VI

VI
RILEY'S POV

I scrambled to get to my feet. "W-what are you doing here?"

If I was going to be getting attacked by him, I'd rather be standing and not get tackled to the floor.

However, while I'd expected an instant attack, standing very close to the bed, Orion just stood by the door, his arms folded

"I'm here to—"

"Your– your brother isn't here..." I stuttered unintelligibly, as if he didn't already know that.

I could see the anger in his eyes. But surprisingly, he was also calm.

"I didn't come here for my brother."

"Then what are you here for?"

He took one step closer. "Who am I here for?"

The back of my legs flattened against the wood of the bed.

"You tell me." My voice shook.

"My breeder wasn't home with me last night..."

Home. I caught that one word out of the sentence, and it almost made my heart dip. Home. He referred to his demon estate as home as if it had lost the one person who made it more home than a demon station.

I tilted my chin up at him. "And what does that have to do with me?"

He shrugged softly. "Maybe everything? My brother has her somewhere in this estate..."

"And do you think I have access—"

"I wasn't talking about access or... using you to get to her."

That shocked me. "Y-you don't want to find her?"

His blue orbs held mine sharply. "I don't want to give in too much stress to something that will get sorted at the end of the day. I don't want to do too much because of a human girl. I know my brother and I know for a fact that sooner or later, he'd get bored with holding her hostage and give her back..." Give her back. The pride leaked through his words. He was so sure that Seneca wouldn't harm her even after what she had done.

"You're so—"

"Sure?"

"It's ego—"

"It's not ego if I know what my brother is capable of and what he would never do..."

"So you think he won't harm her."

He hadn't moved since he stepped in.

"I know he won't."

"I wouldn't be so sure—"

"You don't know him," he countered.

I nodded my head. "Maybe. But I know enough of Seneca to know he's impulsive with decisions... you might think he wouldn't and..."

He still wouldn't move, but the words died in my throat at the tick of his jaw. I kept quiet immediately, reminding myself that no matter how calm and harmless he looked in a plain jeans and shirt, that didn't mean he wouldn't go from just exchanging words one minute to flinging me across the room. He was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince me that his brother wouldn't hurt the woman who was supposed to give him an heir, and I wasn't so certain he was so sure of this claim.

He looked like he was scared and yet at the same time soothing himself with the belief.

Silence filled the room. His eyes dropped from me to the floor while mine held his frame for the longest time, occasionally drifting to the door behind him while listening for any footsteps that might indicate that Seneca was going to come to save me anytime soon. The silence smothered me, as, right before my very eyes, I watched the Dragon Lord of the South move—he paced to the left, and then the right, one arm around his frame, holding his knuckle up to his mouth.

"Are you—"

He held a hand up to stop me.

He was listening to something. The seconds ticked. The look on his face told me he couldn't catch anything. He stopped pacing, lifting his eyes to me again. If he'd been on the edge just a few seconds ago, he was so good at snapping back into god-mode again.

"I'm here to see you."

I swallowed. "You already said that. Why are you—"

"Sit," he ordered.

My pulse hit harder. "I-I'm... I think I'm fine standing... I'm just..."

"SIT." It wasn't up for negotiation. "I'm being kind enough to offer you a seat before me instead of ripping you into shreds like my dragon wants me doing right now. So when I say sit, I mean SIT."

My ass slammed into the bed. My shirt rode up in the process, but the smug look in his eyes told me he'd seen better thighs. There was a moment of silence that passed between us. I waited to listen to what he had to say, while my ears strained to listen for footsteps.

"I'm here for something important—"

"Dominus Orion..." my voice was small. "Are you... stalling?"

I'd noticed the pacing, and the fidgeting, that he seemed to be waiting for a right time. It was the most human thing I'd ever seen him and any of the brothers portray ever since I'd been here.

However, he looked offended by the question. I watched him try to adjust his posture, the sudden glimmer in his eyes as he growled a no, and immediately jumped into the conversation. "I've been doing a lot of digging..." Another word for snooping around. "...and in that process, I found some things about you..."

"Things... about me?"

I pushed aside the more logical questions.

"What... things?"

"Things your master himself might not even be aware of."

My brows tugged. "Like...?"

It took a second before he answered:

"Who you are, Riley."

"Who I am?"

There was another lengthy pause. He was trying to put his words together. It was almost surprising how a god like him wasn't so eloquent when it came to communicating; I had to come to the conclusion that this was because he did more commanding than communicating. A long while passed before he spoke in a seemingly agitated voice. "I know you lost your memory after you were brought here as a slave ten years ago..." I didn't say anything, but my eyes were staring widely at him. Even I didn't remember my situation and life ten years ago, and in some way he was right. "And I know also, that you sometimes get nightmares..."

That made me perk up. "How do you know that?"

No one knew that and lately, even I had forgotten about the dreams. There was only one person that knew about the nightmares I'd woken up screaming to, and whispering to over the years. And that one person was Nina. The thought of her name made my chest ache and my stomach dip. My eyes were still fixed on the Dominus across from me in the room, but my hand was moving—my heart was suddenly throbbing—rubbing a circle around my chest.

"How do you know about the– the nightmares...?"

The look on my face must have told Orion he hit a spot with the revelation. He looked smug now. "I said it before I—"

"...You went digging... yes... I still don't understand why... why are you digging for things about me... why did you think I was so important you had to find—"

"There are things surrounding you being here..." he cut me off. "As a titan dragon, I have the gift to foresee—"

"You're here because you saw things about me?" my voice was getting tense. "Are you here because of me, because of your breeder, because of your brother, or is there some sneaky reason why you decided to be here...? Why you're offering me a seat and taking a stand, prancing like you're confused... what is all this about? You keep dancing around your words, and I need you to be much clearer than you are now and let me know... WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

He still wouldn't be direct with his answers, but I could feel the tension starting to build up to leave me worried that whatever he was going to say was going to leave me \[\] and now I felt like I really shouldn't be sitting here anymore holding a conversation with a man or a god who had nothing but horrible motives for a god I felt bonded with.

With that said, Seneca wasn't in the room yet, but I was starting to feel his presence again, like this heavy weight in my chest that just let me know he would soon be walking down that hallway.

Orion stood still, blue eyes burning a hole into my skin.

I could almost see the smoke over his head as the wheels turned and his thoughts ran over.

I couldn't sit with the suspense anymore.

I shot up from the bed. "I don't think—"

He was crossing the room briskly, almost snatching the breath from my lungs as he shoved me back again. "Sit."

I landed flat on my ass. "Why am I sitting?"

"Just listen..."

"...Why are you here?''

"I need your help."

My eyes were bulging wide. "My help? ME? ME? Your brother's breeder, you need my help?" It made no sense. "I'm pretty sure you have a million demons and humans at your—"

"You asked how I know about the nightmare?"

"Yes," I deadpanned. "And you weren't saying anything about that when I—"

"Nina." He cut off my rant with one word. The questioning look on my face must have told him that one word resonated with me, because he stilled, his blue eyes searching mine desperately for recognition. He wasn't pacing, he wasn't as fidgety as he'd been a few seconds ago, he was waiting, and I was giving him exactly what he wanted by looking at him like that.

The ache in my heart returned. I didn't know why, and I didn't like it.

"How... how do you know... who told you that name...?"

Whatever was happening, Orion was winning.

"She told me her name."

My voice broke. "Where is she?"

"She told me everything I needed to know about you."

My eyeballs pricked. "Where is she?"

I hated the silence that followed. I hated the way he looked at me like he was about to drop news that would break me, but he did anyway.

"She's dead."..