Riven's POV
She haunts me, even when I close my eyes, her voice is like music and her name is a sweet escape. Lilly.
The moment the world collapsed, when the sky tore and the realms bled together, I felt her awaken. Like a pulse something ancient and beautiful flickered to life inside the human realm, it was the tether.
They whispered of her even in the depths of my kingdom, the humans who dreamed of her light and the demons who recoiled from her power. Then there was me, foolish and hungry I followed that whisper like a moth drawn to flame. That was the first night that I dreamt of her.
The dream never changed, she stands in the ruins of a city, pale fire around her wrists and her eyes glowing with something she doesn't yet understand. I reach for her through the smoke and my fingers brush her skin then for a quick moment she looks at me, then she is gone.
Every night since I have searched for her again, I thought I was going crazy at first a side effect of the realms merging. But no it was something deeper bounding us, a thread wound through desire and fate that was tangled in ways the gods fear to name.
I know what she is and I want her all the same.
My realm is carved from darkness and temptation, they call it The Crimson Court, a sanctuary for creatures too beautiful to be trusted and too damned to be saved. My people thrive in the shadows of temptation and ruin feeding on what humans crave the most.
Desire is power here and power comes with a price. But surrounded by silk, blood and sin I feel nothing anymore. I am empty, every taste and touch felt hollow because she wasn't with me.
I have sent scouts and spies across the wastelands and could only catch glimpses of her through their eyes. So when I sent lesser demons, the ones who attacked her group near the fallen compound, I didn't mean for them to hurt her I only wanted them to bring her to me.
She was supposed to come willingly and they were supposed to protect her. Instead they nearly tore her apart and when I learned what they had done I have taken matters into my own hands.
Now I sit on my throne surrounded by others who whisper false adoration and all I can see is her face.
"Your highness," purrs one of my demons, draped in red silk. "You seem distracted."
Her hand trails over my shoulder and I catch it before it reaches my throat twisting it, I smile as she gasps.
"Do you know what happens to those who mistake my silence for wanting affection?" I ask softly.
She trembles and replies, "No, my lord."
"They become forgettable." A flick of my wrist and she's gone being vanished into the shadows. The others lower their eyes pretending not to have seen.
I rise from my throne restless, my chamber stretches into a endless balcony that overlooks the lands of my dominion. The sky here is red and violet with stars that pulse too brightly.
I lean on the railing and stare towards the human realm beyond the split veil, somewhere out there she is sleeping. Sometimes I can feel her dreams brushing against my mind, last night she dreamt of him.
Kael, the fallen war god. I tasted his presence in her mind, dark and smoldering, wrapped around her like a protective barrier. It made something savage twist inside me because he is not worthy of her, none of them are.
She doesn't belong to the gods or humans, she belongs to me.
I move to the mirror that hangs behind the throne and the surface ripples at my touch showing me flashes of the human realm. There she was, standing in the middle of a garden with dirt under her nails and sunlight in her hair. Her smile is small and hesitant but real, the sight of it nearly brings me to my knees.
"Lilly.." I whisper, her name tasting like sin and prayer all at once.
I press my palm to the glass and for a moment I swear she looks right at me, like she can feel me watching her. Her eyes show fear and confusion before she turns away.
I smile faintly and say, "You can feel it too can't you?"
That just proves there is a bond pulling us together, the inevitable ruin of us both.
They say desire is the first sin and the last salvation and I was born of it. I've taken lovers, souls,even kingdoms and none of it has ever filled the emptiness she now inhabits. I see her when I close my eyes even feel her heartbeat like my own, and in my dreams she calls out my name the sound of it on her lips will be the end of me.
A shadow moves behind me, it is Theron, my most loyal general. He was once a god of time and decay and now he was bound to me by blood and choice. His eyes burn crimson and his armor gleams in the light.
"She survived," he says.
"I know," I murmur.
"The lower breeds have failed."
"I expected they would," I say lightly turning from the mirror. "You can't trust lust without intelligence."
Theron tilts his head and states, "And now she is in Kael's settlement."
A sharp sound escapes me, a half laugh half snarl. "Of course she is. The fallen war god and his little haven of hope, he collects strays like trophies."
"You could take her Riven, tear down his walls and burn his wards.."
I hold up a hand. "No."
Theron frowns and questions, "No?"
"Not yet."
My gaze drifts back to the mirror where she is, she's laughing now her head is thrown back and light is spilling onto her face. The ache in my chest sharpens painfully.
"I want her to come to me willingly," I say. "I want her to choose me that will make it real."
Theron's expression is thoughtful as he asks, "And if she doesn't?"
"Then the world will burn again."
Later when the court is sleeping I return to my chambers alone, the air is heavy with incense and the remains of desire that never satisfies me. I lay in my bed with my eyes open to the endless red glow above, and there she is again.
In my dream she is standing in the same garden with her hands reaching towards something unseen. Her lips part as she is about to speak and then I'm there behind her my voice a whisper against her neck.
"You don't have to run from me Lilly."
She turns and for the first time she actually sees me, not the demon prince but as something that should terrify her and it doesn't.
"Who are you?" She whispers.
I smile as reply, "I am the one that has been waiting for you."
And then she is gone again, the dream disappearing, I wake with her name on my lips and blood on my palms from gripping the sheets too tightly.
I rise and walk to the window just as dawn begins across the horizon. The human world glows faintly agains the veil. She is awake now I can feel it, so I reach through the bond that ties us and her heartbeat answers mine.
She is afraid, confused and searching for answers. I can't help but think, "Good," that means she is still fighting for the truth.
I will have her, but not yet, not until she is ready to surrender to me.