But the day passed. And Thane didn’t appear.
Riven prowled the halls of the Virellien estate, tension gathering like a stormcloud behind his ribs. The twins were nowhere to be seen. No missions. No orders. No reason to exist.
No one stopped him, but everyone noticed him. One of the kitchen staff glanced his way, then looked quickly down. A guard at one of the side entrances pretended to check somethingon their device. They didn’t acknowledge him, but they were watching. By late afternoon, he was pacing his room like a caged animal. His thoughts circled endlessly, spiraling darker the longer he let them run. He should’ve been grateful for the distance.
But instead, he felt abandoned. Possessed, used, and then cast aside.
Like a fucking dog.
His gaze caught on the slim window above the dresser. A slice of sky, dusky now. The city skyline visible beyond it, blurred with smog and neon.
He stood abruptly, grabbing a black hoodie and pulling it on. He didn’t ask permission. Didn’t tell anyone. He just left.
He slipped out through the eastern garden wall, past the trellises and thorn roses, down a narrow servants’ path, and into the streets. No guards stopped him. No one called him back.
But he didn’t fool himself into thinking no one noticed.
The city hit him like a rush of cold water, loud and full of life. Human life. Messy, flawed, unbound. It smelled like piss and spice and old magic in the cracks of the pavement. For a moment, he felt like himself again.
He wandered through the inner slums, past the alleys and corners he used to haunt. Past burned-out neon signs and windows covered with grime. He paused outside a boarded-up nightclub he’d once danced in, drunk and high and free, back when he’d been nothing but a pretty liar with a mean blade.
A shadow peeled off from the wall behind him.
“Evening,” Cassian said casually, sliding up beside him. His golden eyes gleamed beneath the hood of his black coat, his posture relaxed but coiled, as always.
Riven didn’t stop walking. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Cassian shrugged. “Just enjoying the night air. You know. Stretching my legs.”
A second later, Luca appeared on his other side, just as casual, just as smug. “Funny how we ended up in the same place.”
Riven rolled his eyes. “You two are shit at pretending.”
“Not pretending,” Cassian said, smiling faintly. “Just following orders.”
Riven stopped short. “He sent you.”
Cassian lifted a brow. “You didn’t think Thane would let you off-leash completely, did you?”
Riven’s fists clenched at his sides. “So I’m not even trusted to go for a fucking walk?”
Luca laughed under his breath. “No one said that. Just…think of us as backup. Just in case you got lost.”
Riven’s jaw locked. “Where is he?”
That earned a more significant silence. The twins exchanged a look. Cassian’s smile faded.
“He’s busy,” Luca said at last.
“Doing what?”
“Does it matter?” Cassian asked.
Riven looked between them, heat flaring low in his gut—not lust, but ugly bitterness. Thane had sent them to babysit him and hadn’t even had the decency to show his face.
“Yeah,” Riven muttered, turning away, “it fucking matters.”
He walked on. They followed.
