Chapter 6 Riven
Riven
Finally.
The quiet reasoning inside me finally fucking fractures.
My Harmony gives way, and a smirk splits across my lips.
Sweat pours from my forehead. Some slips between my teeth, while the rest drips into the shallow puddle forming between my knees.
I’m fucking drenched.
I can’t wipe the sting from my eyes, and that pisses me off so damn bad. I want to rip someone’s head off.
Harsh flashing lights above me catch every curve of muscle, every rise and fall of my chest. The smooth black floor beneath me gleams with moisture—mine—evidence of the hours that bitch has had me chained up here in the spotlight.
The spotlight…I’ll give that fucking cunt a show.
A low giggle rumbles in my throat, and I wink at myself in my puddle as my blue at fucking last, swirls burgundy.
“The powers in my belly go round and round.
Round and round. Round and round.
The powers in my belly go round and round.
All through Seductions.
The Chaos in my belly goes he-he-ha
He-he-ha. He-he-ha.
The Chaos in my belly goes he-he-ha.
All through Seductions.”
My most favored, precious, precious power surges through my skin, and I throw my head back, laughing as it hits all the vile patrons below me.
Those poor—soon-to-be dead—beings can’t hear my hysteria or the sounds of my chains rattling around.
The music and the moans cover the fair warning I’m giving them.
They’re too busy with their orgies to notice.
The consensual and nonconsensual ones taking place.
No, no, no, Riven. Don’t think about that.
Soon enough, your Chaos will wash away the Harmony you gave them.
Another laugh belts out of me when heads twitch and understanding breaks through the clouding in people’s eyes.
Yes, that’s it. Come on, feeders. Get mad.
Get off your knees and stab the scum in their throats.
“Now, Riven dear.”
My entire body flinches, and I fight the natural reaction of my powers.
Don’t you do it, you fucking coward. Do not give in to the Harmony.
Let Chaos reign.
I thrash back and forth, trying with all my might to snatch down the damn pillars I’m chained to.
Let them crush me.
My fight wanes as she places the small tip of her fragile whip over my shoulder. It lies across my chest. In warning.
“I told you I’d only be gone a few minutes, and you were to behave. I needed to check up on my new toy that your father gifted me. Why couldn’t you just listen to me?”
I don’t utter a sound as Sabelline struts around me until she’s blocking my sight.
I’m not sure which is worse. Staring at her or staring at the atrocities happening around the Charging Chamber that the two of us caused.
The space isn’t large enough for all the company it keeps, plus the many beds, couches, swings, and cages. The black silk sheets draped across everything minimize the area even more.
This is the most popular room in Seductions.
This is her favorite room in her establishment.
My least favorite.
In here, there are no rules. Which, yes, I’ll admit, I don’t like rules.
But there’s a line.
This room, what happens here, crosses every line.
“Are you going to answer me?” Again, I stay silent. “Fine then. You there, guard, bring me a feeder.”
Saliva collects between my cheeks as I wrestle with myself. My soul. My power. They continue to fight for dominance.
They’ve always fought for the same thing. Just very different approaches.
One fights for clarity so I can keep myself safe and sane.
One fights to block the reality so I can keep myself safe and sane.
I favor the one that keeps me from having nightmares while I’m awake.
“You summoned me, Mother?”
I refuse to look at the feeder girl as she steps beside Sabelline.
“Yes, dear. Tell me your name.”
“Tansie.”
“Ah, Tansie. How beautiful.”
The girl shrieks as Sabelline snatches her by her hair and shoves her to her knees before me. She cries but doesn’t beg for her life or ask why this is happening, what’s happening. Nothing.
She sobs silently.
She knew the moment she walked onto this platform with the two of us, she was already dead.
Her hot blood splatters across my chest, and I pick my eyes up to watch the life leave hers.
They shatter into a million pieces as she gurgles and attempts to hold her throat together. They beg me to save her, but I can’t do that.
I was never able to do that.
No matter what I thought, I’m not saving any of them.
I shove my Harmony toward her.
The least I can do is distract her from her pain since her life is ending because of me.
When her body falls still and consciousness leaves her, Sabelline lets her tumble to the side. Her prone body makes my puddle of sweat splash everywhere.
“Very good, Riven. Now you leave your Harmony at the helm, or I will leave bodies of feeders at your knees. Sound good?”
I grunt and snatch my jaw out of her grasp.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
She smiles in victory, dragging her fucking nails across my shoulder as she strolls around to my back.
My glare bounces around the Chamber, locking onto those who are fearful and growing more aware.
Their fight drains out as my power once again penetrates them.
Bile rushes up and out of my throat faster than I can stop it.
I apologize to Tansie repeatedly as the contents of my stomach splash across her legs.
Now I have nowhere to look.
If I glance out at what’s going on in front of me, I witness what my power is encouraging.
If I bow my head like I’ve been doing, I get to stare at Tansie’s lifeless body.
If I close my eyes, it drowns out everything that’s going on.
Then my own clear, conscious thoughts become too loud to ignore.
Sabelline’s huff echoes in my ears as she plops down on the couch behind me. She mutters to her servant to fetch her some wine, and I sneer at the command.
She’s the vilest bitch I’ve ever met in my life.
“So tell me about my new toy. Is he a friend of yours?”
No part of me wants to respond to her, but I’ve pushed my luck. I’ve been pushing it since I arrived back in my personal hell.
The longer I continue to ignore her, the more ruthless she’ll become.
This question, though, isn’t all that hard to answer.
“No, he isn’t.”
I hate that blond fucker. Not as much as I hate her, but close.
He’s number two on my “Blond Gods I Hate List.”
Maybe he’ll die here by her hand.
“Well, why not? He was there fighting with your brothers and that delicious little Binder the four of you were given.”
My eye twitches, and I snatch my soul back by the tight leash I have around it.
Do not reach out to her.
Do not reach out to anyone.
“Because he’s in Gladian’s Valtrue and they were required to meet Kirabitch at the barrier with us.”
A hiss whistles through my teeth as she whips me.
“Do not speak your father’s name like that again.”
Her shrill makes heat travel up my body. The raging inferno wants desperately to break free. As soon as the fire reaches my throat, though, my Harmony freezes it in its place.
“Well, the two of you will grow out of the dislike you have for one another. As soon as I get you back in the groove of things around here, I’ll allow the two of you to spend some time together.”
The flip-flop from fucking psychotic to sweet is startling.
Even by my standards.
“No, thanks.”
“Now, now, Riven. You know how rude that is. You don’t deny a gift, and you always give one in return.”
I grit my teeth.
“It’s also rude to offer someone a gift when you know they have nothing to give you in return.”
“Oh, but you do have something I want in return, and you know this. Tell me how you weaved Amick’s essence into my Binding. That wasn’t an ability you had before. You know Mommy can keep the secrets of your powers to herself.”
Gross, gross, gross.
Why this crazy bitch is so obsessed with being my mother—everyone’s mother—is still so weird.
I have a mother. She’s a piece of shit too.
Don’t need an extra shitty parent.
“I had this ability. I’ve learned how to use it in different ways.”
“Are you saying you used your Chaos to warp the essence like you do your surroundings?”
“Yep.”
She hums, and her fingernails clank against glass.
“That’s impressive but disappointing. We both know I won’t be allowing that power out to play. My gift is far more rewarding for you than your gift was for me.”
I scoff before I can stop myself, and her outraged gasp is swiftly followed by another lash across my back.
Unlike Gladian’s massive whip—well, the one he had—hers is small and dainty.
It causes nothing more than paper cuts.
Those tiny licks pack a punch, though.
The weapon is embedded with the God of Pain’s power and…Creed’s.
I shake my head back and forth to get him out of my mind.
“It’ll be good for you to have some companionship outside of my own. I don’t want you to grow lonely again, nor do I want that for him. Your brothers have decided not to come here to be with you. Which I’m not surprised by, sweetheart. That’s how it always was before.
“Those three were always closer, and they’ve always made decisions together. You all have a precious, powerful Binder whom they won’t want to share with your father. They won’t choose you over her. You should be understanding of that and not be so angry with them for not coming with or for you.”
Don’t listen to her.
She’s trying to get into your head and manipulate your feelings.
Ignore it.
I mean…are they coming? It’s been a while.
Be patient.
It’s hard to be patient when I know they could’ve reached me by now.
You told V to tell them not to come.
Yeah, but they’d never listen to that.
Maybe they did.
No…no way. They’re planning. Amick’s probably driving everyone crazy.
You drive Amick crazy. He’s probably happy you jumped in front of him. You’re a burden to him.
Burden, burden, burden.
My little burden will choose me, and she won’t give the others a choice.
Right?
Wrong. You haven’t—
Sabelline snatches my head so hard, it pulls me out of my mind. I flail about, attempting to get her face the fuck away from my ear.
“Oh my, look at her go.”
She tangles her fingers in my hair and grabs my jaw, forcing me to face a group going at it on one of the largest beds.
I get enough of a glimpse to see what’s happening, then I slam my eyes shut.
“It’s extraordinary, Riven. Six men at once.
That takes remarkable skill, and it’s all thanks to your power she can achieve that.
Your sweet, sweet Harmony’s first night back is doing astonishing things.
The way they’re fucking her however they please is giving them a power boost that’ll last them days.
Weeks maybe. Poor thing is most certainly going to need a healer after that. ”
Her repulsive laugh pierces my eardrums. The ringing it brings makes my head spin. She slings me away from her, although I have nowhere to go.
The chains holding my arms up and in place are as unrelenting as the power in control.
Contrary to what everyone thinks, given the annoyance I show every time my Harmony comes to the forefront, it listens to me as well as my Chaos. Except in very specific circumstances.
When I’m in the presence of this bitch.
When babies or animals are involved.
And…my little burden.
Any of those three situations will have this half of my power blazing through my blood. Unstoppable.
Not because myself, my soul, my other half of power, or even my psyche is weak. It’s because it’s protective.
To an alarming degree.
It, in my opinion, is far more dangerous than my Chaos.
Why?
Because Harmony doesn’t care about strategy or that there’s a motive to the madness.
It cares for preservation. More specifically, my preservation.
In moments like this hell I’m facing, though, it isn’t my shield, my protection, or my voice of reason.
It’s my leash. It’s everyone in this room’s leash.
While it takes control, settling my triggering emotions, it’s also settling all of theirs. It pumps all these people full of coerced consent.
They think it’s peace.
It isn’t.
Panic vanishes beneath a warmth that should be mercy, but it’s poison here.
They don’t understand. They can’t understand because my power took that clarity from them to make sure that I see clearly while I’m in danger. In her presence.
Harmony doesn’t care that they need their fear.
It only cares that I don’t.
The vast, vast majority of these people choose to be here, Riven, you know that.
I also know the ones who don’t.
I can’t ignore them when a touch of lucidity enters their senses.
Even those who don’t want to be here in Seductions, they want to be in the Abandon.
Regardless of whether you were here, this would happen.
Yeah, but it’s ten times worse with me here.
You can’t…
Stop. Stop. Stop.
I bellow to the room, and if my fists were free, I’d bash my own fucking skull in.
“Release your grip, just a little,” I beg my power.
My Chaos swirls in my belly, trying its damnedest to answer my call. I could fucking sob when my Harmony relents a touch.
Another shrill tears out of my throat when it shuts it back down just as fast.
No. No. No. I can’t do this.
I can’t sit here again, alone, with her at my back and witness this repeatedly.
Agonizingly slow, my Harmony loosens its control. Its force clenches yet again when I shove my Chaos in the small opening it gave me.
What the fuck do you want me to do?
My chest heaves uncontrollably as I refrain from giving my Chaos any command as it slithers through the minuscule fracture my Harmony opens up.
A small chuckle, more like a harsh breath, falls out of me as my Chaos settles around my mind.
That puff of air rolls into a belly-gripping giggle. Well, I can’t reach my belly right now, but if I could, I’d be holding it.
This…
This shift in my powers, thanks to my new boost, I can live with. I can embrace and allow them to work together.
Harmony on the outside but Chaos…
“Sing with the Chaos,
A mind full of madness.
Lashes, lashes,
I don’t feel a thing.”