Chapter 35 35
RANDOM FACTS: Rowan's last words to Riven were "I love you." He'd been waiting nineteen years to say them again. He just wishes he'd had more time.
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When I wake up, my head pounds like it’s seconds away from caving in. My eyes burn from the color rushing into my eyes as I sit up before I notice the steaming meal placed in front of me.
And Rowan sitting in front of me.
His legs are crossed, the usual softness in my grandfather’s eyes are gone. He looks older, like a stranger compared to the man that I have seen many times since he arrived.
His clothes are different as well. He has on a waistcoat, and tailored pants. He has his glasses on but his hair is slicked back like this is an important meeting and I need to know the severity of it as he says, “You should eat. Say nothing. Eat first.”
My body moves, my hand reaching out for the plate of spaghetti and pulling it to my lap before I start to eat.
It’s… delicious as all his food has been, and I’m on my fifth or sixth plate when I hear him say, “We have thirty more minutes before Kael would come find you. We had… an agreement in which I would not keep him from you. He would sense this and come for you.”
“I don’t… understand—”
“I have tried to shield you from as much as I can because I know that deep down, no matter whatever it is that people have claimed that you are, I know you are not,” Rowan cut in, his eyes still hard like they were walls in front of them now. “But it seems that there is only so much I can protect you from, my dear Blue and I apologize.”
My body feels uncomfortable on the chair. I place the plate back down, my own voice sounding uneasy, “Is it… is it because of last night? My… my memory is foggy and I’m not sure… I’m not sure I was in the right frame of mind after the fight I had with Claire—”
“Claire is missing.”
The statement settles in my chest like a fucking bomb as I feel the blood in my face drain. The world spins slightly, my hands trembling as I try to form words with my lips. “W-What?”
“Ariadne… her mate, has made claims that you must have been the one who had taken her.” He continues, his eyes still empty. “And there was the… thing that happened at the park. Certain people are… talking and they believe you used her for some sort of ritual—”
“Ritual?” The word leaves my lips like a breath. My chest feels like it’s clogging up. “I don’t—”
“You are aware that after the war, people like us— like me, Betas who have abilities that can be attributed to Ixhel were treated very differently.” He says. “Healers. Seers. Keepers. Anything that could disrupt the factions and were deemed as unnatural was buried away. It was why I knew very late what our… bloodline did, Riven. Why we are… tied to him.”
As he says this, I watch as he pulls out something from his pocket and places it on the table. “Do you remember the story about the sky god hunting down our goddess?”
I nod.
He moves his hand away— and right on the table, is a feather. “Even though they were parts of our goddess that wished for her freedom, a tiny part of us… desires for her husband… our husband, even after his punishment. We did not have the drive or desire to come together and become whole like the rest. We were different . Our own… third something.”
“Betas.”
He nods. “But at the very least, we held gifts of Ixhel. Still, the first Draken was a Beloved, a wolf that bore the ability to love as much and as devoted as the moon goddess. And using a ritual, tried to reach out to him. But the sky god had ignored him… and something else had responded instead. The goddess of Night, Nyx.
“She threatened him for daring to wake her from her slumber then after he pleaded for his life, made him swear that he would spend his life, and the entirety of his generation to make sure her child was protected and kept. That was how the first Keeper was formed.”
“Her son…” My hands grip the edges of the couch as I swallow. “K-Kael?”
“No. The thing inside him. Χάος,” His eyes grow soft. “The goddess, Nyx, had created a void out of her hatred for beings she viewed as lesser than her. But years down the line, she realized she held no desire to bring the end of the world and instead, placed It inside a body that could contain it, while making us become the Keepers to keep him asleep until it was time for him to wake, Riven.”
This all feels too much. I feel like I can’t breathe and every instinct in my body tells me that I should stand up and go find my friend. That all of this… all of this is not my business.
But my grandfather seems to notice this because he’s out of his chair and heading to me, his hands instantly clasping on mine, his eyes filled with emotion now. “I did not know that we were Keepers until we came here, Riven. Astoria found me. He knew… he knew that you would be his Mate. That you were to be the last Keeper to contain him. I left because… because I had to keep you safe. So I could find out everything I could to see if he’d take me instead. If I could… destroy him without you having to be the one doing it. Without you harming yourself.”
I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. “Rowan.”
“I didn’t know years passed. Time moves differently there. I really didn’t know.” He sounds like he’s breathless as his hand reaches out for my face and he cups it. “I had to protect you. After what happened last time at the village—”
“No. No. Stop.”
“You have to remember, Blue. Please.”
The images flashes through my head. In beats and pieces.
I was… six then? Seven? I don’t know. And I’m with Rowan. He keeps me home all the time, and he’s quiet. He barely speaks to me but he makes himself available when I need him to be.
But one day…
One day, I find my way into somebody’s dream.
“That’s it, Blue. Keep going.”
The pounding in my head worsens but the images flash faster through my thoughts. There’s a girl. She’s… the same age as me. And she promises not to tell anyone I’m in her dreams. And we’re happy.. and we’re close friends…
Then… “She didn’t wake up.”
Rowan has tears falling down his cheek. “No. She didn’t.”
Pain spreads through my head as more images flash through.
Villagers storm our cabin. She had made drawings of me so they knew somehow it was my fault. Rowan tried to talk to them, tried to explain things to them but they wouldn’t listen.
And then one night, he woke me up and we ran away.
“Riven. Riven, listen to me.” He grabs both my cheeks, and it’s only then I realize that I’m hyperventilating and I’m not breathing the way I should. “You didn’t… you didn’t mean to. You were a child. I should have—”
Then he stops.
My father grabs the back of my head, his forehead resting on mine as he whispers, “Find Claire. I love you. I love you so very much. You are my heart in human form and I’m sorry we didn’t have much time—”
The sound of something exploding fills my head.
I jerk, my eyes shutting as I realize there’s blood in my mouth… and there’s blood on my face and in my hair.
And right before I can say anything else, a hand wraps tightly around my neck, forcing and yanking me towards as I choke while a voice growls in my ear. “Did I not tell you to stay close to shadows and call for me, Keeper?”