The Queen sat elegantly on the couch, legs crossed, posture regal despite the plain setting. Her golden eyes followed Riven as he stood several feet away, arms crossed, jaw tight like he was trying to look in control.
"Alright, listen up," he said firmly, forcing the words out before his nerves got the better of him. "Here's how this is gonna go. You're going to stand up, turn around, and leave the same way you came in. Preferably never come back. Got it?"
Her lips curved slowly, faint amusement glinting in her gaze.
Riven swallowed but pressed on. "Or," he continued, voice firm, "I call the Union, and they'll come take you in. Your choice."
The Queen didn't know or understand what any of those terms actually meant, but due to Riven's Hive Regent skill, she could see fragments of his memories and grasp a basic understanding of what he was communicating.
He was threatening her.
For a second, there was silence.
Then, the Queen tilted her head ever so slightly, her expression soft—too soft.
"You really think you can threaten me, Broodmate?" she asked gently, her tone almost playful, though her eyes held a glimmer that made Riven's chest tighten.
She leaned forward slightly, her fingers tracing lazily across her knee as her smile deepened.
"You're cute when you act like this."
Riven stiffened as a strange warmth brushed faintly against his senses—light, subtle, but enough to make his heartbeat stumble for just a moment.
His mind screamed Not again! as he instinctively took a step back, forcing himself to focus.
"Don't," he said sharply, glaring at her. "Don't you dare try that again. Keep your damn pheromones to yourself."
Her smile didn't falter. If anything, it grew.
"You're still so strong spirited," she murmured softly, as if that only intrigued her more. "I like that about you."
Riven's brows furrowed, frustration seeping into his voice.
"How the hell did a monster like you even learn to speak the human language so well?"
Her lips curled into a slow, knowing smile as her golden eyes glimmered playfully.
"I wanted to impress you, make our next encounter… romantic, as humans say."
Riven froze, his mouth opening slightly, but no words came out.
She leaned back on the couch, resting her chin delicately on the back of her hand.
"I thought you'd appreciate it. After all, it would be rude if a queen couldn't even speak to her Broodmate properly, wouldn't it?"
Riven's hands clenched at his sides, his voice rising as all the frustration and fear he'd been holding back finally spilled out.
"Stop calling me that!" he snapped, his tone sharp enough to cut the air. "I'm not your Broodmate—I want nothing to do with you!"
The Queen's smile faltered just slightly, but she didn't look away.
"My life was finally starting to go well before you—before you decided to do what you did!" Riven's voice cracked, anger and desperation mixing as he jabbed a finger toward her. "You used me to build your monster army, then turned me into a monster! And now you show up here acting like everything's fine and tell me to just follow you? To what? To go lead some miserable life where we're hunted down by guilds until they finally kill us all? I'm basically a ticking time bomb now; only hell knows what the Union will do if they figure out what's really going on with me!"
"Fuck!"
"How can someone have the audacity to act in such a way? Don't you have any conscience? But then again, I guess you're just a monster running on instinct, so it makes sense you wouldn't understand!"
For a moment there was silence.
The Queen's golden eyes softened, her smile fading as she lowered her head slightly.
"…So much pain…" she whispered, her voice trembling in a way he hadn't expected. "Your pain… You're in pain… I've hurt you."
Before Riven could respond, she stood up suddenly, her movements slow yet deliberate, and began to approach him.
Riven's eyes widened. "Stay back," he said sharply, his voice tense.
But she kept walking, her steps calm, her gaze fixed on him as she whispered again, "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"
His heart pounded as he took a step back. "I said stay back!" he barked, panic starting to creep into his tone.
She ignored him, her eyes shimmering as she muttered apologies repeatedly with each step.
Riven kept retreating until his heel caught the edge of a rug. He stumbled, his balance gone, and crashed onto his back with a grunt of pain.
By the time he looked up, she was already on all fours, crawling toward him with an almost desperate look on her face.
"I'm really sorry…" she murmured again, her voice breaking slightly.
Riven gritted his teeth, fear and frustration boiling over. "I said stay back!" he shouted.
In that instant, his eyes flared a bright, searing orange. A faint pulse rippled outward from him, a signal wave that struck the Queen, halting her movements just as she loomed directly above him.
"You… bitch…" he hissed, anger lacing his voice. "Why don't you get it? Just—"
Something wet splashed lightly against his shirt.
Riven froze.
He slowly looked up.
The Queen's face was inches from his. Her golden eyes brimmed with tears, and streaks of moisture rolled down her cheeks as she whispered, her voice raw and trembling.
"…I'm so sorry…"
Riven's anger faltered, his breath catching as he stared at her in shock.
She was crying.
The Queen's voice cracked softly as she whispered, "I didn't know I hurt you… Don't be angry with me, please…"
Riven froze. His chest tightened, and guilt stirred somewhere deep inside him. He didn't know what to say, what to feel. For the first time since she'd arrived, he looked… conflicted.
Slowly, almost timidly, she reached for his hand.
Her fingers brushed against his as she gently guided it to her face, pressing his palm against her cheek. Her skin was warm, impossibly soft.
"I love you," she murmured, her golden eyes shimmering with sincerity. "See? Do you… not love me?"
Riven's breath hitched.
Suddenly, an overwhelming sensation surged through him—an alien rush from every point where their skin touched. It was as if invisible threads were binding them in that moment.
His chest filled with a dizzying blend of emotions that weren't his own—excitement, bliss, the fluttering warmth of someone deeply in love. His heart beat faster as if it were echoing hers.
But mingled with that joy, he felt something else.
Genuine sadness.
Loneliness.
Desperation.
And then came the memories.
Images and sensations crashed into him in waves—her wandering through crowded streets, peering into alleyways, scanning faces in marketplaces, lingering outside his old apartment, the faint hope in her eyes dimming a little more each time she came up empty-handed.
She had been searching for him.
For three months… she had been trying to find him.