Chapter 32
The second Riley stepped toward the altar, the air shifted.
It wasn't just colder it was charged, thick with something unseen, something alive. Every breath felt heavier, pressing against her ribs, curling around her like unseen fingers. The stone beneath her feet pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat buried in the earth.
She felt it.
This place knew her.
And worse it had been waiting.
Kieran moved instantly, closing the space between them, his grip firm around her wrist. "Riley." His voice was low, urgent. "You don't have to do this."
She turned to him, pulse unsteady. "Yes, I do."
Kieran's jaw tightened. "You don't understand what's happening. What this is."
He was right.
She didn't.
But some part of her, the part that had whispered to her in the ruins, the part that had stirred when Tobias looked at her with fear instead of power did.
She wrenched her wrist free, ignoring the way his fingers hesitated before letting go. She ignored the way his golden eyes burned, not with anger, but with something sharper.
Something like a loss.
Lena stood on the other side of the altar, watching. Waiting.
She didn't stop Riley.
She didn't have to.
Because Riley was already too far gone.
The symbols carved into the stone shimmered, glowing faintly in the moonlight. Some were worn with time, but others looked as if they had been etched only hours ago.
Her fingers itched to touch them.
To press her palm against the stone.
To see what it would show her.
She took another step.
The hunger in her chest thrummed, her skin tingling with the nearness of something just out of reach.
Kieran cursed behind her, muttering something under his breath.
Lena only smirked.
Riley didn't stop.
She reached out
The moment her fingers brushed the stone, the world lurched.
A sharp, pulsing heat rushed through her veins, slamming into her so forcefully that her knees buckled.
The forest vanished.
Everything vanished.
Darkness swallowed her whole.
And then
She saw.
Not glimpses.
Not shattered fragments of memories.
Everything.
Flashes of fire and smoke.
A sky split open with lightning.
Golden eyes not Kieran's, not Tobias's hers.
But different.
Brighter. Wilder. Unforgiving.
Blood in the snow.
A throne made of stone and bone.
Wolves at her feet, some kneeling, some dead.
A voice of her own, but not.
"This has to end."
And then
A scream.
Her scream.
Pain, sharp and merciless, tearing through her chest.
A hand clawing at her throat, dragging her down
And then
Silence.
The vision snapped away.
Riley hit the ground hard, gasping for air.
The clearing came back in pieces. The feel of damp earth beneath her fingers, the cool press of night air on her skin. Kieran's voice was sharp with concern, calling her name.
She barely heard him.
Her body trembled.
Not from fear.
From recognition.
She had seen that vision before.
Not in a dream.
Not in fragmented memories.
She had lived it.
She knew exactly what it was.
Her death.
Kieran's hands were on her arms, steadying her, but she barely felt them.
Lena crouched beside her, golden eyes gleaming. "You remember now, don't you?"
Riley swallowed, her throat raw. "I don't"
Lena's smirk softened into something like understanding. "You don't have to lie."
Riley closed her eyes.
The images still burned behind her eyelids.
She had been there.
She had stood on that battlefield, surrounded by the bodies of wolves who had followed her, fought for her, died for her.
And then
Someone had killed her.
Her breath hitched.
It felt so real.
Like she had just died all over again.
Kieran pulled her up gently, his grip strong but careful, like he thought she might break apart in his hands.
"What did you see?"
Riley forced herself to look at him.
And suddenly, she knew.
She knew why Kieran had looked at her that way when Tobias spoke of their past.
Why he had hesitated.
Why he had never given her all the answers.
Because he had been there.
She had died.
And Kieran had watched it happen.
Her breath came fast, uneven.
Lena studied her, quiet now. Not mocking, not amused. Just watching.
Waiting for her to put the pieces together.
Riley's voice barely worked.
"You knew."
Kieran's hands tightened around her arms.
He didn't answer.
He didn't have to.
Riley pulled away from him, stepping back. "You knew. This whole time. You" Her breath caught. "You saw it happen."
Kieran's throat bobbed as he swallowed. "Riley"
"You knew." The words tasted wrong. Bitter. Broken. "And you didn't tell me."
Kieran stepped toward her, but she flinched back, her chest aching.
It had always been there, hadn't it? That quiet space between them.
Not just history.
Not just secrets.
But guilt.
Guilt that Kieran had carried since the moment he saw her again.
Lena let out a breath, rising to her feet. "Well. That answers that."
Riley barely heard her.
Everything felt too loud.
The memory, the power burning inside her, the truth unraveling before her eyes.
She had died.
And now, she is back.
But why?
For revenge?
For something worse?
Her fingers twitched, her breath still uneven.
Lena stepped closer, her voice smooth, coaxing. "Now do you see why Tobias is afraid of you?"
Riley's pulse pounded.
Because yes.
She did.
And for the first time
She wasn't sure if he was wrong.
Riley's pulse pounded, every inch of her body burning with the weight of what she had just seen.
She had died.
She had stood at the center of something huge, something violent, something she had started and then she had fallen.
But she had come back.
And the worst part? She still didn't know why.
Kieran was still watching her, his golden eyes full of things he wasn't saying.
Things she desperately needed to hear.
She turned toward him, fists clenching at her sides. "Tell me what happened."
Kieran's throat bobbed as he swallowed, but he didn't speak.
Riley's voice rose, sharp and demanding. "Tell me how I died."
Kieran flinched.
That was all the confirmation she needed.
Lena's smirk flickered, something almost pleased in her expression. "He won't tell you," she murmured. "Because he's still trying to protect you."
Riley whipped toward her. "Protect me from what?"
Lena's golden eyes gleamed. "From yourself."
The words hit like a punch to the ribs.
Riley's breath hitched, but she refused to back down. "What does that mean?"
Lena let out a slow, careful sigh. "You think Tobias is afraid of you because of what you might do to him?" She tilted her head. "You're wrong."
Riley's hands curled tighter, nails biting into her palms.
Lena took a step closer, her voice dropping to a whisper.
"He's afraid of what you might do to everyone."
Riley froze.
The night air suddenly felt thinner, harder to breathe.
Tobias, Kieran, and even Callum had all been watching her, treating her like something dangerous.
Like something unstable.
Was this why?
Because she had already proven what she was capable of once?
Because if history repeated itself, it wouldn't just be Tobias who had something to fear.
Her stomach twisted.
That didn't make sense.
She had seen the war.
She had seen herself in the vision, fighting, leading.
She had seen the bodies, the destruction
But she hadn't seen herself turning on them.
She hadn't seen herself as the enemy.
Lena studied her for a moment, then smirked. "You think you were the hero, don't you?"
Riley's mouth opened but no words came out.
Lena chuckled softly. "Tell me, Riley. When you look at the ruins, when you feel that power inside you, does it feel like something meant to save?"
Riley's breath caught.
Because no.
No, it didn't.
It felt like fire in her veins.
Like a hunger that would never be satisfied.
Like something waiting to be unleashed.
And if she let it if she gave in
She wasn't sure she'd ever be able to stop.
Kieran must have sensed where her mind was going, because suddenly, he was there, his hand wrapping gently but firmly around her wrist.
"You're not her," he said quietly.
His voice was steady like he needed her to believe him.
Riley's throat tightened. "Then why does it feel like I am?"
Kieran didn't answer.
Because they both knew
That might be the one question he couldn't save her from.
The silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating.
Kieran's grip on her wrist was steady, grounding, but it did nothing to stop the storm building inside her.
If she wasn't her if she wasn't the person she had seen in the vision then why did it feel like every step she took was leading her right back to that moment?
Why did the power inside her feel like something she had already wielded before?
Why did Kieran still look at her like he was waiting for the day she would prove Tobias, right?
Lena exhaled, crossing her arms. "You're asking the wrong questions."
Riley snapped her gaze to her. "Then what's the right one?"
Lena smirked. "Not who you were." She tilted her head. "But why do you come back?"
Riley's breath stalled.
Because that question
That was the one that terrified her the most.