Chapter 62 #2
I’d felt this presence before. This was the Telepath who’d controlled Landon, scaring him enough to ask me to kill him. The presence still didn’t react to me, and I wasn’t sure if it was because it was too distracted to sense me or if it truly didn’t realize I was here.
Regardless, it was hurting River.
In a blink, I stopped it. Halted it in its tracks. One moment it was there, and the next it was gone.
River let out a breath of shock, his pained sounds ceasing immediately.
Wyatt’s hands spread across River’s body, searching for an injury to heal while I stayed inside the mind, searching for anything else that could hurt him.
“Holy shit,” Zephyr groaned. “That hurt me, too.”
“Are you good?” Wyatt asked, not taking his attention off of River.
“Yeah,” Zephyr replied.
I continued searching River’s mind but there was nothing else lurking. I’d snipped the connection between the presence and River’s mind. I imagined I was in a tunnel, building a wall brick by brick to close the opening so the presence couldn’t return.
River’s groan brought me out of the haze.
I blinked, the scene in front of me coming back into focus.
Rafe and Aiden were huddled together almost as if they’d been about to embrace.
Wyatt’s hands were still on River’s muscled torso, trying to find something to heal.
My own hands were in River’s hair, and River was still curled in on himself, with one arm extended so he could grab my ankle.
“What was that?” Aiden’s whisper broke the silence.
River? I asked carefully. I didn’t know how much we could explain to the others, and I couldn’t guess how he’d feel that they’d witnessed such a vulnerable moment.
“My…dad,” River croaked, his voice deep and gravelly. Wyatt touched River’s cheek, and River hissed as Wyatt healed a deep, angry bruise on his cheekbone.
“He hit you?” I almost gasped, which was stupid. Taking a punch was much less offensive than being assaulted mentally, but seeing the physical bruise ignited something inside me.
“Yeah,” River wheezed. “Tried to kill me. Talked back. Stupid.”
“You’re not stupid,” I whispered. “What happened? Why didn’t your mom step in?”
River stilled for a second, then shook his head. “Stupid,” River insisted. “Crusader…he killed Earl’s daughter. There was nothing I could do.”
Willow and Mia gasped from the bed.
“Shit,” River breathed, squeezing his eyes shut. “Who else is here?”
“It’s just my brother and his Chain,” I explained. “You can trust everyone in this room, River. This is…this is our family.”
“Your family,” he whispered.
I shook my head.
“Your family,” Rafe said suddenly, shocking all of us. He loomed over us, his dark eyes darting back and forth between me and River. “If you want it,” he added.
I stared at Rafe like I’d never seen him before. I’d told him I loved him before, but…but if that was love, then what the hell was I feeling now?!
“Where am I?”
I blinked, unable to answer him. I was still speechless from Rafe’s declaration.
“The Palace,” Rafe answered for me. “You’re safe here.”
River shook his head, then sat up. “No one is safe here. He’ll come for me.”
“He can try,” Rafe replied darkly.
“No one’s taking you,” I said, reaching for River’s hand. He winced, but let me link my fingers with his. “Remember what I told you?”
“I…Skye,” River’s expression crumpled, and he leaned forward, resting his forehead against my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him while he shook. “He’ll…he’ll make me hurt you.”
“The guys said…that the compulsion didn’t work on my mom.”
River tensed, then pulled back, glancing over my shoulder at Wyatt.
“It’s true,” Wyatt confirmed. “Levi told us it never worked on Iris. That it didn’t work on him, either, because Iris protected him, too.”
“I don’t know if I can…trust that,” River said. “My…” He squeezed his eyes shut, and my heart sank as a tear tracked down his cheek. “My head. My…all my memories. He…tells me things, and I have to do them. I’ve never been able to fight him.”
“He tells you to forget something and you just…do?” Aiden asked in horror.
River nodded. “I…it makes me dissociate for a few days. I never remember what I do during that time. It’s like I just wake up in the middle of something.”
Rafe and Wyatt made eye contact, having a silent conversation before Wyatt took a deep breath.
“Can I see?” Wyatt asked.
River’s eyes widened, and he leaned away from Wyatt so fast he knocked me over. He lost his balance, partially falling onto me while catching his weight above me. I kept my arms wrapped around his shoulders, telling myself he felt safer this way.
Telepath? River breathed.
Listen to me, I said, forcing River to look at me. Wyatt has an affinity for…memory stuff. He will not hurt you. I swear.
Go with him, River said, moving his hand to my arm and squeezing gently. Don’t let him go in there alone. Please.
I nodded.
“Wyatt,” I said. “We’re going in together.”
“Of course,” Wyatt said, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows and momentarily distracting me.
I swallowed although my mouth was dry, then sat up as we all repositioned.
“Skyes, do you need us?” Zephyr asked.
“No,” I said. “Maybe it’s best if we…”
Rafe nodded, looking to Isaiah. “Take them to a spare room.”
Minutes later, we were settled and ready.
River was trembling, unable to let go of my hand while he furiously chewed at his thumb with the other.
I put my hand over his, gently pushing his tortured thumb down and away from his face.
It’s okay, I whispered. He breathed out heavily, but didn’t object.
“I’m ready,” Wyatt said.
River’s mind was…a mess.
His memories were distorted. Even simple ones involving the two of us talking in class. The way he viewed people was...weird. Some people looked evil somehow, while others barely had facial features.
Wyatt was beside me, sifting through memories as he searched for the problem. I trusted him to find whatever it was while I waited patiently.
I couldn’t imagine an affinity for compulsion.
I could never live with the guilt of forcing someone to do something they didn’t want to do. I couldn’t even imagine using such an affinity on one of my Links.
And Avery had tried to use it on his Key.
I felt surprise from Wyatt beside me, and I trudged over to him. I felt as if the two of us were glancing down into a pond, watching the memory play out.
It was a woman. A really pretty woman. She had the same expressions as River, a few of the same features, though her large eyes were a dark brown. She was speaking to a kid. She turned him to face the mirror, and my heart leapt. It was little River.
“What if I burn the bedroom?” he asked. “What if the whole house burns down?”
“Then I’ll come find you,” she replied gently. “But River? Listen to me. Don’t ever hide if there’s a fire. I can’t find you if you hide.”
“Okay. But what about–”
The memory changed, turning into something else. A much older River was weeping, his head in a woman’s lap.
River turned to look at the woman, and Wyatt and I both turned to stone.
It was…Regina Wilson.
Why…was River in her lap?
“You’re going to break him”, she said as she wept. “You’re going to break my perfect boy.”
“He’s a brat”, a familiar voice said. “If he’d do as he’s told, none of this would happen.”
Skye, Wyatt said to me, his tone careful.
A flutter started in my chest. A flare of anxiety coursed through me, and I blinked, realizing Wyatt had felt it, too.
We need to go, Wyatt said.
But I was still watching River as he watched Regina Wilson.
She was combing his hair with her fingers.
Skye, Wyatt urged.
“My perfect boy”, Regina said, tears falling. “My sweet, perfect baby blue.”
Wyatt and I pulled out of River’s mind together, both gasping as we came back.
I immediately teleported away, so that I stood across the room near the bathroom.
River sat up, holding his head. “Skye?”
“Skye,” Wyatt warned softly.
“What happened?” Aiden was already moving toward me, keeping one eye on River. “What did you see, baby?”
“I…” River licked his lips. “I can explain.”
“Explain what?” Rafe asked, moving toward Wyatt.
“Explain why he was laying in Regina Wilson’s lap while she pet his hair,” I whispered harshly.
Aiden whipped around, opening his mouth to say something to River, and then–