Chapter 95 Ninety eight
“Don’t come closer, Ryder. Please… don’t.”
Her voice echoed through the dim hallway before Ryder even turned the corner, soft as a trembling breath, breaking apart in the shadows like it was afraid of him. He froze, one hand braced against the cold stone wall, his chest rising and falling in jagged bursts. The curse pulsed under his skin again, a sharp, burning throb that crawled up his spine.
“Sienna,” he whispered, his voice low, strained. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
Her silhouette stood at the far end of the corridor, framed by the warm glow of lanterns. Her long silver-dark hair tumbled over her shoulders, catching the soft flicker of firelight. She had her back pressed against her chamber door, fingers gripping the handle like she feared letting go. Her gown was simple tonight, pale and flowing, but it made her look impossibly fragile.
Ryder took one step forward.
The world shattered around him.
Sienna collapsed on the floor in front of him, eyes wide, mouth open in a silent cry, blood spreading beneath her like spilled ink. Her hand reached for him, trembling violently, and her voice, broken, cracking, said, “Why didn’t you save me?”
Ryder staggered backward, clutching his head as the vision tore apart and reformed, the image of her dying flickering like flames licking at his skull. “No, no, that’s not real, ”
The hallway snapped back. Sienna was still standing, alive, staring at him with worry twisting her features.
He blinked hard, pain searing behind his eyes. “That wasn’t you. That wasn’t real.”
“Ryder,” she whispered, stepping toward him, “you’re shaking.”
“I’m fine.” His voice rasped, shaky even to his own ears. “It’s nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
He opened his mouth, then flinched as a sharp, vicious pulse surged through his veins like molten metal. He grabbed the wall again, jaw tightening, fighting the curse’s grip.
Sienna moved instinctively, reaching for him.
“Don’t touch me!” he snapped without meaning to, breath hitching.
She froze mid-step, eyes darkening with hurt.
He dragged a hand down his face. “I didn’t mean, Lunaris is doing something. Every time I get close to you, she, ”
Images slammed against his vision again. Sienna’s throat torn. Her body lifeless in his arms. Her eyes fading.
Ryder doubled over, choking on a groan. His knees hit the stone floor as the curse tightened around his lungs like a fist.
“I said don’t come closer,” Sienna breathed, voice trembling, afraid. “Ryder, what is happening to you?”
He lifted his head.
There was blood on his tongue. He tasted iron.
And the curse’s voice, Lunaris’s voice, whispered directly into the broken parts of his mind.
If your feet touch her threshold, she dies.
“No,” he growled, shaking his head violently. “No, you will not control me.”
His heartbeat roared like a drum. The walls shivered. The torches guttered as if afraid of him.
Sienna’s voice softened, cracking. “Ryder… talk to me.”
“You.” He pointed toward her chamber door with a shaking hand. “Stay inside. Do not let me near you.”
She took a step anyway.
He lurched upright, slamming a fist into the stone wall beside him so hard dust rained from the ceiling. “I said stop!”
“Ryder, ”
“I saw you die,” he breathed, voice breaking. “I saw your body on the floor. I saw myself holding you. I saw, ”
His voice failed, collapsing under grief.
Sienna’s lips parted. Her eyes glistened, but she held her ground. “Ryder, that wasn’t real.”
“Lunaris made it real.”
Silence pressed between them like an invisible shield.
Ryder’s fingers curled against the stone. The curse pulsed in quick painful bursts, making his vision swim. His dark hair clung to his forehead, damp with sweat. His pale green eyes, usually burning with strength, looked hollow now, haunted.
He tried again. One step.
One defiant step toward her.
And the world erupted.
Sienna screamed as her imaginary body hit the ground again, blood pouring from a wound that wasn’t there. Ryder saw himself kneeling over her, hands stained, his voice begging her to breathe.
He staggered back, chest heaving, fingers trembling uncontrollably. “I can’t… I can’t get near you.”
“But you came here,” she whispered, “because you thought I needed you.”
His eyes flicked up to hers.
Something inside him shattered.
He walked backward, refusing to turn away from her, afraid that the curse would strike again if he let her out of sight for even a second.
“I’ll find a way to break this,” he said, each word thick with pain. “I’ll tear apart the entire Citadel stone by stone if I have to.”
“Ryder,” she whispered, voice trembling, “please don’t fight it alone.”
Her eyes, silver-gray, wide with fear and something painfully tender, pulled at him like gravity. He remembered how they used to light up when she said his name. He remembered the warmth of her skin beneath his fingertips. He remembered the nights he stayed awake just to listen to her breathe.
And now?
Every breath she took was a threat to her life if he got too close.
Ryder pressed a hand to his chest, sweat beading at his temples. “I can’t lose you… not again.”
“You won’t,” she said softly.
A lie, even if she didn’t know it.
The curse tightened. A sharp whip of pain cracked down his spine. He sucked in a breath, staggering sideways as his vision blurred.
“Ryder!” she gasped.
“I’m fine,” he forced out, even as blood trickled from his nose.
“You’re not.”
He forced his eyes open, focusing on her face. “I’m not walking away from you. Not even if she shows me your death a thousand times.”
As he said it, another vision slammed into him, Sienna choking on shadows, her fingers clawing at his arms as something unseen strangled her.
He screamed, dropping to one knee.
Sienna rushed forward,
“STOP!”
His voice thundered through the corridor, shaking the air.
She froze inches away, trembling.
His head lifted slowly. His eyes flickered with something wild and broken, something old as the curse itself.
“If you touch me,” he whispered, voice shaking, “you will die.”
Her breath caught. “Then what am I supposed to do?”
He closed his eyes, fighting tears he refused to let fall. “Stay alive for me.”
The desperation in his voice dragged through the shadows, raw and jagged.
He pushed himself upright, every muscle trembling from the visions. He turned away at last, backing toward the darkness of the corridor.
“Ryder,” she breathed, taking one shaky step. “Please don’t leave like this.”
“If I stay,” he whispered without turning, “Lunaris will make the vision real.”
Her breath broke. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“You should be.”
He braced himself against the wall, forcing his body away from her door. His footsteps shook. His power flickered behind him like cracked moonlight. The curse clawed at him, demanding distance.
Her voice followed him, soft, aching. “Ryder… come back.”
He paused.
His shoulders shook once.
Then he whispered, barely audible, “I wish I could.”
He disappeared into the shadows,
And a faint, cold voice curled through the corridor like a blade sliding across silk.
He will watch you die.
Sienna spun toward the darkness, heart pounding,
But nothing was there.