WebNovels

Chapter 81 - The Bitter Aftermath Of Breakups.

Riven took a few more days to nurse his broken heart in his family manor before steeling himself to return to the camp. The air there felt heavier, thicker with the ghost of Vaelorian's absence and the betrayal that had ripped through his carefully constructed world.

All his life, Riven was the untouchable one, the emotional nomad who collected women like stamps and never let one get sticky. He earned his reputation by being the first one out the door, believing he was invincible as long as he held the escape key. But when this feeling arrived, it didn't knock; it kicked the door in. Now, the boy who boasted he had no heart is suddenly finding out what it feels like to have one that's terrified, completely unprepared for the pain and beauty of loving someone.

The moment Riven stepped into the camp grounds, Barron was already there waiting, eyes filled with concern and curiosity.

"Riven! Thank the elders, you're back," Barron greeted him, instantly dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "What is going on? I've been hearing rumors—the whole camp has. The Prince is engaged? What does that mean for you? Did you guys break up?"

Riven tossed his leather bag on the ground, and sat on a nearby bench the mundane action feeling monumental. He avoided Barron's gaze, focusing instead on smoothing out a wrinkle on his shirt.

"I have no idea why that asshole did what he did." Riven said flatly, the words feeling dry and tasteless in his mouth. "One minute, everything was... fine. Next, he's on the front page, engaged to a freaking princess."

Barron crossed his arms, his expression serious and oddly calm. "I'm sorry man, that really sucks." he sympathized with his friend before adding, "For what it's worth, I think Vaelorian really cares about you. I mean, from how he's been treating you, the way he looks at you—"

Riven scoffed, the sound sharp and laced with pure annoyance. He finally looked up, his eyes hard.

"Yeah! He cares about me enough to stab me in the fucking back!" he snapped, the bitterness finally breaking through his composure. He stood up and paced the small space between them. "Care? Care means honesty, not a public humiliation broadcast across the whole Empire. He didn't even have the decency to tell me himself. Who does that?"

Barron held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Alright, alright. I get it. It was a terrible move. I'm really sorry."

Riven took a deep breath, letting the anger recede into a cold, determined resolve. "Thanks. Look, I need your help with something. And this is going to involve the girls this time."

They found Mira Lune, Anya, and Willow near the main mess hall, and the moment the girls saw Riven, they surged toward him with delighted cries.

"Riven! You're back!" Willow cheered, while Mira Lune grabbed his arm.

"It's about time! We were getting worried," Mira Lune added. "Wait, where is the Prince? We need to go congratulate him! An engagement to a princess! That's huge news!"

The casual excitement in their voices felt like a punch to Riven's gut. He swallowed hard, trying to hold back the tidal wave of shame and heartbreak threatening to overwhelm him.

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you all about," Riven managed, his voice sounding distant even to his own ears. He waited for them to quiet down, their bright smiles fading slightly at his serious tone.

"Vaelorian and I... we were sort of dating," he finally admitted, the words feeling small and ridiculous now.

A hush fell, lasting only a second before the girls erupted in celebratory squeals and excited chatter.

"I knew it!" Anya shrieked, jumping up and down. "I told you two! The tension was so obvious!"

"If you guys get married, you're going to be a consort! Can you imagine that?" Mira Lune clapped her hands.

It was Anya who paused first, her eyes narrowing as she processed the full implication of what she'd heard. She put a hand on Riven's arm, her voice losing its excitement.

"Wait," Anya said, looking at Riven's devastated face. "But if you two are dating...why did he get engaged with someone else?"

That was the moment the celebratory mood shattered. It was a cold splash of reality, and immediately, Mira Lune, and Willow exchanged wide-eyed glances as it occurred to them that something was profoundly wrong.

Riven took a shaky breath. "That's the second thing I wanted to talk about." His gaze swept over their stunned faces. He forced a nonchalant shrug, trying to dismiss the tragedy of it all. "He and I are no longer together, for obvious reasons, you know? Him getting engaged without telling me and all? Yeah. So that's...whatever." He needed to move the conversation past the hurt and into the practical.

"Vaelorian will be back here any day now, and I want nothing to do with him," Riven stated firmly. "So, I'm going to move out of our shared room."

The girls' concern returned in full force.

"Move out? Where are you going to stay?" Willow asked, sounding genuinely worried.

"Riven, all the other rooms here are full!" Mira Lune pointed out.

"I haven't figured it out yet," Riven admitted. He knew it was a messy detail, but the thought of sharing that space with Vaelorian again was unbearable.

"You can take my room," Barron instantly offered. "I'll stay with one of the other shifters in the larger rooms. I don't really need much space anyway, and you need a place to be alone right now."

Riven felt a pang of gratitude that cut through his misery.

"Thank you, Barron. Seriously."

With the issue of where Riven would stay sorted out, they moved on to the next, and arguably more complicated thing: how to survive the rest of the camp without a catastrophic confrontation.

"We need a strategy," Anya declared, leaning over the dusty wooden table they had gathered around. "He's royalty. He knows everyone's schedule. He'll probably demand we bring Riven to him. We need to make Riven disappear."

"That's true, we can't let him bully you into giving in to him." Mira Lune insisted, her political mind immediately going to work.

"I have an idea for the mornings," she added. "When the Prince usually goes to the training grounds, we'll make sure Riven is doing specialized analysis training with the other instructors at the opposite end of the camp. That way, they never overlap."

Willow chimed in, "And in the evenings, we can make sure Riven is always doing fieldwork with me outside the main grounds—tracking, sprinting, something that takes him hours away from the Prince's perimeter."

"That leaves lunch," Riven pointed out, running a hand through his hair. "It's the worst. Mandatory communal mass hall time. We have to be there, and he can just walk in anytime."

They were silent for a moment, various ideas—getting sick, sending Riven on errands—all dismissed as too obvious or flimsy.

"I've got it," Barron announced, his eyes lighting up. "Every day, we take him to the farthest corner of the mass hall. We build a wall. Not a literal one, but we surround him—Mira Lune on the left, Willow on the right, me and Anya facing out. We talk less, we eat fast, and we pack up before anyone even has time to finish their soup. He won't be able to get through us, or even speak to Riven without causing a scene."

Riven nodded slowly, a grim smile touching his lips. It was crude, but effective. "A human barricade. I like it. So, that's the plan: avoidance, evasion, and the complete suppression of Vaelorian's existence. I like it."

He knew it was cowardly, but right now, Riven didn't care. He was wounded and needed time. He was going to use his friends as his shield until the pain was manageable, and until he could face the guy who had broken his heart, that's if he ever will.

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