Chapter 21 You Promised
It worried me so much that Master hadn’t returned since he’d shared me with his friend because I had not performed to his liking. “You’re not turned on!” he screamed at me, slapped me, and then kicked me in my stomach until I couldn’t breathe, until his friend had to yank him away.
I lost sleep, worried about what that meant for Magdalena. I wasn’t allowed to shower. I could no longer tell if I was scared to lose his love because of her or if I needed to be loved by him. I felt so guilty and disgusted to even consider the latter.
“Killian!”
I scrunched my face at the sight. I was hallucinating.
Surely, I was. Magdalena was running toward me.
She stuck her hand between the railing. In disbelief, I ambled to her.
Only when I felt the warmth of her palm on my cheek and saw her eyes searching every freckle on my face, did I accept it was really her.
Either that, or the sweetest hallucination I’ve ever had.
All my voices disappeared, and my ears popped. I wasn’t hallucinating.
Her gorgeous smile beamed from her face, but I couldn’t ignore how swollen her eye was.
It had been her all along. I released a breath that had been clogging my throat, and my eyebrows wrinkled with agony.
“Magdalena. What are you doing here?” The tears filled my eyes and quickly fell. “Has Mael been punching you? Are you—”
“No. No. Please, Killian… I-I love you. I’ve missed you so much. Please. Don’t be mad.”
“Magdalena, run. You can’t be in here! How—What are you doing here?”
“I don’t know, but I’m so happy to see you.” Tears filled her eyes and her voice cracked when she asked, “Aren’t you happy to see me?” It stabbed my heart to see her breaking down. Clearly, she didn’t understand what this place was.
“Oh, Magdalena…” I pushed her hair back and kissed her forehead.
“Of course, I am. You’re the only good part of my life.
My love, my angel, my heaven. Of course I love seeing you again.
” Our tears mixed as I kissed her forehead again and then her cheeks.
We embraced one another with two poles between us.
The racking sob shook her body. “I can’t live without you, Killian!
” She shook her head. “It hurts too much. I can’t.
I can’t control myself. The darkness is too powerful.
I-I think I did something terrible. Mommy and Daddy.
.. they locked me in the nut house. I’m so scared what I did, Killian! ” she sobbed violently.
“Shhh… Magdalena, listen, there’s not much time. This isn’t a safe place. You need to go. Please. Please leave—” As I tore myself away from her, yanking her fingers off me and pushing her hands away, she wailed, fighting to keep me in her arms.
“I can’t! Please don’t make me! Please—” She was hysterical.
“Shhhh. Magdalena, please keep your voice down.” I lifted my gaze to see the open doorway still empty. Relief filled me. I just needed to calm her. “Listen. We’ll meet again. I promise. I’ll find a way. But—”
“You’ve been the boy who’s been singing all this time? They’ve been keeping you here? W-what are they doing to you? What is this place, Killian?”
Looking toward the door again, I saw them walking like an army on both sides of the hall in two files. My heart painfully hammered against my chest. The world started swirling and I realized I’d stopped breathing.
This can’t happen. This. Cannot. Happen. I refuse to believe it.
My world was falling apart. Mael strutted into the room with a cocky grin on his face.
I lifted my chin while glaring at him and holding her.
“You still remember him, Maggie? That’s not good news for you,” Mael said, and she turned around to face him, but I didn’t let her go.
I held her from behind through the rails.
“Why did you bring her here?” I asked Mael and Master. “You promised you wouldn’t hurt her if I let you do it to me! I trusted you.” I glared and jutted my chin at Master.
“Although I’ve grown quite fond of you, little man, my son comes first, and that little bitch you’re holding so dearly is going to be his whether you like it or not.”
“Magdalena is my wife!” I claimed through gritted teeth.
“She’s mine! And nothing you do will ever change that.
You can’t take her from me!” My voice echoed as I screamed at Mael.
I banged and kicked at the metal, searching for the physical pain to represent my pathetic helplessness.
There was nothing I could do to save her from this. Once again, I’d failed, I lost.
Mael walked closer, taunting, “I already took her from you, you idiot. And your little, stupid, fake Gypsy wedding meant absolutely nothing.”
Magdalena turned to face me again, but she wouldn’t meet my gaze, so I lifted her chin with my finger.
“I love you. Nothing will ever change that. Nothing. Is he the one who gave you that black eye, Angel?” Her gaze met mine, and I kissed her nose.
“Seeing you again is heaven, Magdalena. Please, don’t think otherwise. I love you. Always will.”
The sad look on her face disappeared. She was so brave, not caring about the consequences of coming to see me.
I turned my attention to Mael, who was grimacing at the sight of our affections.
“We are not the same. You have to force her to be with you, don’t you?
You’ll never really have her,” I warned before spitting on Mael’s cheek.
“I swear to God, I’m going to kill you one day when my father is done with you,” he threatened while Magdalena and I stared into each other’s eyes.
For some reason, she was smiling while taking me in, which made me smile too.
Mael kept throwing insults, but I was home, lost in her eyes, and I never wanted to leave.
“I love you, please don’t forget me. Don’t let me go, Killian! Don’t ever let me go!” she said in haste, and screamed the last sentence as she clung to me while he attempted to tear her away.
“I love you too, Angel. I’ll never forget. I love you. You’re the only thing I’ve ever loved.”
The guards came to us. They placed some contraption onto my arm and hers, and a hot current ran through me, tensing me until every muscle in my body screamed and the tang of blood tingled my taste buds from me biting my lips. I could still feel it when I collapsed on the floor.
Master was sitting on his throne, as he did in these sessions. The participants crowded the room to the hilt, surrounding the spectacle the three of us had just enacted. At first, I struggled to stand and talk, but then, I pushed the words from my mouth at full power.
“Y-you! Fecking! Promised!” I screamed at Master one more time, my anger radiated through every word and my glare.
It echoed, and everyone but him turned to look at me.
The fear for myself was gone. I was panicking for her while scanning them, then stopped at the right corner where the young boys stood, looking extra sad.
While holding onto the two poles I always tried to shake, I watched them take her limp body to the table. She’d fainted. This wasn’t something I could hide my feelings about. I prayed; I begged; I kicked the cage, trying to loosen the rails, but nothing changed what was happening.
“I will never forgive you for this! Do you hear me?” I screamed at Master again, and this time, I guess he couldn’t stop himself from looking at me. It infuriated me even more that he acted as if my words hurt him. After everything I had endured for him.
Time was dragging while I screamed ’til my voice gave out and the only love of my life got murdered a million times.
Slowly, the little of my sanity left faded away.
I vomited, cried, screamed, and the dizziness swirled the world around me, weakening my knees, but I stayed awake.
There were blisters on my hand from how much I was pulling at the railing.
“I love you. No matter what, I still love you,” I repeated every time she called my name, begging for help for anything.
She was completely silent by the time my legs gave out. My head was throbbing as if it had been struck and slowly the world started turning and darkening. around the cage to where I was. I could barely hold onto the rales, barely keep open my eyes.
"Don't worry. I'll protect her." Another boy whispered into the back of my ear. I recognized his voice. It was that boy who'd been brought by master and his friend. I'd forgotten he'd been in the cage with me. I turned and confirmed that it was him after all. "I'll save her."
I nodded. "Please," I barely whispered. "Please save her."
He nodded and stepped forward while I retreated back. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t stop the world from blackening the way it did when I held my breath. The world swirled and dissappeared.