Chapter 30
Riya's room was quiet, but she wasn't.
She lay curled on her side beneath the thin blanket, knees drawn slightly toward herself and one hand tucked close to her chest. The other rested near her face, her fingers curled tightly into the bedsheet as though even in sleep she needed something to hold on to.
Sweat had gathered along her forehead despite the cool room. Damp strands of hair clung to her temple, her brows drawn together beneath a tension that never quite eased. Every few seconds, her lips moved without sound and her shoulders tightened before relaxing again.
Her breathing gradually became uneven. A tremor ran through her fingers, tightening them around the sheet. Her head shifted against the pillow, and a faint sound finally escaped her.
"No…"
A tear slipped from beneath her closed lashes.
Her arm jerked toward her chest. She curled tighter, her breathing catching as her body reacted to something the quiet room did not contain.
"Get off…"
Her legs shifted beneath the blanket. One drew sharply inward before falling still again, and her fingers clenched harder around the sheet.
"Druve…"
The faint hum of the room began to disappear beneath another sound.
Metal scraping against stone.
The softness beneath her fingers felt rougher. The warmth around her faded, cold seeping beneath her skin as the mattress beneath her seemed to harden.
Her fingers were no longer twisted into a bedsheet.
They were pressed against a cold floor.
Riya's eyes struggled open beneath a weak yellow light. Nothing remained clear for long. The walls blurred whenever she tried to focus, and even lifting her head seemed to demand more strength than she had.
She tried to move her hand.
Metal tightened around her wrist.
The chain scraped against the floor.
Footsteps approached from beyond the door, and fear moved through her before she could understand why. She dragged herself backward until her shoulder met the wall. Her body felt heavy, her movements slow and clumsy, and the chain stopped her before she could move any farther.
The lock turned.
Five men entered.
Riya tried to pull her knees toward herself. One obeyed. The other barely moved before pain forced her to stop. Her free arm came across her body as she watched them approach through half-open eyes.
"She's coming around."
"Too much. Get the injection."
One of the men glanced down at her and scoffed. "You needed all of us? Look at her."
"She looked worse when she killed two of our brothers."
The man's expression changed.
His gaze returned to her.
"Hold her."
Riya reacted the instant they moved.
She tried to retreat, forgetting the chain until it snapped tight around her wrist. Her shoulder jerked painfully, and before she could recover, someone caught her free arm.
"No…"
She pulled.
Nothing.
Another hand closed around her shoulder.
Fear gave her enough strength for one desperate kick. Her heel caught someone, but there was hardly any force behind it. Her leg dropped heavily back to the floor.
"Hold her properly."
Riya twisted against them, her fingers scratching weakly at the hand around her wrist. She barely managed to shift his grip before a palm struck across her face.
Her head snapped sideways against the wall.
For several seconds she couldn't move.
The sting across her cheek blurred into the ache already running through her body. Tears gathered beneath her lashes while the room tilted strangely around her.
They pulled her down.
Riya tried to curl inward, but they didn't allow it. Her free wrist was forced against the floor. Another hand pressed her shoulder down while someone caught her legs before she could pull them close.
The chain kept her other arm stretched away from her.
She tried once more.
Her body barely responded.
"No…"
Her fingers closed weakly around the wrist holding her down. She couldn't push it away. She couldn't even loosen its grip.
Then she felt the needle.
Her body flinched beneath their hands.
A frightened sob escaped her as the drug entered her arm. Her fingers tightened briefly around the man's wrist before slowly losing their strength.
They held her until she stopped struggling.
When they finally released her, Riya tried to turn onto her side. Her body moved only halfway before the chain stopped her. Her free hand found the metal around her other wrist and remained there.
The room began slipping away again.
Footsteps became distant. Faces lost their shape. Even the voices above her seemed to come from somewhere far beyond the walls.
Her lips moved.
"Druve…"
A laugh reached her through the haze.
One of the men turned.
"What was that?"
Riya didn't answer. Her cheek remained against the floor, her eyes barely open.
"Sruthi."
Her lashes fluttered.
The man crouched and caught her chin, turning her face toward him. Riya tried to pull away, but even that small movement failed.
"There you are."
Her eyes struggled to focus.
His face blurred.
"Say it again."
Riya's lips trembled.
"Druve…"
A smile crossed his face.
"Still him."
The others laughed.
Riya tried to turn her face away.
His fingers tightened.
"Go on, Sruthi. Call him."
She didn't seem to understand him completely. His words came apart before they reached her, but the name inside her remained.
"Druve…"
The man waited, exaggerating the silence before looking around the room.
"Nothing."
Their laughter reached her again.
Riya's eyes closed.
"Again."
She shook her head weakly.
"Call him."
A tear slipped down her cheek.
"Druve…"
He waited again.
"Still nothing."
Her face crumpled.
Someone behind him laughed. "Leave her. Maybe she enjoys waiting."
The hand released her face, letting her cheek fall back against the cold floor.
Riya curled as far as the chain allowed.
"No…"
"What was that, Sruthi?"
She couldn't answer.
The room was becoming darker.
Cold. Pain. Metal against her wrist. Voices above her.
Nothing stayed together.
"Druve…"
The laughter returned.
Her brows tightened.
"He'll…"
The men quietened enough to hear.
Riya swallowed painfully.
"He'll come…"
Someone laughed.
"Then let him."
Another voice came from nearer the door. "Would save us the trouble of finding him."
The words passed through her muddled mind without meaning.
The man beside her looked down at her.
"Hear that, Sruthi? Keep calling."
Riya's breathing trembled.
"Druve…"
Their laughter followed his name as the darkness closed around her again.
---
Druve left the study late, carrying the exhaustion of the entire day with him. The house had already settled into silence by the time he stepped into the corridor and headed toward his room. He had almost crossed Riya's door when a faint sound from inside slowed his steps.
He stopped and looked back. Nothing followed for a moment, and he was about to move on when the sound came again, weak and strained through an uneven breath.
"Druve…"
His tiredness vanished.
Druve turned back immediately and knocked once. "Riya?"
There was no answer.
A muffled sound came from inside instead, followed by something that sounded painfully close to a sob.
Druve opened the door.
Riya was curled awkwardly across the bed, the blanket twisted around her legs. Sweat had dampened her hair and forehead, tears streaked her face, and one fist was tangled tightly in the bedsheet. Her body shifted restlessly even though her eyes remained closed, her breathing short and broken.
Druve crossed the room quickly. "Riya?"
She flinched violently at his voice.
Her arm jerked hard against the sheet trapped around her hand. She pulled again, panic rising when it didn't immediately come free.
"No… no…"
Druve reached for the tangled fabric and freed her hand, but the instant his fingers closed around her wrist, Riya fought him.
"Get off…"
She twisted desperately against his hand, her movements weak but frantic. Druve released her immediately, yet the fear twisting her face kept him beside her.
Her freed hand came across herself while one knee pulled sharply toward her body. She turned onto her side, curling inward so tightly that Druve's expression hardened with concern.
"Riya." He leaned closer. "Open your eyes."
His fingers barely touched her shoulder before she recoiled again. Her palm struck weakly against his arm, then his chest, trying to push him away.
"No…"
She twisted again, and Druve caught her before she could move too close to the edge of the bed.
The sudden movement pulled the neckline of her dress aside.
His eyes fell to the pale healed scar high beneath her collarbone.
Druve stopped.
His hand remained against her shoulder, but the pressure disappeared from his fingers. For a moment he simply stared at the mark, something in his face changing so sharply that the exhaustion and concern of seconds earlier vanished beneath it.
Riya pulled weakly against him.
"Druve…"
His gaze snapped to her face.
Tears continued slipping from beneath her lashes. Her lips trembled around his name while her hand returned to her wrist, tugging at it as though something were still keeping it from her.
"Druve…"
Druve's chest tightened.
His eyes moved once between her face and the scar.
Then her lips parted again.
"Sruthi…"
Everything in him stopped.
Riya's face twisted beneath another frightened breath.
"Druve…"
"Sruthi."
The name tore from him.
He moved toward her immediately.
His hand caught her face while the other went to her shoulder. "Sruthi!"
Riya recoiled from him, pushing weakly against his chest.
"No… don't…"
The terror in her voice struck him visibly.
His grip loosened at once, but he didn't move away. His hand remained against her cheek, brushing damp strands of hair from her face while his eyes searched desperately over her.
"Sruthi, open your eyes."
She turned away from him.
Her wrist jerked again.
Druve followed the movement, his eyes dropping immediately to her arm. His hand went to the sheet, pulling it away completely. Then to the blanket tangled around her legs, loosening it and pushing it aside as though anything touching her had suddenly become something he needed to remove.
Riya's leg drew sharply inward.
A cry caught in her throat.
Druve went tense.
His hand hovered over her leg without touching it. "Where?"
She couldn't answer.
"Sruthi, where does it hurt?"
Her face crumpled instead.
A sob escaped her.
Druve's jaw tightened painfully. His eyes moved over her again, searching for something he could see, something he could pull away, anything that would explain why she was hurting in front of him.
There was nothing.
"Sruthi…"
His fingers returned to her face.
"Please. Look at me."
Riya's lips moved.
"Druve…"
"I'm here."
The answer came instantly.
Her fingers dragged weakly across the mattress.
Druve put his hand beneath them.
She caught him.
Her fingers closed around his hand without her eyes ever opening, and Druve's breath caught at the contact.
"Druve…"
"Yes." His fingers tightened around hers. "I'm here, Sruthi."
Her face crumpled harder.
Another sob broke from her.
Druve moved closer, but Riya suddenly pulled away again. Her wrist twisted, her shoulder jerked, and both legs tried weakly to draw inward.
"No… let go…"
Druve's expression broke.
"Sruthi!"
He couldn't watch her fight anymore.
He caught her shoulders and pulled her upright against him.
Riya panicked.
Her hands pushed against his chest while her body twisted in his arms, trying desperately to escape a hold that existed only in what she was experiencing.
"No! Let go!"
Druve loosened his arms immediately, but he couldn't let her fall backward. One hand supported her while the other caught her face.
"Sruthi, it's me."
She shook her head.
Her fingers clawed weakly against his shirt.
"Druve…"
"I'm here!"
The desperation in his voice matched hers.
"I'm right here."
She pushed at him again.
Druve caught her hand, but instead of holding it down, he pressed her palm against his chest.
"It's me, Sruthi."
Her fingers trembled against the fabric.
Druve's heart pounded beneath her palm.
"Druve…"
"Yes."
His forehead dropped against hers.
"I'm here."
Riya's breathing hitched.
Her hand remained against his chest, but the pushing slowly stopped. Her fingers curled into the fabric instead.
Druve felt them close.
His face tightened.
"Sruthi…"
Her fist clenched around his shirt.
Druve pulled her against him.
For a moment her body remained rigid, caught between fighting and exhaustion. Then her forehead dropped against his chest, and her other hand caught his shirt as well.
His arms closed around her immediately.
One hand cradled the back of her head while the other wrapped firmly around her back. He held her close, feeling every tremor running through her body.
"Druve…"
"I'm here, Sruthi."
A sob tore through her.
Druve's eyes shut tightly.
His arm tightened around her.
"I'm here."
Riya shifted against him, frightened even in his embrace. Her fingers clenched suddenly into his shirt, and her shoulders tensed as though she expected hands to drag her away again.
Druve felt it.
He held her tighter.
His palm covered the back of her head, keeping her tucked against his chest while his other arm drew her securely into him.
"Druve…"
"I'm here."
His voice had fallen lower, but the strain hadn't left it.
Riya's breathing remained uneven. Every few moments a frightened tremor passed through her, followed by another tightening of her fingers around his shirt.
Druve didn't loosen his arms once.
Her cheek settled against his chest. The hands that had fought him only moments earlier now held desperately to the fabric of his shirt, and whenever her body tensed, his arms tightened around her before the fear could build again.
"Sruthi…"
His hand moved slowly through her damp hair.
Riya shifted closer.
A weak sound caught in her throat, and her fingers tightened again.
Druve's jaw clenched. He pulled her closer until there was almost no space between them, one hand protecting the back of her head while the other remained firm across her back.
"I'm here, Sruthi."
Her breathing caught once more.
Then gradually, the tension began to leave her.
Not completely.
Her fingers remained twisted in his shirt. Every time they loosened, they closed again almost immediately, as though even asleep she was afraid that releasing him would bring everything back.
Druve stayed still.
Riya's breathing slowly deepened against his chest. Her shoulders stopped jerking. The tremors became smaller, farther apart, while her body finally began to soften within his arms.
Druve shifted only slightly.
Riya tensed immediately.
Her fist closed hard around his shirt, and a frightened breath escaped her.
He stopped.
His arms tightened around her at once.
Riya pressed closer, burying her face against his chest. The fear slowly eased again beneath his hold, but her fingers remained locked into his shirt.
Druve lowered his face against her hair.
He held her tighter, one arm firm around her body and the other protecting her head against his chest, as though whatever had hurt her could still reach for her and he could force it away simply by refusing to leave any space between them.
Riya's body finally relaxed in his embrace.
But her hand never let go of him.