behind, and my affinity did something it’d never, ever done before.
I teleported across the clearing without meaning to, while my telekinesis wrapped around me like it had the day of the massacre. By the time I realized what’d happened, I whirled around to see–
Several trees that were behind me had just…exploded.
They’d been completely obliterated.
The remaining trunks stood jagged in the moonlight, errant branches coming down and shaking the canopy.
“Scared,” River panted, his expression devastated. “You can’t keep me safe. No one can.”
He teleported before I could speak.
I screamed in frustration.
He was so, so wrong. But I didn’t know how to make him understand.
I stared into the dirt for a moment, tears welling at the crushed irises where we’d been standing, and then I teleported back into the dorm to find there was an active argument happening between my three Links.
“Baby?” Aiden was the first to move, grabbing me and pulling me into his arms. I relaxed only a fraction, but my vision still blurred as I stared down the empty hall. The same hall River had followed me down only weeks ago.
Everything in this dorm felt tainted.
“What happened?” Rafe demanded, shadows swirling along the carpet at our feet, searching for the threat.
I turned into Aiden, hiding my face in his chest as he murmured, “It’s okay, baby.”
Wyatt only stared at us, his arms crossed, his jaw set.
“It’s time we have a real fucking talk.”