17. Riley
RILEY
S omething about today felt critical, especially when the past couple of days had been so slow. Zander had been in and out of the apartment, minimally attentive, as was usual for him as of late.
So I’d retreated to the garden as often as I could. It was a perfect place to think.
I leaned over on a bench and twirled my hand through the icy pond water. I dragged my fingers back and forth rhythmically along its surface, watching the multicoloured fish darting in and out of sight to hide amongst the plants. The garden’s floral perfume filled my nose on each inhale as I sighed out in a private moment of bliss. This truly was a bit like a sanctuary, a relaxing haven of peace and beauty.
When I closed my eyes, I could pretend the world was anything other than the one in which I lived.
Joy fluttered inside me when I envisioned this future. I could see myself working within the community, sharing my love of food like Mum, bringing laughter and ease to another’s day. Perhaps I would have a pet I could care for at home. I’d have a small house with a big garden to grow herbs for tea, with vegetables and flowers to share.
I sighed again, this time with resignation.
The likelihood of it ever happening was so slim, I shouldn’t even waste my time thinking about it.
It was laughable, because Zander hated animals. Everything else was literally the most undesirable thing on the planet for a male who loved the finer things in life. Even if I achieved what I wanted, I would be stuck with him. Not that it was all bad—it was just lonely at times.
My eyelid cracked open at the approach of scuffling feet. I straightened myself up, chin held high, back to the poise expected of the Rose.
“You need to show them how untouchable you are, my Rose. You are someone they could never be, no matter how much they try. They are all beneath you.” Zander’s words bounced around in my mind, a testament to our difference. I wanted to walk alongside others, hand in hand. He wanted to walk in front of them.
Sly popped his head around a tall rose bush, allowing me to slump in relief. I’d decided we were friends at this point, confident in each other’s trust, the keepers of each other’s secrets.
I hadn’t been able to shake the feelings he stirred within me, my body and heart clinging to the moments that passed between us, so desperate for a glimpse at a connection like this.
I realised now all Zander had been giving me were the crumbs of what love could be.
“Everything all good here, Riles?”
I smiled warmly. “Everything is all good, Sly. Thank you for looking out for me.” I was being formal, and I hated it.
He turned away with a small tip of his head, mirroring my formality. He knew I’d kept my distance, kept to being polite.
My focus had to be on Zander, though. He was likely to be my future. Zander and I had only kissed and cuddled on occasion; it had never progressed further. It seemed like he was happy to wait for the day I begged for him, but I would never beg. I think he honestly believed that every single female within the Haven adored and wanted him, that our merging was inevitable: the Supreme and his darling Rose. I scoffed aloud.
To his detriment, he was skimpy in his affections, and I had tired of him in recent weeks.
Since Sly had wound his way in.
In the meantime, my sex life was about as life-filled as the desert in which Raya worked. It had been that achingly long.
But I wasn’t prepared to give myself over to Zander, not yet. I intended to hold my cards close. Zander perceived me to be the equivalent of a sacred chalice, one he was so desperate to drink from, even if he would never admit it. I could use a thing like that to my advantage.
The wind picked up around me, icy and ominous, so I pulled the blanket around me tighter to my chest.
I turned back to the pond and peered beneath the surface at the fish huddling together, seeking comfort. Even they needed connection.
The surface of the water rippled and cleared with each gust of wind as browning leaves rustled on the ground.
A light crunch behind me pulled my attention away from the peace of the moment. My body reflexively tensed in response to the disturbance. I prayed to Omni quietly in my head. Don’t be him. Please don’t be him . My quiet moments alone were becoming rarer and rarer, with a guard ever present, and this time spent in the garden was the one place I had as my own.
I curved my lips into a graceful smile, and I turned towards the sound, prepared.
A young hand reached toward me with a quick flick of its fingers, startling me. It was far too close to my face, far too close for me to have not heard much else prior. I tried to scream at the unidentified intrusion, but I couldn’t even move my lips to form the words. I couldn’t feel my lips move. Only muffled sounds escaped me, not enough to be heard by anyone in this section of the garden.
My fingertips grabbed at my mouth to pry it open, to force whatever resistance held them together out and away. Instead, to my absolute horror, my fingertips brushed over smooth skin. The bump of my lips was no longer there.
I turned to stare back into my reflection in the water, terror sluicing through me at what shone back. Fearful eyes, spooling curly black hair, a nose but no mouth.
I jerked back in fear, my heart pounding at my ribcage, echoing loud in my ears.
Run, Riley. Run.
I turned to do just that as ice began to form on the skin at my feet. A cool, insidious something crawled higher up my body, feeling so like how Raya’s gift had brushed against me so many times before, though hers felt like a ray of warm sunshine.
I pulled my gaze downward to watch it slowly crawl up my legs, moving higher and higher until only my head was left unfrozen, staring at the shadowy, cloaked figure before me.
Long white hair hung from within the figure’s black hood, which shielded the entirety of their face. Their tattered robe dragged along the ground with every whip of the wind. The only part of the intruder visible were two hands with long, black, chipped nails. Three lit, tapered candles of differing heights floated in the air before her, the flames flickering in the wind but never going out.
My head spun from trying to process what was before me.
Everything about it seemed like a dream, but it felt so terrifyingly real. I knew I was awake. I knew it, but I didn’t want to be. I wished more than anything that this was only a nightmare.
A wispy, raspy voice floated on the wind towards me, my body turning numb beneath the ice. “Death has called your sister’s name.”
A violent wind whipped through the garden as the hedges rattled and blooming roses were ripped from their stems. The garden structure I sat beneath creaked from the onslaught of its gusty blows. I squeezed my eyes shut.
Please go away. I couldn’t even fathom her words beneath my fear.
So, I fought, surged and bucked against that insidious, wicked thing that bound me, desperate to flee.
Until suddenly, there was no restraint, and I fell to my knees, connecting with the cobbled floor, my vision blurring before the world around me went entirely black.
The clicking of heels resounded, louder the closer they came, a new figure bending down to meet me. Long, blood-red hair, a youthful, plump face, and perfectly black manicured hands came into view, the same three candles hovering in the air.
A younger, softer voice whispered in my ear in the abyss of darkness. “Fate has made its move, Riley Ward. Now, it is Destiny that calls you to challenge it.”
My fear was still potent within me. Challenge what? Raya’s prophesised death? My body felt like it was floating in the ether, with no awareness of my limbs, sight, or sound. I couldn’t tell what was real and what was not.
She leaned closer until her face hovered directly in front of mine, her beautiful features twisting to something darker, more ferocious. “It is time you enter the board of power, Rose of the Haven, and make your move, lest you be shoved.” Her words were a snarl, spittle flying in my face as I scrunched my eyes and prayed to get away from this nightmare.
My gut lurched forward, my body tightening in sheer panic as the shadowy darkness was ripped out from underneath me.
I screamed.
There was no barrier left to stop my free fall. The air rushed past my ears, towards whatever ground lay beneath me. It seemed to screech and snarl as I dropped lower and lower, the wind becoming more violent around me. My dress tangled around my limbs, hands reaching out for something, anything to grab onto. I cried out for it to stop, though I knew no one would come.
I seemed to fall forever, until my voice became hoarse and I lost the energy to fight.
I fell until the fear had left me, accepting what was to come as I splayed my arms wide and closed my eyes in acceptance.
Only when I accepted my fate did the darkness choose to reach for me. Only then did it choose to wrap me in its cool embrace, cushioning my fall. I slowed and then stopped entirely, aware of something solid against my back but not able to wholly feel it.
Bit by bit, I began to feel soft, phantom hands touching my body, more conscious of the sensation of someone shaking my shoulders as my ears pricked at an inaudible murmur that grew louder, laced with concern.
“Riley, are you ok? Can you hear me?”
I mumbled something in reply, my mouth struggling to work. My eyelids slowly fluttered open to see Sly’s concerned expression, his fingers gripping my shoulders hard.
I blinked again.
“I’m okay,” I reassured him, though it was slurred. I tried to pull myself up with a wave of dizziness but failed.
He wrapped his hand underneath my head to support me as he helped me sit up.
“Don’t move too much for now,” he ordered, jumping up to scan the paths leading out of this small alcove in the garden.
“Don’t tell him,” I pleaded. That was my first thought. He couldn’t know about this, or he would take away this privilege too.
“Surely you know I won’t. Besides, I would get in trouble,” he confirmed, his eyes softening with worry.
He understood at the very least. He knew it would only take one small threat to me for Zander to rationalise keeping me in his ivory tower, likely with different guards who would obey him.
He squatted down beside me again, and I lifted my hand to wrap it around his, looking up at his kind, handsome face.
“Thank you,” I murmured. I could never say it enough.
He gave my hand a gentle squeeze, the rough scrape of his hands against my smooth skin sending a shiver down my spine.
I retracted my hand from his grip, frustrated at myself for the decision to keep my distance, even if it was for the best. He frowned down at his hand, turning it over. It made the lingering nausea worse. I didn’t want this to be my life, but it was.
I hauled myself up to my feet, not wanting to touch him again, fearful of the reaction it stirred in me. I smoothed down my dress, ridding myself of the dirt.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said honestly.
He stared at me, worry etched on his features, but I wasn’t going to relent. It was something he seemed to sense. What happened was something I needed to figure out on my own. He reached out his hand to tuck my hair behind my ear, a sad smile gracing his face before his stony mask slid back into place. He stepped back.
“Goodnight, Rose.”
I walked past him, weaving my way back through the rosy path to the base of the tower, determined to figure it all out. If tonight proved anything, it was that I needed a plan, but first, I needed to crack the code.
The only thing on my mind as I made my way back were the whispered words that had brushed against the shell of my ear.
‘Death has called your sister’s name.’
My hands formed into fists as I walked, clenching and unclenching to release the tension that had built up in my body from the encounter. With Zander out tonight, I’d plot. I’d involve myself in whatever way I could in Raya’s life. Move or be shoved.
Death didn’t know I had made a promise to my mother to protect my sister with everything I had, and I’d be damned if death thought it could derail me.