Chapter 65: The Lies We Tell - Callista's POV

My heart froze in my chest. I glanced at the door, holding my breath. Riven’s head popped around the edge of it. He had a grim smile painted on his face.

“Hi,” he said softly. “I just came to see what you all were doing.”

I stood there for a moment, letting my heart calm. I had been so certain that it would be my parents or his and that they heard everything I told my sister. It didn’t matter that I was only scratching the surface with what I told her. They didn’t need to hear any of it.

“We were just talking,” I said, my voice shaking.

“Talking,” he whispered, glancing between the two of us.

Sabine was still backed against the wall, and though my hands were no longer on her shoulder, she had nowhere to go. It didn’t look like just talking. Before I could say anything or even move, she brushed past me, huffing.

“Just let me go,” she bit out when I turned to say something to her.

She walked out of the room, almost slamming the door against the wall as she did. Riven just stood there, looking at me with a concerned gaze. When she was gone, he stepped into the room, leaving the door cracked.

“I heard the last bit of it,” he murmured. “She had to know.”

The tears I had been struggling with fell harder. I couldn’t contain them any longer. They fell down my face as a sob choked me.

“She didn’t understand, and I had to make her see that I was doing what I had to do.”

He stepped closer, pulling me into a hug. “I know, but everything will be fine.”

For a moment, I tried to let myself believe that everything would be fine, just like he said. But my mind wouldn’t agree to it.

I stepped back, pulling myself away from him as a surge of anger soared through my veins. “It’s not going to be fine. Do you realize how many lies we’ve had to tell?”

“Lies?” He asked, his brow arching. “The only lie we’ve had to tell is that the Alpha King’s son is dead. Everything else is true.”

I glared at him, seething. “What about when your demon lies?”

“My demon—” His words trailed off. “I can’t help what he does.”

“Was the dream you gave me a couple of weeks ago even what will happen? Maybe all of this has been a lie.” I stepped back again, making a space between us. “It wouldn’t be hard to imagine that everything he showed me was wrong.”

“Or what he showed you could be right.” Riven stepped forward, slowly caging me in until my back was pressed against the wall. His fingers shoved under my chin, forcing me to look at him. “Stop running from our fate.”

“Riven, I—” I stopped. Riven had never once been…unkind. As I looked into his eyes, I couldn’t find who I normally saw looking back at me. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to make you see that we are on the right path. Everything is going to be fine,” he said softly, just like he always did, but there was an edge to it. Something that didn’t sound like Riven. “We have made all the right choices.”

“Give me Riven back,” I said firmly, staring directly into his eyes. “I know you’re influencing him.”

His eyes went solid black, as if on command. “How did you know? It’s not like you’ve noticed before.”

My heartrate plummeted. Before? Did that mean that he had taken over Riven before and I didn’t know?

“Connecting the dots,” he said, leaning in closer. “Trying to figure out how many times I’ve taken over your mate and been the one talking to you without you noticing?”

“This is the first time and—”

“Are you sure?” He asked, his voice dipping into a purr. “Think harder.”

“Give Riven back,” I bit out.

“You say that as if I forced him away,” he said coldly. “Maybe he doesn’t mind it as much as you think when I take over.”

“I know better, because he wants to be rid of you.”

That made him smile. Though Riven’s face was right there, in some ways it looked nothing like him. The mouth wasn’t right.

“You have no idea what he really wants and thinks,” he replied, reaching up to brush one finger across my cheek where my tears ran. “If only you knew the thoughts that go through his head about you. You’d run.”

“And what thoughts are those?” I asked, my voice hitching. “He’s my mate, so—”

“Blood will run,” the demon said, using Riven’s voice but mixing his own with it. “That little dream you had about your entire pack being slaughtered is in your future. Nothing can stop it.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Am I?” He asked, tilting his head to the side as his gaze dragged over my face. “Are you so sure about your darling mate? Don’t you remember how he fought during the ceremony last week? He almost killed other heirs.”

“He was fighting for us, so that I wouldn’t be taken from him. You know as well as I do that the other packs wanted to accuse him of dark magic, because of when—”

“When our mate bond manifested,” he replied smoothly. “Yes, I’ve been there for all of it just as you have.”

“Give me Riven back,” I said again, more firmly this time as tears slid freely down my face. “It’s important.”

“He’s right here with me,” the demon murmured. “We’re one and the same.”

I glanced into his eyes, only finding those two black orbs staring back at me. The demon was fully into control and I knew that everything out of his mouth was a lie.

But in the back of my mind, I still wondered if maybe he slipped a little truth into it.

“Please.”

“I like how you cry,” the demon whispered. “You still look pretty.”

“That’s not something Riven would say,” I admitted, trying to turn my face away.

Once again, he had his fingers under my chin and turned my face to look at him.

“Don’t look away. We’re not finished.”