Thorns of Obsession
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The Hollow had rules.
No raised voices after midnight.
No magic near the eastern corridor.
And never—under any circumstance—open the silver door beneath the staircase.
Wren had warned me about that one twice.
Which only made me more curious.
---
Three days had passed since we arrived underground.
Three days of hiding.
Three days of tension.
Three days of watching Riven slowly lose pieces of himself every time the crimson mark flared across his chest.
And worst of all?
He was pretending he was fine.
---
I found him alone in the training chamber sometime after midnight.
Sweat dripped down his neck as he drove his blade into a practice dummy hard enough to split it in half.
Again.
Again.
Again.
---
Me:
"You're going to collapse."
---
Riven froze.
His shoulders rose and fell heavily before he turned toward me.
There were dark circles beneath his eyes now. His skin looked paler than before.
But his gaze softened the second he saw me.
---
Riven:
"You should be asleep."
Me:
"So should you."
---
He looked away first.
That scared me more than anger ever could.
---
I stepped closer carefully.
---
Me (quietly):
"The mark's getting worse, isn't it?"
---
Silence.
Then—
---
Riven:
"Every time I use magic, the curse spreads further."
---
My chest tightened.
---
Me:
"Then stop using it."
---
A humorless laugh escaped him.
---
Riven:
"If I stop using magic, I stop being able to protect you."
---
The room went painfully quiet after that.
Because we both knew the truth.
The Council was coming.
And when they did, hiding wouldn't save us.
---
Suddenly, the candles flickered violently.
Riven's expression sharpened instantly.
---
Riven:
"Someone crossed the outer wards."
---
A loud crash echoed through the Hollow.
Then shouting.
---
We ran.
---
The hallway outside was chaos.
Books had fallen from floating shelves. Protective runes sparked wildly across the walls.
Lucen stood near the entrance chamber, one hand glowing blue as he reinforced a barrier spell.
And directly in front of him—
Was Wren.
---
Blood dripped from Wren's hand onto the floor.
Fresh blood.
Used for magic.
---
My stomach dropped.
---
Lucen (furious):
"What did you DO?!"
---
Wren looked terrified.
Not guilty.
Terrified.
---
Wren:
"I didn't mean for them to find us this fast—"
---
Riven moved before I could react.
His blade slammed into the wall beside Wren's head with enough force to crack stone.
---
Riven (deadly calm):
"You broke the cloaking wards."
---
Wren flinched violently.
---
Wren:
"They promised they wouldn't hurt anyone!"
---
The silence after that felt suffocating.
---
Me:
"You told the Council where we are?"
---
Tears filled Wren's eyes.
---
Wren:
"They said they'd spare Lucen if I cooperated! I thought—they just wanted information—I didn't know they'd send hunters!"
---
Lucen looked devastated.
Not angry.
Heartbroken.
---
Lucen (quietly):
"You betrayed us."
---
Wren's knees buckled.
---
Wren:
"I was scared…"
---
Riven stepped forward again.
And this time—
I genuinely thought he was going to kill him.
The air around him darkened violently. Crimson energy crawled across his skin like smoke.
---
Riven:
"Fear doesn't excuse betrayal."
---
I grabbed his wrist before he could move further.
Instantly, the energy around him snapped toward me too.
Dangerous.
Wild.
Broken.
---
But the second his eyes met mine—
He stopped.
---
His breathing was uneven now.
Like he was fighting himself.
---
Me (softly):
"If you kill him now, you become exactly what they want you to be."
---
Riven's jaw tightened painfully.
---
Riven:
"He endangered you."
---
There it was again.
Not us.
Me.
Every decision he made eventually circled back to protecting me.
And somehow… that terrified me more than his obsession ever had.
---
Lucen finally raised his hand.
Silver chains made of pure magic wrapped around Wren instantly.
---
Lucen:
"You'll stay locked in the crystal chamber until we decide what to do."
---
Wren didn't fight back.
He just looked at us with hollow eyes as Lucen dragged him away.
---
That night, nobody slept.
The Hollow itself felt nervous.
The walls hummed with unstable magic. The lights dimmed randomly. The protective wards cracked one by one.
And somewhere above us—
The forest screamed.
---
I sat beside Riven near the fireplace long after midnight.
Neither of us spoke for a while.
Then quietly—
---
Me:
"You were really going to kill him."
---
Riven stared into the flames.
---
Riven:
"Yes."
---
No hesitation.
No apology.
Just truth.
---
I swallowed hard.
---
Me:
"Would you have regretted it?"
---
He looked at me then.
Really looked at me.
---
Riven:
"If it meant keeping you alive? No."
---
Something twisted painfully inside my chest.
Because I believed him.
---
He leaned back against the couch slowly, exhaustion finally catching up to him.
For a moment, he looked less like the feared Crimson heir…
And more like a boy drowning under expectations too heavy for him to carry alone.
---
Carefully, I reached over and touched his hand.
---
Me:
"You don't always have to become a monster to protect people."
---
His fingers tightened around mine instantly.
Like instinct.
Like survival.
---
Riven (barely above a whisper):
"You still don't understand."
---
The mark on his chest glowed faintly beneath his shirt.
---
Riven:
"They aren't afraid of what I'll become."
A pause.
Then—
---
Riven:
"They're afraid of what I already am."
---
Before I could answer—
Every rune in the Hollow turned blood-red.
---
A deafening alarm exploded through the underground chambers.
The barrier had fallen.
---
Lucen's voice roared through the corridors:
---
Lucen:
"THEY'RE HERE!"
---
The ground shook violently.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
Somewhere above us—
Something massive crashed through the forest.
---
Riven stood immediately, shadows curling around him like living creatures.
His eyes burned crimson now.
Dangerously bright.
---
He grabbed his blade.
Then looked at me.
Not as a prince.
Not as a monster.
But as someone terrified this might be the last time he ever saw me alive.
---
Riven (low):
"If this goes wrong… run."
---
I stepped toward him instead.
---
Me:
"If this goes wrong…"
I grabbed his hand tightly.
---
Me:
"…I'm still staying."
---
For one fragile second—
He looked shattered by those words.
---
Then the ceiling exploded.
And the Crimson Council arrived.
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[End of Chapter 32]