Chapter 194: Chapter 192

Chapter 192

Athela sat on the bed, a downcast expression on her face while she fiddled with the crown Riven had given her as a gift months ago.

Fay remained standing, nervously shifting her weight from foot to foot while occasionally giving him sideways glances.

Meanwhile, Azmoth took it upon himself to direct Riven to a stool near the bathroom someone had brought into the room during his long absence. It’d been a while since he’d come home, and the balcony windows were closed shut by Azmoth after a few seconds of listening to helicopters passing by overhead.

The resounding silence was long and awkward. Riven would much rather be in a life and death situation than something like this, and he inwardly cringed at just what he had to do if these two forced his hand.

He didn’t want to face the music. Not like this.

“Uhm… Riven?” Athela asked softly with a shaky voice, getting a vengeful glare from the succubus nearby. “I know this is hard… but can you talk to us please? We need to know.”

Fay cleared her throat, anxiously stepping side to side as he stared at his feet. She took in a deep breath, and folded her arms to hug herself tightly. “I agree. I can’t keep going on like this, the last two weeks have been a living nightmare for me. I keep thinking about… about you choosing her and…”

Fay’s words trailed off, eyes settling on the ground.

Riven dismissed Messenger, the armor peeling itself off of his body and floating to the side - only leaving a thin linen vest on as he took in a deep breath of his own. He looked up to meet each of their gazes one at a time, a sad smile on his lips. “I really wish that you two hadn’t done this to me.”

“It’s HER fault!” Fay began, pointing to Athela with venom in her words. “She should have taken what she wanted, not waited until I started dating you to decide she would act! This is so utterly-”

“You knew I was going to tell him.” Athela cut in, voice soft but firm and eyes glued to Riven as the succubus glared her way. “You knew, Fay.”

“AND YET YOU DID NOTHING ABOUT IT!” Fay shrieked, tears coming to her eyes as her voice quivered. “And now that he is mine, you’ve chosen to try and steal him from me! Can you not see how miserable you’ve made him!? Can you not see how happy we were!? And you came in to ruin it!”

Fay choked back a loud sob, and Athela finally met her eyes. Only this time it was Athela’s time to start crying. Her pitch black lips quivered, and tears started forming under her red eyes while her fists clenched and her whole body began to lightly shake.

Athela shook her head. “I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t tell him how I felt. You waited until I was dead, not telling him-”

“I DID TELL HIM!” Fay screamed, motioning to where Riven sat watching the two of them in silence. “I told him that I thought you may like him and-”

“May?” Athela asked, becoming visibly angry when she aggressively got to her feet - only to be sat back down by a hand planted on her shoulder by Azmoth. She glared up at the armored demon, brushed his clawed hand off, and snarled back at the succubus. “I thought you were my friend. You had an absolute knowledge that I planned to tell him how I felt, do not act like you didn’t know. There was no ‘maybe’, no ‘may’ about it. You knew. Yet you betrayed my friendship anyway to get him for yourself when I wasn’t around. You stabbed me in the back, Fay.”

Riven cleared his throat, getting the attention of all of them while three heads swiveled to meet his face. He took in a deep breath, gave a defeated half-hearted laugh, and rubbed his fingers along the sides of his temple. “I believe this is partially my fault.”

No one said a word, waiting for him to continue.

Riven met their eyes again, a lump forming in his throat while thinking about just what was going to happen when and if he was forced to break the news. “It may be entirely my fault. I… I hadn’t known you felt the way you did, Athela. Fay tried to tell me, and though she didn’t outright say she knew - she did hint at it. We can at least give her credit for that.”

Fay seemed to calm somewhat at his words, while Athela’s face creased in worry.

He continued. “I don’t know what was said between the two of you before Daskus when Athela died and Fay was kidnapped, but Fay did tell me it may be possible you felt that way. I just didn’t believe it, because… I don’t know why. I just didn’t realize it was the truth. I’d always looked at you as my best friend, rather than someone as a potential romantic partner.”

Athela’s face scrunched up with emotion, and she tried to reply - but all that came out was a choked muffled sound while her hands clenched tightly around one another; tears streaming down her face again as she began to shake.

Riven paused, gritting his teeth. “Honestly, if it were up to me… we’d all go back in time to the way things were. Before all of this happened and the conflict between the two of you started, before either of you admitted your feelings for me. That way I wouldn’t have to choose. Let me ask you both… What happens if I choose the other?”

The silence was palpable once again, and this time it lasted for a full minute before Fay spoke up.

“I’ve asked my mother to cut my contract forcibly with an artifact if you choose her over me.” Fay stated softly, a sad smile playing across her lips. “It isn’t that I want to punish you if you do choose her, it’s that I couldn’t stay if you did. I’m falling for you, just as Athela has. I intimately understand how she feels about you because I feel the same way. I wouldn’t mind if… if you even slept with other girls. But not her. She’s a threat to my bond with you, because I want to be the one that is most important to you. Physically we succubi and incubi are very involved and the drive is high, sex is only sex, but emotionally… I want that emotional connection. If you choose her over me, it means your heart is with her rather than me. I know you love her, I’ve heard you say it, but I believe it isn’t a romantic love. Is it? I’m hoping not, because I want to be the only romantic love you have.”

“You’d really just leave? Just like that?” Riven asked in a whisper.

Fay nodded. “Yes.”

Riven’s eyes stared up at her for a moment, then turned to Athela. “And what about you? What happens to you if I choose to continue dating Fay?”

Athela slowly opened her mouth to reply, hesitated, choked back a weak sob and cleared her throat while rapidly blinking. “I… I’m not sure.”

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She paused, mulling over her tumultuous thoughts. “Riven… do you really love me like you said you did back in Daskus? After I was killed, when you slaughtered all those people to bring me back?”

Riven’s eyes softened. “Of course I do.”

“But it wasn’t a romantic love, then? As Fay implies?”

He hesitated, then slowly shook his head. “No, it hadn’t been.”

Athela’s lips quivered. “And… and do you think there’d be any chance of that changing?”

Riven did not reply.

She took in deep breaths over the course of the next few seconds, trying to calm herself while tightly closing her eyes shut. “Perhaps this was foolish of me after all.”

She let the words hang in the air, and her shoulders sagged - hands coming up to hide her face while she rested her elbows on her knees in a hunched position. “Honestly I… I don’t think I know. I would try to stay if you choose her, I really would, I just… my feelings towards you have changed since we first met. I can’t help it… I just am so infatuated with you, I get butterflies just being around you, and I've worked so, so hard to try and build up the courage to talk to you about it…”

Athela bit her lip to stifle another sob, voice quivering, letting out a feminine whimper as blood trickled down her chin from where her teeth dug into flesh. “I just… I had worked so, so hard… to get the courage. And when I finally have it, I am betrayed by someone I thought a friend. It’s hard… hard to wrap my mind around. That I am losing not only a friend, but the man I love. Losing him to that person I previously thought a friend. It hurts a lot more than I thought it would. It… it feels like my heart is going to rip out of my chest. I don’t know how to handle this…”

“Athela…” Riven began, but she held up a hand to stop him - sniffling as she straightened her posture and blinked away more tears.

“No, I have more to say.” She sniffled, wiping her face oof with the backs of her hands and forcing a smile as wide as she could. “No matter what happens, I want you to choose whoever is best for you. But I hope that it’s me, I want to be the one that you marry one day. I know it may seem silly, coming from a demon, but the idea makes me giddy. It also makes me physically sick thinking you’d want to be with someone else other than me. Ever since we first bonded back in Chalgathi’s trials, I knew that I’d likely come into a humanoid form. I have many aunts and uncles with humanoid forms, it is just part of the evolutionary process… and the day you saved me from being eaten in Negrada was the first day that I really considered it. But over time that feeling grew, and it grew fast. I remember the day we went clothes shopping in Brightsville after we trudged through that sewer, covered in gore and sludge after the fight with the worms… I remember how bad we both smelled.”

She gave a little laugh, thinking back on the past. “I remember how you told me that the dress I’d picked out would look good on me, and how you hugged me… and how it felt to have your arms around me. I remember being so jealous of that elf, Ethel, and thought how I’d never measure up to someone as pretty as that. Humans have a thing for elves after all and I didn’t have blonde hair, I was naturally violent and my demonic side was perhaps too ugly for you - but I wanted to believe you’d one day see me as a woman; rather than as a pet.”

Athela turned her eyes on Fay, becoming stiff when the succubus’s glare made contact with her own. “And I was so intimidated when we ended up choosing Fay as the third minion, you wouldn’t even believe it. Fay is so pretty, unnaturally so, just like all of her race. It’s what her kind is good at, wooing mortals, but I told you to choose her anyways because she was the right fit for you. It was better than that overgrown eyeball of a demon who tried to trick you into signing a bad contract, and I don’t regret that decision even now. Because Fay and I became friends. Or at least I thought we had. But now…”

Athela’s words trailed off, and a look of guilt overcame Fay when the succubus winced.

“I guess I’d probably leave too.” Athela eventually said with a mournful expression, downcast gaze hitting the floor. “I’d try to stay, I really would, I want you to be happy. But it might be too painful to watch you continue on this path with her, when I want it to be me instead. The dates you had, the dinner you took her to, the way you held hands and the love you made with her… I wanted that. I still want that. I want to be the one woman you love forever, and if not… then perhaps it is time for me to finally move on. Maybe I’d enter the wars in Hell as an independent mercenary and cut all ties, or maybe I’d just stay in the nether realms until I calm down enough to come back. I just don’t know, and I don’t think I will know until the time comes.”

Athela avoided his gaze after that, sullen and downcast on the bed with her hands clasped in front of her.

“Don’t abandon me…” Fay whispered under her breath, eyes wide as she stepped closer to Riven with a hand hesitantly stretching out. “Please… These have been the happiest months of my life. You showed me that I don’t have to be a sex object like my sisters, aunts and mother all were. You treated me like a real person, you are so different from the last summoner I had… and I have found true happiness. Don’t take that away from me.”

Athela couldn’t even manage to glare at the succubus again, instead just choking up on the bed.

Riven took a shaky breath, then slowly stood up. He took Fay’s hand in his own, wrapping his fingers around hers, and gave Athela a sad look as the arachnid demoness returned a teary-eyed glance. “Athela, I really wish you would have told me sooner.”

Their eyes locked, Athela’s expression pleading as she silently mouthed the words ‘I love you’ as she began to violently shake.

“Please leave the room Athela.”

Athela’s eyes went wide, and she broke out into a loud sob before she rushed out of the room - slamming the door behind her with a loud bang.

Sighing and heart clenching, Riven turned to Fay - who looked up at him with an emotional smile - hand still wrapped around his own as she began to press up against him - arms wrapping around his chest with a shaky sigh of relief.

Until he stopped her short.

She gave him a confused glance, but was brought down to a sitting position on the bed as he joined her to face her head on - tears of his own coming to his eyes while gathering the courage to do what needed to be done.

Deep breaths.

“Fay… the time we spent together was special. It still is special. You are special to me.” Riven said softly, feeling her touch pull away as her expression began to change. He stayed strong, having prepared himself over the past two weeks for this, and outwardly shuddered. “You mean a lot to me. Honestly, this fucking sucks. This entire situation sucks. I wish it’d never happened.”

“Don’t abandon me…” Fay whispered again, beginning to break down with choking sobs as her eyes squinted and she withdrew away from him on the bed.

Riven’s gaze hit the floor, a lump forming in his throat. “You two are forcing me to choose. It isn’t fair, and I don’t want to do it. Is there any way that the three of us could work this out? You and I are dating now, but… maybe we could make it work with the three of us. You said you’re ok with me sleeping with other women, why make me choose between you and her? I’ve told you that I always wanted the one, a soul mate to grow old with, but this is cruel. What the two of you are doing to me is cruel. I’d rather not lose either of you, and despite what I want - I’d rather try it with both of you first.”

Fay stared at him for a time, mixed emotions crossing her features, but she shook her head to reply with a whisper. “No. Neither I nor Athela want that. We both want to be the one your heart is bound to, the physical stuff isn’t much of an issue - but not with her. Not with an emotional threat like that. You could end up loving her more than me. I couldn’t and wouldn’t do it. You don’t even want that either, you said it yourself many times now - and you just said it again; you want a soulmate just like we do. You need to choose.”

Riven’s expression fell, and he took in a shuddering breath. His shoulders sagged. “Alright then. If that’s how it is, then I have to choose Athela. I’m sorry Fay, I really am.”

It was as if he’d slapped her across the face. She remained sitting there, stunned, before letting out a final muffled sob. Violently shaking and stumbling to her feet - she nearly fell over. She then began taking off the feathered boots he’d given her - setting them down clumsily on the floor while streams of water poured down her cheeks while her lips trembled. She then let out a whisper. “Please let Tupper stay. I hope Athela makes you happy… Mother, take me home.”

In a flash of light Fay was gone, leaving Riven speechless on the edge of the bed. When he saw the notification appear before his very eyes, he began to silently sob, his shoulders heaving up and down while clutching his face in his hands to try and keep the tears back.

[Fay’s contract has been forcibly broken. A demonic contract slot has opened up. 2 of 4 demonic contract slots are now available.]