Free Web NovelChapter 130: Chapter 130
Blackout
Riley’s POV
Where the hell was I, and how the hell did Daphne get in here? ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
The questions burned in my head as I tried to focus through the fog of weakness clinging to my body. My fingers tingled as I adjusted slightly on the bed, trying to see her fully, but the sight only made my stomach tighten.
Her cold stare locked onto me like steel. I didn’t like this woman. Not one bit. Not even a fraction. Only God knew how much I hated her with every fiber of my being, and if it weren’t for one fact—her being the sister to the Alphas—I might have already been planning her assassination right here and now.
Who knew if the Alphas knew that their precious little sister was a psychopathic murderer capable of such calculated cruelty.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice low, bitter, and icy, my eyes narrowing at her.
She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she just stood there, fists clenched at her sides, her jaw tight. Her eyes were sharp, piercing through me, and for a brief second, I thought I saw something else behind them—something dark and raw, but also tinged with pain.
She finally spoke after a beat, her voice low, laced with tension and a strange kind of grief.
"I didn’t know you were back from Lunar Hollow Cave," she said slowly, almost hesitantly. "I didn’t think you would succeed in the Rite of the Borrowed Moon so quickly... and I didn’t think I would mourn someone’s death in exchange for your comeback."
I frowned immediately. What in the hell was she talking about? I didn’t understand her words. Not at all. My head throbbed slightly, the lingering weakness from Gunnar’s bite making every thought jagged and slow, but I didn’t care.
Her tone alone made my skin crawl. There was something pained in her voice, a weight she carried that made her seem... fragile, but I didn’t care for fragility.
She looked like she had lost something, like someone or something important to her had been taken, and yet, why would I care? A murderer mourning? That was ridiculous.
"Well," I said, my voice sharp and pointed, a small smirk twisting on my lips, "if you were waiting to celebrate my death, unfortunately for you, fate doesn’t work that way, Daphne."
Her eyes changed instantly. I could see her pupils dilate slightly, her jaw tightening. She took a sharp breath through her nose.
"Yes..." she growled, her voice low and dangerous now, "and instead of you dying, they fucking took her!"
My eyes widened slightly, and a small gulp slid down my throat. Did she lose someone or something? Did she really care about anyone besides herself?
She looked like she was about to break down completely, although I couldn’t understand why. Sympathy from a murderer was something foreign to me, and yet there it was, spilling from her eyes.
"Well then," I said, letting my words slide off my tongue easily, ignoring the tension in her stance, "maybe fate thinks that the person’s life wasn’t worth it... so they took it and spared mine."
The change in her eyes was immediate. Sharp, almost feral, a dangerous flare that sent chills down my spine.
"What did you just say?" she growled, her tone thick with incredulity.
I rolled my eyes, brushing off the intensity in her expression, and repeated the words exactly. "Maybe fate thinks the person’s life isn’t worth it... so they took it and spared mine."
Before I could finish, she lunged.
I wasn’t slow, though. Reflexes kicked in almost automatically despite the weakness in my body.
I dodged her strike, moving fast, faster than I had thought possible, and somehow, instinctively, I found myself behind her. I pushed her lightly, trying to create space between us.
And then—pain.
A sharp, burning agony ripped through my neck. My hands flew to the spot Gunnar had bitten me earlier, and I staggered back instinctively.
Fuck! I felt weak, too weak to balance properly. My knees trembled slightly as my vision wavered. Gunnar’s bite had left me vulnerable.
Daphne didn’t hesitate. She was already coming for me again, her hands out, her face twisted with raw fury.
I raised my hand weakly, trying to anticipate her strike, but nothing happened. My arm felt like lead. I waited, thinking maybe she was holding back, but no... a full minute passed but still nothing.
I blinked slowly, my eyes tracking her trembling fingers. Something was wrong.
"What did you do to me?!" she yelled suddenly, snapping me out of my stupor.
I froze, stunned, blinking rapidly. The same thing that had happened to Dahlia—her hands and arms suspended mid-motion—but this time it was far crueler than Dahlia’s.
Her wrist was twisted sideways painfully, and each second brought an excruciating sound from her lips.
She dropped to the floor almost in tears, her face twisting in pain.
Instinct immediately overrode my exhaustion. I rushed toward her, despite my weak legs, and grabbed her wrists with both hands.
"Release! Release!" I shouted, my voice desperate.
Finally, in an instant, her wrists twisted back into place, and she slumped to the ground, almost like all her energy had been drained from her body. Her chest heaved as she lay there, struggling to catch her breath.
"Are you okay?" I asked, worried, crawling toward her slowly, making sure not to trigger her again.
Before I could even process her condition, she moved. Fast. In a motion almost too quick to follow, she reached inside her dress and pulled something out.
It happened in one fluid movement as I felt something sink inside my body.
A sharp pain exploded in my hip. I gasped, my fingers clawing at the wound instinctively as I fell to the floor, clutching my side.
My eyes widened in horror as I saw the dagger she was holding—and my blood was already smeared across its blade.
"You motherfucker... AHH!" I groaned, the pain was spreading through my entire lower body, scorching through my veins like fire.
She laughed suddenly. A laugh that cut through the haze of pain and rage.
"This dagger is laced with Bane," she spat through tears streaming down her face. "It’ll wreck your intestines from the inside, you bitch!"
My eyes widened, the words hitting me with full force.
"You... you were supposed to die instead of Sapphire!" she screamed, her voice breaking. Real tears rolled down her cheeks, and yet her entire body radiated rage, sorrow, and madness all at once.
I froze, unable to speak, unable to move properly. Something burned in my body and spread like wildfire, twisting my gut, making every breath and heartbeat a struggle.
My vision blurred further, but her face—the fury, the pain, was all I could focus on.
Shock and disbelief crashed over me, my mind scrambling for answers. Why now?
The room spun around me, the excruciating pain blending with my growing panic. Every instinct screamed to fight, but my body betrayed me, weak and trembling. My arms ached as I tried to push myself up..
I wanted to curse her, to strike back, to tear her apart with my bare hands, but I couldn’t.
My body shivered violently, my legs buckling beneath me. My mind raced for a plan, any plan, but all I could hear was the echo of her words.
"You were supposed to die instead of Sapphire!"
And then... everything went black again~
