Chapter 111: A Morning Admission - Riven's POV

Despite the revelation of her nightmare, Callista soon fell asleep, while I was left in turmoil.

I just watched her sleep, probably for longer than I should have.

It was something I wouldn’t admit out loud after she woke up. To her, I would tell her that I slept like she had.

My back stayed against the headboard with one hand resting on the curve of her waist, just to make sure the bond stayed…even. I wanted to make sure that she didn’t slip back into whatever that place was that kept pulling her under.

Summoned. The word had lodged itself somewhere in my mind and refused to move.

I exhaled slowly through my nose, careful not to wake her, and then stared at the ceiling like it might offer an answer. A useful answer that is.

But it didn’t and never would. My mind kept circling back her dream, toying with the idea that my biological father actually did this to me instead of it being something I inherited.

My breath came out shaky as I looked down at her, biting at my lip. All the muscles in my body tensed.

No, I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to remember what I had dreamed about alongside her. And it’s not something I wanted to tell her either.

I had been half-awake when the dream took her, and though normally I wouldn’t know a thing, I was aware enough to feel the bond twist into something wrong.

That it had felt like a conversation I wasn't invited to, yet I was there anyway.

Then she had awakened and I had to pretend that I knew nothing about it, which made me feel worse. The demon wanted us to know it, but I wasn’t sure if it was just grasping at straws to cause chaos again or if…this was what was real.

Slowly, I let my eyes slide closed and tried to get some sleep, because I didn’t want to be dead on my feet tomorrow at the academy.

Callista stirred just before seven, and I never went back to sleep. She eased out of bed as if that would do anything to disturb me. As soon as the door was closed, I left to head downstairs to grab us something to drink and came back as fast as I could, holding two mugs of coffee.

I heard her before she came out of the bathroom—the sounds of water running, a drawer sliding open, the quiet muttered curse that made something almost like a smile pull at the corner of my mouth before I could stop it.

"There's no conditioner," she announced when she emerged, a towel wrapped around her hair and wearing one of my shirts that she hadn't asked permission for.

She didn't need to and I didn’t care that she had gone through my things to find it, either.

"I know," I said, handing her a mug. "I don't use it."

She stared at me, then at the mug. Then back at me. "How does your hair look like that without using conditioner?"

"Like what?"

"Like—" She gestured vaguely at my head with the mug before taking a sip, and I watched the way something soft moved through her expression despite everything. "Never mind. It's annoying. You’re just so…good looking without much effort.”

"Good morning to you too."

She shot me a look over the rim that should have been sharper than it was. There was still a shadow under her eyes, still something careful in the way she moved, like she was checking each step before she took it. But she was here, standing in my room and wearing one of my shirts, arguing about my use of conditioner.

“Good morning,” she finally said, her voice low. “I just… I’m still thinking about the dream.’

“We’re going to be late if we don’t hurry and get ready.”

"I know." She was already moving, the mug still in hand, and I heard her rummaging through her bag as I headed to the closet.

A moment passed before I heard her voice again. "Riven."

"What?” I called out as I changed out of my clothes and put on the academy uniform.

"Have you thought more about what it said?"

I stilled. The question sat between us and all I could do was stare at the wall.

Of course I had. It had haunted me all morning since she woke up and told me. To be honest, it haunted me the moment I was sucked into the dream too, though she didn’t know that part.

"Yes," I murmured, buttoning up the front of my shirt and reaching for the cup on the shelf.

"And?" She asked, her voice much closer now.

I turned and found her standing in the doorway of the closet, fully dressed with a bag over her shoulder. The mug was nestled in her hands as she watched me with those eyes that saw a bit too much.

"And it changes things," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "If someone summoned it, then there's a person at the end of this. It means either my father is the culprit and did it himself, he had someone do it for him, or he has no idea that someone else is pulling the strings.” I glanced at her, meeting her gaze. “Someone made a choice to curse me.”

I stopped. My jaw tightened until I felt it in my teeth.

Callista crossed the space between us without a word.  I looked down at it for a moment, then back at her.

"We find out what he knows," she said quietly.

"And if he knew everything?"

She didn't flinch. That was the thing about her. She never flinched when it mattered. "Then we deal with that too. We’ll add it to our never ending pile of things that have gone wrong for us.”

I exhaled and set my mug back on the shelf, before reaching out to grab her and pull her close. “You are too good for me.”

"We're going to be late,” she whispered. “If we stay like this, I won’t ever want to leave.”

“I know, but I’m not sure I care at this point. Having you back in my arms is everything I have dreamed of for over a year,” I murmured into her hair.

“What do you think the school will say? You know students will talk,” she admitted. “We were so fast and then apart. Now we’re back together.”

“Let them talk, “ I said with a chuckle. “I don’t really care. You’ve always been mine, even when apart.”

The corner of her mouth curved. “Yes, I have been.”

She looked up at me through her lashes, and despite everything—the demon, Ronan, the word summoned still sitting like a coal in my chest—something in me settled slightly at the sight of her.

Mine, my wolf said simply. For once, I didn't argue with him.

"Come on," I said, moving toward the door. "Silver Moon Academy isn't going to survive us being late."

"Bold of you to assume it's surviving us being there at all," she muttered, falling into step beside me.

And despite everything, I almost smiled.