Chapter Sixteen
Riven's POV
I woke with my face pressed against his chest.
Lior's heartbeat was steady unbothered. His fingers were tangled in my hair like he'd held me through the night. Like he hadn't once let go.
It should've felt safe.
It didn't.
I sat up quickly, pulse already racing.
The bond was too quiet. Too heavy. My body still hummed from the night before emotionally wrecked and physically ruined.
"I shouldn't be here," I muttered.
"You are," Lior said softly, not opening his eyes.
"I need to go."
He reached out lazily, grabbing my wrist. "No."
"No?"
"You're shaking."
I looked down. My hands trembled like I was freezing but I wasn't cold.
"Something's wrong."
Lior sat up instantly, now alert.
And then we felt it.
A wave of energy sharp, cold, ancient rippled through the air like a scream in silence. My ears rang. My skin prickled. Lior's fangs flashed instinctively.
"Fuck," he whispered.
"What is that?"
He stood, moving toward the shadows like something might step through them. "We weren't alone last night."
I froze. "You mean someone...?"
"No," he said, voice tight. "Something."
Before I could speak again, the mirror in the corner of the room shattered without warning.
Glass flew across the floor. The temperature dropped.
And then… it appeared.
A figure cloaked in black, face hidden, magic dripping from its skeletal hands like smoke.
The voice that followed was layered like a hundred voices at once.
> "You dare bind what was never meant to connect…"
I stepped back. My heart thundered.
Lior stepped in front of me. "Who the fuck are you?"
> "The curse has awakened us."
> "Two hearts that should never touch now burn."
> "The price is pain. The price is blood."
The figure raised its hand and Lior was thrown across the room, slamming into the stone wall with a crack.
"Lior!" I screamed, rushing to him.
He groaned, blood dripping from his temple. "It's a spirit guardian. Ancient. Cursed. It protects the old laws."
> "End it. Or you both will suffer."
Suddenly, the pain in my chest burned white-hot. I gasped and dropped to my knees as flames danced under my skin spreading from the curse mark.
Lior crawled toward me, teeth bared in rage.
"You want us to suffer?" he growled. "Too late. We already are."
The spirit hissed.
Lior threw his body over mine just as the spirit struck again. The room cracked. Candles exploded. The walls screamed.
And then...
It vanished.
Just like that.
Gone. Like mist. Like smoke never meant to linger.
I coughed, still curled against Lior's chest. He was breathing heavy. Shaking.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
I nodded, barely. "What the fuck was that?"
He brushed hair from my eyes. "A warning."
"We woke something we shouldn't have."
He didn't deny it.
Just held me tighter.