“We all agreed to come here,” Kyzen says.
“Oh, blah, blah. That wasn’t even a damn choice. It was a consequence of everything he had done prior. If we never had to stand before them, you three’s mother never would’ve made us come here.”
He’s right.
I hate that he’s right.
My one impulsive decision landed us where we all are now.
“Enough, Riven. It doesn’t matter how—”
“He’s right, Kyzen. It’s my fault.”
Riven’s footsteps fall still.
Then a bark of laughter belts out of him.
“This is glorious. That’s twice in like the span of a couple of weeks he’s admitted I’m right. The realm must really be coming to an end.”
“I’ve never had an issue actually admitting when you’re right, Riven. The occasions are just far and few between.”
His smirk melts away to an unflattering sneer. In a few short strides, he stands before me.
“You can’t help yourself, can you?” he asks.
“Can’t help myself what?”
“Make everyone around you feel beneath you.”
My eyebrows scrunch together as I stare at him.
“I’ve never made you feel beneath me.”
“You have, every fucking day of our lives!” He throws his hands in the air before taking another step closer. “Don’t touch that. Don’t say that.That’s not how it works, Riven.You’re missing the point. Let me handle it.”
His voice twists into a cruel mocking tone, and heat blooms under my skin. He sees it. He smirks.
“You don’t even hear yourself. It’s always correction after correction, dismissal after dismissal, like the rest of us are wrong by default. You say this shit like we don’t try or put effort into any damn thing. Like we’re just…too slow to keep up with you.”
He releases a hollow laugh as he tilts his head to the side and stares at me.
“Is that why you’re so obsessed with your little torch lamps? They do exactly as they’re supposed to do every fucking time you flick it on.”
“Riv—”
My fist cracks across his cheek before Kyzen can finish the bark of his name.
With a deranged laugh, his body collides with mine and my back slams into the wall.
The impact rattles my teeth.
I barely get a breath before he’s on me again, driving his fist into my ribs hard enough to force the air out of my lungs. I shove back, catching his shoulder and twisting, slamming him sideways into the wall.
Something cracks under our force. The floor, the wall, I don’t know, but it gives just enough to throw him off balance.
He swings again and I don’t duck out of the way.
His knuckles snap my head to the side, and the salty tang of blood erupts across my tongue.
