The mirror didn't lie.
Riven stood before it, towel slung low on his hips, body littered with bruises and fading bite marks. Evidence of passion. Of war. Of the chaos that he and Cassian had become.
And yet... there was something hollow in his reflection.
Something cracking.
Behind him, Cassian watched silently from the doorframe. The tension between them wasn't from last night—it was something deeper, older. Something neither of them had dared name.
Riven spoke first. "He found me."
Cassian's jaw tightened. "Silas."
Riven nodded, eyes locked on his own haunted gaze. "He didn't just threaten me. He knows about you. About us."
Cassian moved into the room, barefoot, body rigid. "What does he want?"
"Control. Power. Me." Riven laughed, but there was no humor in it. "He still thinks he owns me."
Cassian reached for him, but Riven stepped back. The distance between them cracked like a fault line.
"I can't do this if you're going to push me away every time he shows up," Cassian said, voice low, hurt threading through his anger. "You promised we were in this together."
"I did." Riven turned, eyes wild. "But you don't know what he's capable of. He doesn't play fair. He never has."
"Then let me fight beside you."
Riven shook his head. "He'll come for everything. Your name. Your company. Your life."
"I'd burn it all if it meant keeping you."
The words hung between them like a vow. A blade.
But Riven broke first. His hands fisted at his sides, his voice raw. "I've been a prisoner once, Cassian. I won't let you build me another cage—even if it's made of love."
Cassian flinched. "You think that's what I'm doing?"
Riven's silence said enough.
Cassian backed away, the pain in his eyes sharper than any blade. "If you don't trust me, then what the hell are we doing?"
"Trying," Riven whispered. "Failing."
The silence that followed was thunderous.
Cassian left the room without another word.
The sound of the front door closing echoed like a gunshot.
Riven stood alone in the quiet, the shards of their bond glittering like glass beneath his feet.
He wanted to run after him.
But he didn't.
Because sometimes love wasn't enough to hold something broken together.
And as the day bled into night, Riven wondered how many more pieces he could lose before there was nothing left to salvage.
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