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,mypreservation.
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.
