Chapter 224 — I Order You to Leave

Chapter 224: Chapter 224 — I Order You to Leave

~ Raven ~

Raven watched the Dreamwalker’s smile disappear, and for the first time since he’d taken control of Deb, the bastard seemed uncertain of what to say.

She should have been pleased, but instead, she was beginning to realize just how little she understood about what was happening.

Her hand was still resting against Deb’s head, and although some strange certainty continued urging her forward, Raven had no idea how she was supposed to force the Dreamwalker out.

She couldn’t even feel her wolf.

Meanwhile, the blood on Deb’s face was still there, slowly making its way down her cheeks from her eyes, and the sight filled Raven with a fresh wave of desperation.

Please, I need your help.

Raven reached inward, searching for the presence she’d spent eighteen years struggling to understand. She tried to find that familiar stirring beneath her ribs, the powerful creature that had answered her during the Founders’ Hunt and again when she’d stopped Cassian and Dante from fighting.

Please, she begged again. I need you.

The Dreamwalker was watching her closely now, his earlier amusement replaced by a growing irritation.

"Whatever you’re trying to do, Rivers, I suggest you stop before somebody gets hurt."

Raven ignored him, concentrating on the faint presence she could almost feel somewhere beyond her reach.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, and Raven was beginning to fear that her desperate attempts were accomplishing absolutely nothing when something enormous shifted deep inside her.

Her breath caught as the familiar sensation grew stronger, and when Raven reached toward it, she finally recognized the powerful presence struggling beneath the surface.

Her wolf.

Raven could feel the creature snarling furiously against the chains that still restrained it, its enormous body straining with such ferocity that she could almost hear the metal protesting.

As she reached toward it, however, Raven suddenly became aware of something else.

Someone else.

The realization startled her enough that her attention shifted away from her wolf, and somewhere in that strange darkness within herself, she turned toward the unfamiliar presence.

At first, Raven could barely make anything out, but as she stared into the darkness, she gradually distinguished a dim figure standing some distance away, its features almost completely obscured.

There was something strangely familiar about its presence, although Raven couldn’t understand why. Whatever it was, the way it stood there watching her made her uneasy.

Then she noticed its eyes.

Two blood-red eyes were watching her.

Raven went still, a strange chill passing through her as she realized that whatever she was looking at seemed to have been standing there the entire time.

Who—?

Before the thought could finish, the figure disappeared.

Raven stared into the darkness, searching for another glimpse of those unsettling eyes, but there was nothing there anymore.

Then her wolf growled again, drawing her attention back toward the creature struggling against its chains.

Without warning, it surged toward her.

Raven gasped as strength flooded through her so violently that her knees nearly buckled.

A fierce heat spread through her chest, gathering around the silver-white markings across her chest before moving through the rest of her body. The White Crown Mark began glowing beneath her clothing, and a sharp burning sensation rose behind her eyes.

The Dreamwalker’s expression twisted as he stared at her.

"What the fuck—"

Raven barely heard him.

She could feel her wolf now, closer than it had ever been, and beneath the terrible pressure building inside her was something else she couldn’t explain.

An overwhelming sense of authority.

The same certainty she’d experienced moments earlier returned with even greater force, and when Raven looked into Deb’s eyes, she suddenly understood that she didn’t need to know how the Dreamwalker had entered the girl’s head.

She only needed him to leave.

The bastard seemed to recognize something in her expression, because his own face changed as he drew back slightly.

"Rivers," he warned, his voice considerably less confident than before.

Raven tightened her hand against Deb’s head, feeling the strange power gathering inside her as she met his gaze.

This time, she wasn’t begging.

"I order you to leave."

Something cracked.

The sound rang through Raven’s entire being so loudly that she nearly cried out, and for a moment, she thought the immense pressure inside her had finally become too much to endure.

Then she heard it again, and this time, there was no mistaking the unmistakable sound of a chain snapping.

Another chain had broken.

Her wolf howled, and the sound was filled with such wild, furious happiness that Raven felt her own chest tighten in response.

She’d never felt the creature so delighted before, and for one extraordinary moment, she could sense its joy as clearly as though it were her own.

Deb’s body jerked violently beneath her hand.

"NO!"

The Dreamwalker’s scream tore from the girl’s throat, his earlier amusement completely gone as he struggled against whatever was happening to him.

"What have you done?!"

Raven couldn’t answer.

The strength pouring through her was becoming difficult to contain, and the mark across her chest burned fiercely as she struggled to remain standing.

But her hand didn’t move, and neither did her gaze.

"Leave," she repeated, forcing the command through clenched teeth.

Deb’s fingers clawed at the chair as her entire body began trembling, and the Dreamwalker snarled, his expression twisting with an anger that did nothing to conceal the fear growing beneath it.

"Damn you, Raven!"

His voice shook as he struggled against whatever was forcing him out, and Raven felt a strange resistance pushing back against her command.

"I’ll kill you! I swear I’ll fucking kill you!"

Raven gritted her teeth as another wave of pressure surged through her.

She could feel him fighting now, desperately trying to maintain his hold over Deb, but something inside Raven refused to let him remain.

She didn’t understand how she was doing it, and the terrible strain spreading through her body was making it increasingly difficult to think, but she knew she couldn’t stop while he was still inside that girl’s head.

The Dreamwalker screamed again, his threats becoming increasingly desperate as Deb’s body trembled beneath Raven’s hand.

"You hear me, you fucking bitch?! I’ll find you! I’ll kill everyone you love! Every last fucking one of them!"

Raven’s vision began blurring, and the strength flooding her limbs was already turning into something painfully difficult to endure.

Nevertheless, she held on, refusing to let him keep hurting Deb.

"Get out," she demanded again, her voice shaking with the effort.

"RAVEN RIVERS, I SWEAR I’LL FUCKING KI—"

Deb’s head dropped forward.

The words stopped so abruptly that Raven almost staggered, and for a moment, the entire room seemed to fall silent.

Then Deb’s body began sliding from the chair, and Raven’s heart nearly stopped.

Cassian moved before she could react, catching the girl beneath her shoulders and carefully supporting her as Isolde scrambled toward them.

"Deb?" Isolde whispered, reaching for her sister’s face. "Deb, sweetheart, can you hear me?"

There was no answer, and Raven stood frozen, staring at the girl whose body had gone completely limp.

Oh, Goddess.

What if she’d been too late?

Cassian pressed two fingers against Deb’s neck, and Raven watched his expression with growing terror as one second passed, then another.

Finally, he looked toward Isolde.

"She’s alive."

Isolde made a broken sound and immediately reached for her sister, gathering the unconscious girl into her arms as she began crying again.

Raven’s knees almost gave way with relief.

Oh, thank the Goddess.

She stared at them for another moment, barely able to believe that the bastard was finally gone.

The tremendous pressure inside her was beginning to fade, leaving behind an exhaustion so complete that she could scarcely feel her own legs.

Even the burning across her chest had diminished, although a strange warmth continued lingering beneath her clothing.

Raven slowly turned toward Cassian, who was already looking at her, his expression still pale and strained from everything that had happened.

For the first time since the Dreamwalker had revealed himself, Raven managed a small smile.

"We did it," she whispered.

Then her knees buckled.

"RAVEN!"

Cassian’s shout reached her just as the floor seemed to tilt beneath her feet.

She felt herself falling and vaguely heard footsteps rushing toward her, but before she could understand what was happening, the entire room began dissolving into white.

The chairs disappeared first, followed by the walls and the pale light spilling through the windows.

Then Cassian vanished too.

For a moment, Raven could neither see nor feel anything except the strange whiteness surrounding her.

And suddenly, she was standing in a forest.

Raven blinked, looking around in confusion as enormous trees rose on every side of her, their branches stretching so high that the light filtering through them seemed strangely unfamiliar.

She knew this place.

She’d seen it before, during the Founders’ Hunt.

The realization had barely settled when she noticed a small figure standing several paces ahead.

A little girl with black hair.

Raven’s breath caught as she recognized the child from the strange vision that had tormented her ever since the Hunt.

She was standing in front of the same enormous tree with her arms spread protectively, while several masked figures slowly approached her.

"Move, child," one of them ordered, stopping a short distance away.

The girl shook her head.

"No."

Another attacker laughed as he stepped forward, finding her defiance amusing.

"Come here."

The little girl didn’t move, and Raven watched her trembling slightly as she held her ground, refusing to lower her arms even when the men continued approaching.

She remembered this part.

She remembered the attackers, the girl’s refusal to move, and the terrible feeling that something important was hidden behind the enormous tree.

The last time she’d seen this vision, it had broken apart before she could understand what the child was protecting.

But this time, the vision continued.

One of the masked figures moved slightly to the side, and Raven’s perspective shifted with him, revealing a portion of the enormous trunk that had previously remained hidden.

Someone was crouching behind it.

Raven went still as she made out another little girl, slightly younger than the black-haired child, although there couldn’t have been much difference between their ages.

The girl was pressed against the trunk, her small body trembling uncontrollably as she tried desperately to make herself smaller.

Both her hands were clamped over her mouth, and Raven could see tears slipping between her fingers as she watched the masked men approaching.

For several seconds, Raven could only stare.

So that was what the black-haired girl had been protecting all along.

Another child.

A strange urgency gripped Raven as she moved closer, trying to make out the younger girl’s face.

Who are you?

She took another step, desperate to see her properly, but before she could move around the tree, a sharp pain tore through her head.

Raven cried out, staggering as the forest seemed to twist around her.

The enormous trees blurred, the masked figures disappeared, and the two little girls vanished into the same terrible whiteness that had swallowed the vision before.

Then everything shattered.

Raven jerked awake with a gasp, her head pounding so fiercely that she squeezed her eyes shut again.

"Raven!"

Someone was holding her, and although she could hear the desperation in the familiar voice, the pain in her head made it difficult to concentrate.

"Raven, look at me!"

She struggled to open her eyes, barely managing to make out the pale face hovering above hers.

Cassian.

His white hair had fallen messily across his forehead, and the usual composure she’d come to expect from him was nowhere to be seen.

He looked terrified.

"Raven!" he called again, one hand supporting her head while the other held her shoulder. "Please, can you hear me?"

She blinked slowly, struggling to focus as his face gradually became clearer.

Her head still hurt, and she couldn’t quite understand why she was lying down or what had happened to the forest.

But Cassian was here.

Raven swallowed, trying to force some moisture into her painfully dry throat before finally managing to whisper his name.

"Cassian?"