Chapter Twenty Two

Rynar’s claws locked around my wrists, pinning them above my head. Pain shot through my arms as his grip forced me down onto the rough, damp stone. I bit down hard on my lip, the tang of blood sharp in my mouth, refusing to let a sound escape. My pulse pounded in my ears, drowning out the faint lapping of water in the cavern.

The glow of his skin flickered, uneven and tense, throwing fractured shadows across the walls. His face was inches from mine, his dark eyes swallowing all light. Fury twisted his features, stripping away the strange beauty I’d once noticed. What was left was raw and unrelenting, a predator with nothing holding him back. His breath hit my face, carrying the staleness of salt and something bitter.

“You thought you could kill me?” The words lashed through my thoughts, each one striking harder than the last. His voice wasn’t loud—it didn’t need to be. It coiled through the air, sharp and relentless. “You, a mortal, dared to defy me?”

I twisted against him, my body fighting instinctively, though I knew it was useless. His weight kept me pinned. The stone beneath me bit into my back, its cold seeping into my skin. My wrists burned where his claws dug in, a wet warmth spreading from the shallow cuts.

“You’re a monster,” I forced out, my voice trembling but steady enough. “You destroyed everything I cared about. You ruined my life.”

The glow around him pulsed, a sudden burst of light that burned my eyes before plunging the cavern into shadow again. His claws pressed harder, making me gasp, but I bit back the scream. The taste of blood lingered on my tongue, coppery and bitter.

“You betrayed me,” he said. His tone shifted, quieter now but no less dangerous. His body tensed, his claws trembling where they held me. He leaned in closer, his lips brushing my ear, his breath seeping into my skin like poison.

“You want to see a monster?” His voice sank lower, heavier, curling around me like a trap. “I’ll show you one.”

Then he bit into my shoulder. Pain tore through me, hot and searing, exploding behind my eyes. A scream ripped from my throat before I could stop it. My back arched, my body trying to escape the agony as blood seeped from the wound, sticky and warm.

“Stop!” I screamed, my voice cracking. “Please, stop!” My legs kicked uselessly, my wrists twisting in his grip, but he didn’t let go. His claws dragged down to my jaw, sharp enough to leave trails of fire in their wake.

“I won’t kill you,” he growled, his teeth still bared. “But you’ll wish I had. You’ll remember this, Pearl. You’ll remember what happens when you betray me.”

The cavern shifted around me, the edges blurring until it wasn’t the same cold stone beneath me anymore. The air thickened, the scent of salt fading into something fouler. My chest seized as the memories came crashing in, dragging me under.

I was fourteen. The mattress sagged beneath me. The smell of sweat and alcohol burned in my nose. My uncle’s shadow loomed above, his breath hot and sour against my face.

“Shh... it’s our little secret, Pearl.”

His voice slithered through my thoughts, sick and suffocating. My body froze beneath his weight, the tears that welled in my eyes useless against the terror clawing through me.

Not again. Not again.

But this time, my fingers found the cold steel hidden beneath the pillow. The knife. My one chance. My only way out.

I gripped the blade tight and struck upward. His scream filled the room, high and jagged, as the knife sank into his eye. Blood sprayed, hot and slick, blinding him. He reeled back, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. The knife rose and fell, each strike releasing the rage and fear that had built for years.

Blood spattered my hands, my nightgown, the walls. His screams turned to gurgles, then silence. Still, I didn’t stop until the stillness consumed everything.

The memory shattered, and the cavern rushed back. The cold stone beneath me. The sting of my wounds. My body shaking as I struggled to breathe.

Then his weight was gone.

I blinked, disoriented, as I saw Rynar crouched across the cavern. His claws covered his face, his shoulders heaving. The glow around him had dimmed, leaving him a pale, trembling shadow. He wouldn’t look at me.

I lay there, my chest heaving, every breath a struggle. Pain pulsed through my body, but it was muted now, drowned out by the fury rising in me. The echoes of my past burned in my mind, raw and unrelenting, bleeding into the present until I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.

“You saw it, didn’t you?” My voice rasped, rough and shaking.

He didn’t answer. His claws twitched, digging into the stone floor, but he didn’t lift his head. The weight of my words seemed to press down on him, his glow flickering weakly.

“You saw what I did,” I said again, louder this time. My voice wavered, cracking under the strain. “You saw what I became.”

Still, he didn’t speak. His claws slipped from his face, but his head remained bowed. His silence clawed at me, made my fury burn hotter.

“I didn’t know,” he whispered, his voice barely audible. It was hollow, broken, like he didn’t even believe the words himself. “I didn’t know how much it would cost you.”

My laugh came sharp and bitter. “You didn’t know?” The rage poured out of me, each word sharp as a blade. “You didn’t care. You never cared about the cost. You only cared about what you could take.”

His head dipped, his glow dimming further until the cavern felt colder, emptier. His voice came softer this time, raw with something I couldn’t place. “The villagers offered them to me,” he said, his words cracking. “Your parents, your friends… they were sacrifices. I only took what was given.”

“Don’t you dare,” I snarled. “Don’t you dare shift all the blame onto them. Yes, they’re responsible, but so are you. You could’ve stopped it. You didn’t have to take them.”

My voice broke. “You caused this!” I yelled, the words tearing through the air. “If my parents hadn’t been chasing your cursed Abyss, they’d still be alive! I wouldn’t have ended up in that house. I wouldn’t have been his victim. I wouldn’t have had to kill him . I wouldn’t be carrying this guilt, this endless weight that eats at me every single day. You set it all in motion. You did this to me!”

He flinched. His whole body jerked, as though my words had stabbed through him. The silver glow guttered, flickering like a dying flame in a storm.

“I’m sorry. I am really sorry, Pearl.”

My laugh came out hollow—a sound without a trace of joy. “Sorry? Really?” My voice dripped with venom as I glared at him. “A few seconds ago, you were ready to show me just how much of a monster you are!” The rage surged through me, blazing hot and uncontrollable. “The truth is, you are a monster—the worst kind. You steal innocent lives, kill without remorse, and imprison their souls. Their blood is on your hands, Rynar!”

He stumbled forward, his claws reaching out as if to touch me, to anchor himself in the wreckage. I recoiled, every nerve screaming in rejection. The movement stopped him dead. His face crumpled, his glow sputtering out entirely for a moment. In the darkness, he looked fragile. Mortal. As shattered as the life he’d destroyed.

“I… I never meant to hurt you,” he rasped and I could feel that every word was bleeding anguish. “Not you.”

“But you did ,” I said as my voice shook. “You ruined everything.”

He dropped to his knees, his claws scraping the stone floor, as if the ground was the only thing holding him together. His silver glow pulsed faintly, a pathetic echo of what he once was. “Pearl,” he murmured, his voice trembling, “if I had known, “

“You didn’t care enough to know!” I screamed, the force of it ripping through my chest. “You didn’t care until it was too late. Until the damage was done .”

His hands flew to his face, his claws digging into his own flesh as he groaned, a low, broken sound. “I deserve your hatred,” he choked out, the words barely more than a breath. “I deserve every ounce of it.”

“You deserve worse ! You deserve to suffer like I have. Like they did.”

He crawled toward me, his body low, his eyes hollow. When he reached me, he stopped, trembling hands reaching for the dagger lying on the floor. He lifted it, the blade catching the faintest glint of his dying glow.

“Then hurt me,” he whispered, his voice hollow and stripped of pride. “Punish me. Make me pay for what I’ve done.”

I stared at him, my breath ragged, my heart pounding painfully. The sight of him, this god, this monster, so utterly broken, so drenched in remorse, was almost more than I could bear. My fingers curled into fists, shaking with fury, grief, and something I couldn’t name.

“You think that’ll make it better?” I whispered. “You think your pain will undo what you’ve done?”

“No,” he admitted, his voice thin and unsteady. “But it’s all I have to give. I need you to punish me... so I can feel something—anything—besides this misery. Please forgive me, Pearl. Please.”

A scream clawed its way up my throat, and I lunged forward, my fists slamming into his chest. “You don’t get to make this about you !” I cried, each word a blow. “You don’t get to hurt me and then beg for my forgiveness!”

He didn’t resist. He took every hit of my fury. When the last of my strength bled away, I collapsed against him, my sobs muffled against his chest. His arms wrapped around me, tentative and trembling, as if he feared I might shatter in his grasp.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice filled with despair. “For everything.”

I shoved him back, my hands shaking, my vision blurred with tears. “Sorry, don't bring them back,” I said, the words breaking inside me.

He nodded, his eyes shimmering with tears that finally fell, tracing pale streaks down his cheeks. “I know.”

I wiped my face, the anger and exhaustion crashing over me like a tidal wave. My voice dropped to a whisper. “I hate you.”

“And I love you,” he said, his voice soft, breaking. “That’s why I have to let you go.”

I froze. The words hung between us, fragile and devastating. “What?”

I watched Rynar move to my little workstation. It was strange, seeing him touch something so completely mine, just a mess of tools and scraps I’d thrown together to keep my hands busy. His eyes landed on the black pearls he’d gifted me.

He picked them up carefully, his claws shaking like he thought they might break. The pearls had a soft glow, faint and gentle, the kind of light that felt more alive than it should. I froze as he pulled a strand of seaweed from his sash and started threading the pearls together. Every movement was slow, focused, like it mattered more than anything else.

Then I saw the tears.

They slid down his face, quiet and steady. He didn’t even seem to notice. A few drops fell onto the pearls, smearing their glow. My chest tightened, the sight of it twisting something deep inside me. I didn’t want to feel this. I didn’t want to care.

But I couldn’t look away.

Why was he doing this? Why did he care? I wanted to ask, but the words stuck in my throat. His grief filled the room, wrapping around me like the cold water outside the cavern.

“The sun will burn you if you leave me,” he murmured. “But these will protect you. You’ll be free.”

My heart twisted, a pain so sharp it stole my breath. “You… you planned this.”

He nodded, his hands shaking as he fastened the necklace. “It was unfair not to give you a choice.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks as he slipped the pearls around my neck, settling them beside my mother’s necklace. His claws brushed my skin briefly before pulling away. He kept his eyes on the ground, his shoulders slumped under the impact of everything left unsaid.

I stared at him, confusion rising through the storm of my anger.

“The first night you were in the village,” he continued, his voice a haunted whisper. “I came to you. I heard your song, and I was drawn to you. Then, that day, I claimed you in the water, even before you knew me.” His claws tightened around the pearls. “When Jonathan attacked you, I finished him. Because he touched what was mine.”

A sob caught in my throat. The magnitude of his words crashed over me, drowning me.

“I always wanted so much of you,” he said, his voice breaking. “I wanted to devour you. To own you. And in doing so, I took everything. Your parents. Your freedom. Your life.”

He finally looked into my eyes, and the depths of his black gaze swallowed me whole. His voice cracked, barely a whisper. “I love you,” he said, each word soaked in anguish. “But what I did… I must be punished. And the worst punishment is letting you go.”

His claws trembled as he cupped my face, his touch was a whisper of what it had been, soft now, reverent, as though afraid I might crumble beneath his fingers. A tear slipped from his eye, disappearing into the silver glow of his skin. His lips parted as if he wanted to say more, but the words withered away.

Without another word, he gathered me into his arms. The cold water closed around us as he carried me toward the shore. The sea itself seemed to bow to his will, the currents parting, bending, easing his path. I clung to his shoulders, the remnants of my strength bleeding away, my body numb to the cold and the pain. It felt like a funeral procession, and I wasn’t sure which of us was being mourned.

When we reached the shore, the wet sand sucked at my feet, grounding me in a reality I didn’t want to face. Rynar didn’t let go immediately. His hands lingered on my waist, his fingers etching the memory of my shape into his skin, branding it into himself.. When he finally stepped back, his eyes locked onto mine. There was a finality in them that cut deeper than any blade.

It was like he was looking at me for the last time.

My voice trembled. “What will you do?”

He turned to the water, the waves lapping at his ankles like they were desperate to reclaim him. His glow had faded to a faint shimmer, like a dying star. “I am the Abyss,” he said, his voice hollow. “I will return to the darkness I am.”

The surf crept higher, tugging at his legs like it couldn’t wait to devour him. He took a step forward, the water swirling around his knees, his glow bleeding into the waves.

I wanted to scream, to grab him and drag him back. To make him stay. To make him suffer. To forgive him. The storm of emotions was too much, tearing through me, leaving nothing but raw, ragged edges.

He took another step. The water rose to his waist, his glow dimming further, a light swallowed by endless dark.

“Rynar,” I choked out.

He didn’t turn. The sea was already pulling him down. His final words drifted to me on a breath of wind: “I love you.”

Then he was gone. The black water closed over his head, the last of his glow dimmed out like a snuffed candle.

The coldness in my veins turned to fire. Fury unfurled inside me, dark and consuming as I slowly turned toward the village. Vengeance seared through every nerve. These people knew all along. They always knew.

Tanya with her fake condolences, her fake graves, her fake sorrow, all of it meant to shut me up. To make me accept their lies. We were never safe. We were always the sacrifices, led to believe we weren’t. My parents, my friends, they were fed to the Abyss, to Rynar.

But it was these people who handed them over.

They smiled while they did it. They hid their crimes beneath rituals and whispered prayers.

But now, there would be no hiding.

They would pay. I would make them pay.