Chapter 86 Panic attack
Chapter 086
DARIUS
I was sitting in my room staring blankly at the wall when Dorian walked in without bothering to knock. He took one look at me and immediately launched into questioning.
"Are you not supposed to be at the ice rink right now practicing with Ravenna?" he asked, dropping down onto his own bed across from mine.
I shrugged without looking at him. "I am not in the mood to go tonight."
Dorian sat up straighter, his expression shifting to concern. "You cannot just leave her all alone to practice by herself, Darius. She needs someone there with her."
"What exactly do you expect me to do?" I shot back, irritation rising in my chest. "I am not her boyfriend. I certainly do not care if she pushes herself too much. It would actually help my cause if she wore herself out completely."
The words tasted bitter in my mouth even as I said them.
Dorian shook his head firmly. "You do not mean that."
"I absolutely mean it," I insisted, my voice harder now. "I still want her gone from this academy and off my team. Nothing has changed about that."
"No," Dorian countered, standing up and walking closer. "You are hiding behind your ego right now. But between the two of us, we both know the truth. You do not actually want Ravenna gone anymore. In fact, you are beginning to have a genuine liking for her. And right now, whilst we are sitting here arguing, she is out there on the ice completely alone."
I looked away from his penetrating stare, my jaw ticking with tension. But Dorian was not finished.
"You should do the right thing and stop being such an arrogant asshole about this," he pressed. "She needs you there, Darius. Whether you want to admit it or not. And we both know that Ravenna is genuinely good. We need her on this team if we have any hope of winning the tournament. If she breaks down from exhaustion or gets injured because she pushed too hard without anyone there to stop her, we will not be able to win. Is that what you want?"
I sat there in silence for a long moment, wrestling with the truth in his words that I did not want to acknowledge. Finally, I sighed heavily. "Fine. I will go to the rink."
Dorian smiled immediately, relief clear on his face. "That is the right thing to do, Captain."
I glared at him for using my title like that, knowing he was manipulating me. But I grabbed my jacket from where I had tossed it earlier and walked out of the room without another word.
The walk to the ice rink felt longer than usual, my mind churning with conflicting thoughts the entire way. I told myself I was only going because Dorian had a point about needing Ravenna healthy for the tournament. That was the only reason. Nothing more.
When I arrived at the rink, I immediately spotted her on the ice. She was in the middle of running through drills, her movements sharp and focused despite how late it was. I stayed back in the shadows near the entrance, just watching her for a few minutes.
She was pushing herself incredibly hard, harder than anyone should be training alone at this hour. Every movement looked like it took enormous effort, but she refused to slow down or take a break.
Atlas stirred restlessly inside my mind, his presence pushing forward with unusual urgency. "Stop her. She is going to hurt herself. I can feel it through the bond. She is breaking down and will collapse soon if she does not stop."
"Why do you even care?" I muttered internally, frustrated by his constant interference. "Why are you and Dorian both after my life about this?"
"Because she is our mate," Atlas replied with absolute certainty. "We cannot afford to lose her, Darius. Not now. Not ever."
I said nothing in response, just continued watching Ravenna push herself through another brutal drill. Pride warred with concern inside me.
Part of me wanted to march out there and force her to stop before she hurt herself.
But another part, the part that was terrified of what these feelings meant, kept my feet rooted to the spot.
Then I noticed something wrong. Ravenna wobbled slightly mid-drill, her usually perfect balance faltering for just a second. She caught herself quickly and kept going, but I had seen it.
Atlas roared in panic inside my head, the sound so loud and desperate it made my skull ache. "She is going to fall. Move. Now."
My body moved without conscious thought, muscle memory and instinct taking over before my brain could catch up. I was already skating onto the ice, already pushing my legs to move faster, already reaching out towards her.
Ravenna wobbled again, worse this time. Her legs gave out completely beneath her. She was falling.
"No," I screamed, the word ripping from my throat raw and terrified.