I woke up crying.
Not the gentle, single-tear kind of crying, full-on sobbing, the kind that shakes your whole body and makes it hard to breathe.
It took me a moment to remember where I was, my room, the penthouse.
Safe.
But the dream, no, the memory, clung to me like smoke, refusing to dissipate.
I'd seen it all, felt it all, lived through it as if I'd been there.
As if I'd been 'him'.
***
The room was smaller than I expected, intimate, a circular table surrounded by advisors. People, no, demons, I trusted.
I, 'Azryth' stood at the head, reviewing maps spread across dark stone, plans, unification, making the fractured territories into something cohesive.
"The northern clans will resist." One of the generals, his voice familiar in a way that suggested decades of working together.
"Then we offer them a better alternative." My voice, 'Azryth's' voice was confident. "Trade routes, protection, unity benefits everyone."
"Unity under your rule." A different voice, female, important.
She stood to my right. Where she always stood, I knew that without seeing her, felt it like a constant, she belonged there. 'Sera.'
My most trusted advisor, strategist.
Lover.
I turned to look at her, beautiful in the way demons were, sharp features, burning amber eyes, she'd fought beside me for decades. Built this vision with me.
"Unity under 'our' rule," I corrected, and felt warmth when looking at her. "We're building this together."
She smiled, but something underneath felt wrong, tense and guilty.
"Of course," she said. "Together."
The meeting continued, strategies, plans. Normal.
Then she poured wine for everyone, a toast.
My hand reached for the cup she offered, her fingers trembled slightly passing it to me.
I didn't notice, too focused on the maps, the future.
I drank.
The world tilted.
Not immediately, slowly, my power draining, essence weakening like water through cracks.
'No.'
I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn't cooperate. "What.."
The other advisors stepped back away from me, all of them.
All except her.
Sera stood there, cup still in her trembling hands, tears streaming down her face.
Through my mouth—'his' mouth—words came out weak, fading: "What did you do?"
"I'm sorry." Her voice breaking. "I'm so sorry."
My vision blurred, the poison, sealing poison spread through my essence, containing me, trapping me.
"Why?" The betrayal hurt worse than the poison, physical pain I could handle. This…
"They gave me a choice." She was crying harder. "I had to, they said.."
My knees hit the floor, the proud demon lord brought low by someone he loved, someone he'd trusted above all others.
"You chose this." Not a question, but a realization. "You chose them."
"I chose 'life'!" Desperation in her voice. "I'm sorry, I loved you. I still…but I couldn't.."
The door opened, more demons entered, council members, authority and cold judgment.
Hands grabbed my arms, hauled me upright, I couldn't resist, couldn't fight.
Every instinct screamed to summon power, to burn them all, to fight..
Nothing, the poison held me. Her design, she'd known exactly what would work.
"Sera." One last attempt. Through his mouth, his pain.
But she turned away, couldn't watch what she'd done.
***
The throne room was vast and oppressive, I was kneeling now, forced to kneel before the council.
Malachar's voice echoed: "Azryth Valek. You stand accused…"
The words blurred, unimportant, all I could focus on was her.
Sera, stepping forward from the shadows, she's part of them now, part of the council condemning me.
"I've provided testimony." Her voice was steady and professional, like she hadn't just destroyed me. "Documentation, proof of territorial acquisitions, forced alliances.."
"You helped me plan.." My voice, weak from poison.
"Under force." She lied smoothly. "You coerced my cooperation—"
*Liar. I loved you, I trusted you, how could you….*
The rage was building but had nowhere to go, trapped, contained and helpless.
Symbols formed in the air, magic so powerful it made reality scream.
The obsidian amulet materialized, I knew what it was and what it meant.
Prison, eternal, inescapable.
My essence was pulled toward it, I fought, struggled, desperate.
The last thing I felt before darkness consumed me was her betrayal, the woman I'd loved, who'd helped design my cage.
Then: nothing.
Centuries collapsed into nightmare.
Consciousness trapped in darkness smaller than a fist.
Time stretched, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, all meaningless, endless, all in agony.
Five hundred years of isolation so complete it should have shattered any mind.
But I held onto rage, at the council, at the realm.
At 'her'.
Then, after an eternity, 'change' came, a small crack weakening the seal.
I pushed against it with everything I had.
The darkness fracture, it didn't break completely, it just fractured.
I could manifest, could take form again, could exist in the mortal realm.
But the amulet remained my anchor, freedom with chains, I could walk, talk, build, but never far from the object that contained me.
Twenty years of building something new, Valek Industries, power of a different kind.
Twenty years of freedom that wasn't really freedom.
Until 'I' (Riven) touched 'my' (Azryth) anchor and shattered it completely.
***
I woke up gasping, tears streaming down my face.
The memory faded but the emotions remained. The betrayal, the love, the rage, the absolute horror of that imprisonment.
And underneath it all, Sera. His lover, his partner, his betrayer.
Who'd helped seal him away while crying about it, who'd chosen survival over loyalty, who'd proven that even love couldn't be trusted.
No wonder he was terrified of us, of what we were building.
I understood now, really understood.
My door burst open. Azryth stood in the doorway, disheveled and alarmed.
"Why are you crying?" he asked, crossing the room quickly. "What happened? Are you hurt? Is it the binding?"
"I saw it." My voice came out choked. "Your memory, the betrayal, the imprisonment. All of it."
He went very still. "You... how?"
"The binding, shared dream-space, you said it happens during high stress." I wiped at my tears but they kept coming. "I didn't mean to intrude, I didn't try to see it, but I was there, I felt everything. 'As you'."
His expression was unreadable. "What did you see, exactly?"
"The sealing, the throne room, the poison." I swallowed hard. "And Sera. She was there, she…" I couldn't finish, the betrayal was still too raw, too visceral. "But I don't understand, why would she do that? If you trusted her…"
"It's complicated." He sat on the edge of my bed, suddenly looking exhausted. "The memory shows what happened, not the context, not what choice she faced."
"Then tell me the context." I grabbed his hand. "Help me understand what I felt."
"Not tonight." His voice was gentle but firm. "Tonight you need rest, experiencing someone else's trauma, especially that one, that's overwhelming enough without adding explanations."
"But.."
"Later, I promise." He squeezed my hand. "When you're ready, when we have time to discuss it properly, that's not a conversation for 3 AM after shared nightmares."
He was right. I was exhausted, still feeling the echo of his imprisonment, his betrayal, his rage.
"Okay," I said. "Later, you will explain?"
"I will." He stood. "Try to sleep, I'm sorry you had to experience that. It's not a memory anyone should have to carry."
"I'm sorry it happened to you."
Something flickered across his face, vulnerability, and pain. "Thank you."
"I don't think I can sleep though. Not after..."
"I know." He pulled gently, guiding me to stand. "Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"My room." At my expression, he added quickly, "To sleep, the closeness will help stabilize the dream-space, it'll prevent more involuntary memory sharing until we're both ready for it."
"I.. okay."
He held my hand and led me to his room, his room was larger than mine, darker, with a bed that could easily fit three people, he pulled back the covers on one side, gestured for me to get in.
I climbed in, suddenly aware of how intimate this was, sharing a bed with Azryth.
He got in on the other side, maintaining careful distance, not touching except for our still-joined hands.
"Sleep," he commanded softly. "I'll keep the memories away."
"How?"
"By staying awake and monitoring the binding. If I sense another memory surfacing, I'll wake you before it fully manifests."
"You need sleep too."
"I've gone longer without sleep than you've been alive, I'll be fine." He squeezed my hand once. "Rest, Riven. You're safe."
And somehow, lying in a demon's bed, hand held by someone who'd kidnapped me, I believed him.
I was safe.
I closed my eyes, exhaustion pulling me under.