And Riven smiled, blood dripping between his fingers. “There,” he whispered. “Now you are no longer mine.”
“And the binding?”
She stared at him. “You tortured me. Starved me. Paraded me like a pet.” court of blood and bindings vk
“Kaelen,” Riven said, and her name in his mouth was a velvet trap. “Come forward.”
“I think you’re a monster,” she replied. And Riven smiled, blood dripping between his fingers
She was taken to the bone gardens that night—a labyrinth beneath the court where the roots of the great thorn-tree grew like fossilized veins. The air was cold and still. Riven met her alone, divested of his crown and his court, wearing only a simple black tunic and bare forearms crisscrossed with scars that glowed faintly silver.
“I kept you alive,” he said quietly. “The court wanted you bled dry on the first night. I gave you a room with a window. I gave you books. I gave you time .” “You tortured me
She was the entertainment.
“What do you want from me?” she whispered.
“You’re afraid,” Riven observed softly. His thumb brushed her jaw, and she hated the way her skin warmed at the touch. “Good. Fear keeps the blood hot.”
“You think I enjoy this,” he said, kneeling before her. In his hands was a dagger of smoky quartz, its edge not sharp but hungry .