Chapter 69: Dig Deeper - Callista's POV

I stood there long after he left and even after my parents said goodnight, staring at the door as if he’d come back through if I just stared hard enough. He didn’t come back, though.

The silence in the room felt heavier than before, pressing in around me until it was hard to breathe. My hands slowly dropped to my sides, my fingers curling into my palms as I tried to steady myself.

You shouldn’t ever trust me.

Those words echoed in my mind over and over again until I was sick of them.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head as I took a step back. “That’s not true. You wouldn’t—”

My words cut off.

Would he? It twisted in my chest.

He told me that I wouldn’t know when the demon was in control unless he wanted me to know. So had he done it before? Was there a time he was in the driver seat and I had no idea? Would Riven tell me if it had happened?

“Probably not,” I answered myself.

He didn’t want me kissing him when the demon was in control and seemed pretty jealous over it. So if it had happened, he wouldn’t want to admit it.

Part of me wondered if it was an attempt to push me away, to keep me just out of reach, but the other part argued he loved me and did this to protect me.

But we were just sixteen, navigating a bond we didn’t even understand in ways, and so…naive. Did we even know what love was?

I turned toward the wall that separated our rooms, my gaze locking onto it as if I could see through it. Even now, without knowing, I could almost feel him pacing on the other side. He was quiet and there wasn’t any noise coming from his room, but I just knew that was what he was doing.

The bond pulsed faintly in my chest, warm and constant, but there was something else mixed in with it now. Something darker and unsettled. Something that didn’t belong.

My hand lifted slowly, pressing flat against the wall. For a moment, it felt like he was right there with me. My breath caught.

“Riven…” I whispered.

The pull between us tightened, making my heart race. And then it shifted. My hand dropped immediately as my stomach twisted.

“That’s him,” I breathed, taking a step back. “That has to be him.”

I focused on the feeling in my chest, trying to make sense of it, because the feeling wasn’t just Riven anymore. It was…both of them. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to ground my thoughts, but everything he said kept replaying in my mind.

He only lets you know when he’s in control.

My throat tightened.

“No,” I said again, louder this time. “I would know. This is just his words getting to me.”

But even as I said those words, I couldn’t stop the rush of emotions. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to think back to every conversation, trying to place when this feeling in my chest started.

I forced myself to breathe through the spiral threatening to pull me under. My fingers dug harder into my arms as if I could anchor myself. Thinking like this wasn’t helping. It was exactly what the demon wanted. He wanted me to be confused and doubt everything while I shook with fear.

If I let those feelings take root, then I was already losing before anything even happened.

Still, I couldn’t ignore it entirely.

My mind drifted back, sifting through every moment with Riven since we met three weeks ago. Then, two weeks ago, when we… met out in the woods. I searched through his actions, trying to find something off or something that didn’t feel like him, but every memory felt real.

And that was the problem.

If the demon could make it feel real, then how would I ever know the difference?

My chest tightened again, but this time I didn’t step away. I leaned into the feeling instead, focusing on the bond itself.

It was there, steady beneath everything else. Stronger than the unease and stronger than the flickers of something darker trying to bleed through. I held onto that, letting it ground me as my breathing slowly evened out.

“He’s still there,” I whispered, more to myself than anything else. “I felt him fighting.”

That was something the demon would never fake or take away from him. I would always be able to hear the strain in Riven’s voice. He wasn’t going to lose. Not with me by his side.

My gaze flicked back to the wall, my jaw tightening slightly. “And I’m not going to let him,” I added quietly.

Determination settled deeper into my chest, pushing back against the fear I felt clawing its way through me. I couldn’t afford to second-guess things now. That would destroy us faster than anything the demon could do, but I also couldn’t be blind.

Slowly, I walked over to my bed and sat down, my hands resting in my lap as I stared ahead. If he could hide, then I needed to learn how to see. Not just with my eyes, but with the bond and everything I was.

Because if what Riven said was true, then the demon’s greatest weapon wasn’t control. It was deception.

I lay back slowly, staring up at the ceiling as my thoughts refused to quiet. The bond pulsed again, softer this time, but I didn’t flinch away from it. Instead, I reached for it, carefully, like touching something fragile that could break if I pressed too hard.

“Riven…” I breathed again, barely audible.

For a moment, there was nothing but that steady warmth. Then something brushed against it. It was faint and sharp.

My breath caught as my fingers curled into the blanket beneath me. “No,” I whispered, my voice trembling despite my resolve. “You don’t get to hide in there.”

I closed my eyes, focusing harder this time, pushing past the surface and searching deeper for him.