“He stood in that kitchen and he smiled. He told me that it’s time. Liora has been waiting long enough.”
The grief arrived as a heavy, suffocating tide. He didn’t die afraid. He died going home to her.
“He went into the other room and brought back the journal,”Riven whispered. “He handed it to me with a single command: keep you safe.”
Riven looked at me, agony in his eyes.
“He said the truth is in the book. The rest… you are strong enough to figure out on your own.”
I covered my mouth with my hand, tears spilling over.
“And then I left,” Riven said, his voice hollow. “I left him waiting for them. When I got to Highspire an hour later, Varessia was already celebrating. She told me they had him. He stayed home waiting for them.”
I wiped my eyes furiously. “The lab,” I said, my voice trembling. “You were there. Standing next to her.”
“I didn’t know they would move that fast,” Riven admitted. “I thought I had time to find him in the holding cells. But when I got to the Industrial Crescent, the machine was already running.”
“So you joined them.”
“I took my place at her side to find the weak point,” he said. “I held my silence because I knew if I broke cover too early, Varessia would kill you the moment you walked through that door. I thought… I thought if I let you hate me, if I let you believe I was the monster, you would stay away. You would be safe.”
He looked down at the scorch mark on his chest, the evidence of my rage.
“I deserved your hatred, Selene. I let him die. I deserved every ounce of that fire you threw at me.”
My heart broke. The anger drained out of me. He hadn't sold Eamon out. He’d just walked into a slaughterhouse armed with his own guilt.
“You idiot,” I whispered.
I reached across the table. I touched the side of his face. His skin was rough with stubble, warm and real.
He froze, flinching into my touch.
“You didn’t deserve it,” I said, my voice trembling. “You didn’t deserve any of it.”
His mask crumbled. For a second, he just looked tired. So incredibly tired. He leaned his cheek into my palm, eyes slipping shut.
“I tried to make you run,” he murmured. “I tried to make you hate me so you would be safe.”
“You failed,” I said softly. “I’m still here.”
I stood up. I walked around the table to stand behind him.
I reached for the cuffs.
“And you are not dying for me, Riven Ashborne,” I said, unlocking the mechanism with a sharp click. “Not today.”
The cuffs fell away. He rubbed his wrists, turning in the chair to look up at me.
“Then what are we doing?”
I looked at the journal. I looked at the man who tried to sacrifice his soul to save mine.
“I’m finished hiding,” I said. “We’re going to take the fight back to them. And this time, we do it my way.”
I leanedback against the table, the adrenaline of the confession fading into a steady ache in my chest.
We remained quiet for a long moment. The air in the flat shifted, burdened with truths we hadn’t spoken before.
