Chapter 142 The Pieces Fall - Riven's POV

Chapter 142 The Pieces Fall - Riven's POV
Everything settled down after breakfast. I talked to my beta and went over strategies. We went into the yard and trained while Raze watched.

For a moment, I thought we had everything under control. But then the letter arrived that afternoon.

Carson brought it to me with a smile on his face. I realized then just who he was and which pack he was associated with.. He explained that my father had also received one and would be watching.

“Good luck,” he said before going down the sidewalk. “You’re going to need it.”

I breathed out a sigh as I broke the seal, my fingers unfolding it as quickly as possible to see what was inside.

It was brief. It had the official tribunal letterhead, with some kind of pack seal in the top corner with dark ink. All the language was formal and precise, just the way I expected it to be.

The formal challenge issued by Alric Voss against the bond claim of Riven Blackwood will be heard and resolved by physical trial. Date of trial: tomorrow evening, one hour after sundown. Location: the neutral ground at Ashford Clearing. Failure to appear will be treated as forfeiture of claim.

I read it twice.

Then I folded it and put it in my pocket. I stood in the doorway, watching where Carson had gone.

“I can’t believe him.”

Now his warning in the hallway made sense. That’s how he knew.

I rolled my eyes as I realized I had one day before I would be standing in Ashford Clearing facing Alric Voss, who was backed by his face and the tribunal’s influence.

The demon stirred. He wasn’t being too aggressive or pressing, but he wanted me to feel he was there. I pressed it back down and went inside.

I didn't tell Callista immediately. That wasn't a decision I made consciously. It was more that I came back into the kitchen and saw her at the table with her mother, both of them talking in low voices. I stood in the doorway for a moment, looking at the scene and smiling. I hated that I was ruining what little peace we had found.

So, I went to find Raze instead.

He was out in the garden, sitting on the step with his arms on his knees. As soon as he heard me, he looked my way. 

“The letter came, didn’t it?”

I sat down beside him, digging it out and handing it to him. “Here, read it for yourself.”

He took it and read over it three times before nodding. “Great. What do you know about this punk?”

“I don’t know much other than he is our cousin.”

Raze bit his lip. “I saw their names once, but didn’t realize what they were to us. He has an older brother that’s my age.”

I froze. “He has a brother your age.”

“Yeah,” he said calmly. “Then Alric is yours, right?”

Our gazes locked and it was then everything came crashing down on me. Raze seemed to realize the same thing. 

“What if—” He started and trailed off.

“That would be too easy,” I breathed. “Surely it’s not them.”

For a moment, we were silent, both processing it. But the more I sat with it, the less easy it felt to dismiss.

Demons come in two. That was what Callista’s vision had been. 

"Think about it," I said slowly. "Ronan's brother wants the throne. Ronan cursed us to use us as vessels to protect the throne. They come in two. He would have had to put the other two into people he could eventually control.”

Raze’s eyes widened. “What if…they are the back up plan?”

I paused for a moment, uncertainty flashing across my face. “He wouldn’t want his brother’s children to take the throne though. He wanted it for himself.”

Raze shook his head, then sucked in a breath. “No, they’re a distraction.”

I pressed the heel of my hand against my sternum and felt the demon there. It was as if he was surging forward to confirm what we were thinking.

“They’re…the other two.”

“That way if we killed anyone or lost ourselves, they also had demons and he could make it look like it was them,” he breathed. “Think about it?”

It made sense. I let out a breath. 

"What's the older one's name?" Raze asked. "I saw it once, but—"

"I don't know," I said softly. “But we will find out.”

I was on my feet before I finished the thought, moving back through the garden toward the house with Raze right behind me.

Callista looked up from the kitchen table the moment I came through the door. Something in my expression must have told her immediately because she straightened and her mother, who had been mid-sentence, went quiet.

"What happened?" Callista asked.

"The challenge is tomorrow," I said firmly. "But that's not the thing I need to tell you."

Her eyes moved to Raze behind me, then back. "Sit down," she said, and pushed a chair out with her foot.

I didn't sit. I put both hands flat on the table and looked at her directly. "Voss has an older brother, who is Raze's age."

She went very still.

"Demons come in two," I stated plainly. "Two separate summoning, which means four in total. We have been trying to figure out who carries the other pair." I paused. "We think it's them. Voss and his brother. They are our cousins.”

Callista’s eyes went distance as if she was thinking it through as well. Her mother was just staring at us with wide eyes.

"What's the older brother's name?" Callista asked, her voice careful.

"We don't know yet," Raze said from behind me. "But maybe we can find out.”

She was already reaching for her phone. "I'll call Kalley. She knows everyone at every academy and she gossips with girls from the other academy." She was already typing. "If there's an older Voss son anywhere in the pack system, she'll have a name in ten minutes."

I looked at her. "You think—"

"I know Kalley," she said simply.

She was right. Eight minutes later, her phone buzzed.

She read the message, then read it again.

"Dorian," she said quietly. "Dorian Voss." She looked up at me slowly. "Kalley says he hasn’t been seen in a while. Apparently, he disappeared from social circles about sixteen months ago.”

“That’s right before I went to the mansion,” I breathed.

Callista set her phone down carefully. “And not been seen much since. But Alric has been. I don’t understand.”

“But Raze hasn’t been seen much either while I go to the academy. Think about it.”

She let out a long breath. “Oh, this isn’t…good.”

"Then tomorrow night," I said slowly, "isn't just about the bond claim."

"No," Callista agreed. "It's the first time two paired vessels have been in the same space since this started." She held my gaze. "We need to know exactly what that means before sundown tomorrow."