Page 64 of Riv's Sanctuary

He was tired of it all. Tired of thinking this had been a mistake and his mor would return for him and Sohut. Tired of believing in such a fairy tale. Tired of working in the mines.

Tired of the endless labor.

Tired of the nightmares that reminded him it was the one person he trusted in the world that had caused him and his brother such a fate.

He lashed out, launching himself at Traakni, barreling his small body into the male's side.

Traakni’s one eye widened as he jerked backward.

He hadn’t expected retaliation and, on the uneven ground, he couldn’t regain his balance.

Riv watched, frozen as if watching a moving clip, as Traakni fell over the edge, the talik metal falling with him.

A sickening crack had echoed upward and Riv gulped hard, his small heart pumping in his chest hard.

“Is he okay?” Sohut crept up behind him as Riv’s heart began hammering even harder.

He wanted to answer Sohut but he didn’t know.

He didn’t know if Traakni was going to be okay.

* * *

“Riv?”

Sohut’s voice sounded…different.

Riv turned to look at his brother.

Sohut was disappearing ever so slowly, his body fading along with the mine around them.

“Riv?”

He’d been wrong. It wasn’t Sohut’s voice.

This voice was female. He’d heard it before, too.

Eyes flying open, darkness greeted him.

There was no chink-chink of metal in buckets.

No mining sounds.

No smell of sex, sweat, or dirt.

He wasn't in the mines anymore. He was home.

His home.

His quiet home.

Releasing a breath, he rubbed a hand over his face before he froze.

That voice.

The female voice.

Surely, he’d been dreaming.