Chapter 7
The suffocating weight of inevitability
ZARA
The air blasts from my lungs as my back slams into the jagged wall. Pain erupts along my spine, and my vision blurs for a moment. The taste of blood fills my mouth, sharp and metallic, as I struggle to push off the stone. My knees wobble, but I refuse to fall. Not in front of him.
I won’t show him weakness. Not now. Not ever.
Kade’s magic presses against mine, suffocating, relentless, a dark weight that fills the cave. He doesn’t even look winded. His black eyes glint like shards of obsidian, cutting through the smoke-filled air as he stalks toward me.
“Stay down,” he growls, voice low and commanding, but I won’t make this easy for him.
I spit blood onto the floor as I stand, meeting his gaze with all the defiance I can muster. “Make me.”
His answering smirk is sharp, humorless, and infuriating. “You’re going to regret that.”
His fist slams into my ribs and I double over, the breath knocked clean from my lungs. His strikes are calculated, precise and methodical, meant to hurt and wound but not kill.
I hate him for it.
The ground tilts beneath me as I stumble back, barely dodging his next blow.
I try to summon my magic, but it’s weak, fizzling uselessly against my fingertips.
It’s wild and unfocused, and it’s been ebbing away from me since he attacked me in the clearing, and I’m drifting like a rudderless boat in its absence.
“You’re pathetic,” Kade sneers, grabbing my arm and twisting it behind my back.
I scream, more from frustration than pain, and kick back, my heel connecting with his shin. It’s enough to make him loosen his grip, and I wrench free, stumbling a few steps away. My head spins, and I feel the bruises already blooming under my skin, but I force myself to stand tall.
Kade circles me like a predator. His eyes gleam with dark amusement as if he’s enjoying this—no, as if he’s waiting for me to break, and I decide that no matter how bad this gets, I won’t give him that satisfaction.
I won’t let him have that victory, and my breath comes in short, ragged bursts, my chest aching as I pour my fury into my glare.
“You’ll have to do better than that, darling,” he taunts. “Those pretty little eyes of yours won’t save you from my wrath.”
“You’re all mouth and no fucking trousers,” I snap back.
Kade’s grin widens, a flash of teeth that sends a shiver down my spine. “Bold, for someone who can’t even land a hit.”
I don’t wait for him to attack again. Instead, I lunge, aiming a wild punch at his jaw.
He sidesteps effortlessly, his hand snapping out to grab my wrist. Before I can react, he twists, pulling me off balance and shoving me to the ground.
The stone bites into my palms as I catch myself, and my knees scrape painfully against the rough surface.
I scramble to get up, but Kade’s boot presses against my back, pinning me down.
“Stay down, bitch,” he growls, his voice colder, the amusement draining away. “You’re outmatched. Out-fucking-classed. You know it. I know it. You’re wasting my goddamn time.”
“Go to hell,” I spit, twisting underneath him.
His boot lifts just enough for me to roll away, but he’s on me before I can stand.
I throw my arm up in defense as his fist comes down, its impact jarring my entire body.
Pain radiates through my forearm, but I force myself to block his next strike, and then the next.
Kade’s weight is too much for me to lift and he delivers blow after blow as I’m trapped beneath him, forced to take a beating no one should endure.
Each blow feels like a hammer against stone, and I’m the one cracking.
I lash out with my legs, trying to create distance. I kick again and again, and finally my heel connects with his knee. He grunts, rolling back and although it’s barely a reprieve, I take it, dragging myself to my feet.
My vision blurs, blood dripping from a cut above my eye. My magic stirs weakly in my chest, but when I try to pull it forward, it slips through my fingers like water.
“You’re not even trying,” Kade says, his tone sharper now, tinged with frustration.
“I am,” I snap, my voice shaking.
“No, you’re fighting,” he counters, stepping closer. “There’s a difference.”
I don’t know what he means, and I don’t have time to care.
He moves again, faster than I can track.
His shoulder slams into mine, sending me sprawling to the ground.
I scramble, but I can’t keep up. Every move he makes is deliberate and calculated.
Every blow is designed to punish, to remind me how outclassed I am.
I try to push myself up, trembling, my arms barely able to hold my weight.
He grabs the front of my shirt and hauls me upright, his grip like iron.
“Fucking surrender to me,” he demands, his face inches from mine.
“I’d rather die,” I snap, throwing my head forward in a desperate move. My forehead connects with his nose and he stumbles back, cursing as blood pours down his face.
A flicker of satisfaction floats over me, but it’s short-lived.
Kade’s hand wraps around my throat before I can stop him, slamming me back into the wall again. Stars explode in my vision as his grip tightens, cutting off my air. I claw at his hand, trying to fight back, but nothing works and he’s just too strong to shake off.
“This is where it ends,” he says, his voice low, almost regretful.
My eyes widen as I plead for breath, fighting in any way I can. His fingers tighten again and pain burns through me as he crushes my neck and makes my body burn. I can’t draw breath and my heart hammers against my chest, struggling to keep pumping without the oxygen it needs.
My vision narrows as the stars clear and all I see is him. The hatred and the anger. The darkness and the light. The power and the control, watching as his free hand lifts, his knuckles bloody and his stance tense. He’s going to strike and finish me.
He’s going to kill me and he’s savoring the last moments of my life.
I blink and scratch, still thrashing as my limbs go numb.
He shoves me back with a growl, hard enough that my head whips into the rock behind me and I collapse to the ground, choking on the air I’m finally dragging into my lungs.
My chest burns as I cough and splutter, spitting blood as I try to recover.
The acid burns through my limbs and core and my muscles shake, barely working as they struggle to take my weight until they find a way to work again.
My eyes blink far too rapidly, tears streaming down my face as I force myself to focus. My vision’s blurred and when I turn my head, all I see is Kade, pacing furiously across the cave. His boots scuff the stones as he mutters under his breath, cursing everything and everyone.
The pain in my ribs, my arms, and even my head fades.
It’s not gone, but it’s duller now, as though the worst of it’s been stripped away.
I draw a deeper breath, expecting a sharp burst of pain as my ribs catch, but nothing comes.
My hands press against my chest and there’s no pain, no broken bones beneath my fingers.
I shake my head and my confusion builds.
I’m recovering far too fast. This isn’t normal. This isn’t natural. My body’s healing itself, and I’m not using magic of any kind. Not one drop of it.
My mouth falls open and I gasp, still afraid my airway might get closed off again. Heat builds in my chest and I sigh as its warmth spreads through me, easing some of my tension.
“Fuck,” Kade hisses.
I look up at him, confused. His hands curl into fists and he turns away, pummelling the rocks as if they could contain his anger. The warlock unleashes his fury on the cave walls and screams with rage, every sound reverberating around us with renewed vehemence.
“How can you be so fucking fine with this?” he seethes.
“I’m far from fucking fine with anything,” I snarl back. “You almost beat the living shit out of me, and I’m going to make damn sure you pay for it.”
Kade freezes and turns to face me. His muscles strain, summoning every ounce of power he contains. His eyes darken and their storm is a fury I don’t think I can withstand. His breaths are quick and slow, deep and shallow, a mix of hate and rage and resignation.
“You don’t know, do you?” His expression is a maelstrom of emotions I’d rather not experience. “You don’t know what’s happened to us, do you?”
I shake my head, every movement slow and tentative.
“Gods,” he mutters, raking a hand through his hair.
“You’re fucking clueless.” He taps his foot, then strides toward me, crouching before me as his dark eyes narrow on me.
They look me up and down, studying me, scrutinizing me as if I’m some object and he’s looking for its flaws.
“You’ve fucked us both over, darling. And now we’re bound to each other. ”
I shudder and a flurry of bile catches at the back of my throat.
“What the fuck do you mean?”
“Warlocks call it a blood weave, darling. Your kind calls it an ebon chain. Either way, we’re fucked.”
I retch, and Kade’s eyebrow arches as he watches me, offering no comfort and not one shred of compassion.
Nausea overwhelms me as my body keeps healing and the warmth spreading through me only makes this worse.
It’s more inevitable, more undeniable. And it’s so staggeringly wrong it’s indescribable.
“I didn’t do this,” I seethe.
“You damn well did, Zara. It wasn’t me. I don’t want this and definitely didn’t do this.
I don’t want a pathetic slut like you tethered to me for the rest of my existence.
I don’t want to be bound to you, forced to endure you, obliged to share my power with you.
It’s disgusting. You’re disgusting. Yet here we are. ”
I glare at him, fury flaring in my chest and chasing away the nausea, if only for a moment. “You think I wanted this?” My voice is raw, trembling with a mixture of rage and disbelief. “You think I’d ever willingly tether myself to someone like you?”
Kade smirks, leaning in closer, the heat of his presence suffocating. “Doesn’t matter what you wanted, darling. Intent means nothing to the blood weave. It just is.” His tone drips with condescension, like I’m too stupid to grasp the gravity of what he’s saying.
“I don’t want you, or anything, to do with you. It must have been you. I wouldn’t even know where to start with this, let alone what the hell it means now.”
Indignation burns through me as I pull my chest up off the floor, slumping back as I rest on the stones behind me.
My body trembles, still sweaty and shaky from exertion but still recovering.
Kade glares at me as I fume at him, and my eyes wander over him, noticing his cuts are healing and his bruises fading too.
Finally, he laughs, and its cold, sharp sound slices through the oppressive air of the cave.
“If you say so,” he stands abruptly, pacing in front of me, his movements restless, almost agitated.
“Ebon chains are a fantasy and no one believes any of the stories about them,” I snap, my fists curling at my sides.
He shakes his head. “Oh, they’re real. And since you’ve only heard the fairy tales, we’d better start your education.
You’re a goddamn liability without it. A blood weave isn’t some silly magical bond and it can’t be broken.
It binds a witch and warlock in an almost unexplainable way.
You’re mine—body, mind, and soul. Unfortunately, it makes me yours as well.
We share strength and our magic feeds off each other’s power, heightening and changing it. But it’s not without cost.”
My stomach churns as his words sink in. “Cost?”
Kade stops pacing and turns to face me, his expression dark, almost cruel.
“Oh, you’ll love this part. The bond needs to be fed—constantly.
If it isn’t, it turns on us. Pain, sickness, madness.
It’ll drive us insane until it gets what it wants, and what it wants is us to connect.
” His smirk returns, sharp and venomous.
“So congratulations, darling. We’re stuck with each other. And your cunt is stuck with my dick.”
Blood rushes to my core, and my head turns light as I shake it. “You’re lying.”
“I wish I was, sweetheart. I really wish I was.”
I sway slightly as the lingering pain fights against the unnatural warmth coursing through me. “That’s bullshit. There has to be a way to break it.”
His laugh is humorless. “The bond severs when one of us dies. But it’ll force the other to do anything to stop that happening, so inevitably we both die together.”
My blood runs cold. “You’re lying.”
“Why do you think I haven’t killed you?” His gaze is hard and unyielding. “I wanted to. I almost did. But then this rush of empathy flooded through me. It was disgusting. Horrific. Sickly sweet warmth combined with a tsunami of guilt that was more than even I could bear.”
I pull back, pushing into the jagged cave wall. “No. No, this isn’t real. You’re lying. This can’t be real.”
The warmth inside me feels like a betrayal, and it coils tight, an invisible noose tightening around my neck, constricting with every breath I take.
A foreign presence creeps under my skin and takes root where it doesn’t belong and the sensation is wrong, invasive, as though I’m being reshaped into something I never agreed to be.
It burns in my chest, not with the cleansing heat of fire, but with the suffocating weight of inevitability.
Every pulse of that warmth is a reminder that I’m tethered to him now, bound to the last person in the world I want to be.
“You feel it, don’t you, little witch? The pull toward me.
The warmth. The way you and I are healing faster than we should.
That’s the blood weave working, keeping us alive.
Together.” His lip curls, his disdain palpable.
“So go ahead, keep rebelling against it. I love a good fight and we’re stuck with each other for an eternity. ”
The cave feels smaller, the air heavier, and I realize with a sinking dread that he’s right.
“The bond keeps growing, Zara,” Kade snarls.
“It’ll demand more from us until we’re close enough for its liking.
” His eyes narrow as he looks away, disgust washing over his face.
“We’re going to fuck the shit out of each other over and over, and then we’ll recover and fuck each other all over again. ”