Chapter 27 A Web I Can’t Escape
A web I can’t escape
ZARA
I stare at the cracks in the ceiling and count the problems I’ve got to solve.
I’m still dealing with the pain of knowing my coven had betrayed me, and now I’m stuck with the man who killed them.
I ought to hate him, but I can’t help thinking he did me a favor and saved me from an unenviable fate.
Kade and I are more than just two souls bound by an ebon chain, and I don’t know what that means.
I don’t know if I want to know what it means, but I don’t think I have a choice anymore.
Not now, his brothers have arrived.
We’re in the middle of a warlock outpost, searching for his tutor while we’re accumulating enemies.
Someone wants at least one of us dead, and I’m willing to bet I’m the one they want to kill.
Kade’s standing between me and every other warlock out there, and if he’s as vicious as I think he is, he’ll want something in return.
The chain merges our magic, and mine’s already altered. I’m learning to use his but it doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel safe. It’s tapped into something dark inside me and that terrifies me.
But Kade scares me more.
It’s not the kind of fear that comes from facing an enemy with a knife at your throat, or from knowing your coven turned against you. Kade brings a different kind of fear and it burrows into my chest and makes me question who I am, who I’ve been, and what I’m willing to become.
I don’t know how to fight alongside Kade.
The chain that binds us isn’t just a leash.
It’s a twisted, suffocating tether that fuses our strengths and weaknesses together in ways I never signed up for.
I should hate him, but I’m starting to respect him.
My feelings should be clear, but they’re confused instead.
I shouldn’t want anything to do with him, but there’s a sick curiosity brewing inside me.
I want to know more about Kade. I want to find out what we can become together. Worse, I want to see if I can change him and use him to get what I want.
“Are you ready, kitten?” he asks.
I don’t want to be ready.
In all honesty, I don’t know if I want to break the ebon chain. I want to keep it if it makes me stronger. If it lets me unleash what’s bound inside me. If it keeps me safe from the beautiful monster I’m starting to fall for.
“Stop calling me that,” I snap, brushing past him to grab my cloak.
He steps closer, his voice dropping into an indistinct murmur. “You’ve got to play the part, Zara. Out there, they’re looking for cracks. Weakness. We give them none.”
I don’t answer. He’s right, and it grates on me that he knows it. I settle the cloak around my shoulders and glance toward the door.
“Where exactly will we find your tutor in this hellhole?”
“Malric isn’t a warlock you find. He finds you. But we can make it easier for him.”
Kade leads the way out of the room, his stride loose and confident, as though he isn’t threading his way through a town full of warlocks who’d kill him if they thought they could get away with it.
I follow, keeping a hand close to the hilt of my blade, my eyes scanning the opulent corridors of the mansion as we make our way down the grand staircase.
His brothers aren’t around, but I can feel their presence. Their magic seeps through the walls and floors, a reminder of the evil that they are. It’s all hard lines and sharp edges, rules that were made to be kept and never defied.
It’s foreign.
It’s wrong.
It’s becoming normal and I want it.
When we step into the streets, the cold night air hits me like a slap.
Varric’s Hollow is shrouded in a dense mist that clings to the cobblestones and muffles sound.
The town feels alive in the wrong way, its twisted alleys and looming spires vibrating with a latent energy that makes the hair on my arms stand on end.
Warlocks drift through the mist like wraiths, their faces shadowed, their eyes glittering with malice or suspicion, or both.
“Stick close,” Kade says over his shoulder. His voice has lost its mocking edge, replaced with something sharper, more focused.
“Great,” I mutter.
Kade slows and casts me a look of calm confidence before turning his focus back to the shifting shadows ahead.
The mist parts suddenly, revealing a narrow alley that seems to be a dead-end against a crumbling stone wall.
But Kade doesn’t hesitate. He steps forward, his hand brushing the wall’s surface in a deliberate pattern.
The wall shudders, the stones grinding together as a hidden doorway yawns open, spilling faint blue light into the mist. The air inside is colder, sharper, carrying the faint scent of iron and ozone.
“We’re here,” Kade says, his voice low but certain. He glances back at me, and for a moment, his eyes darken until they’re blacker than unadulterated sin. “Stay close. Malric doesn’t take kindly to strangers.”
My hand hovers near the small of his back, more out of instinct than trust, as I follow him into the suffocating cold beyond the doorway.
The walls of the passage seem to press inward, their slick, uneven surfaces glistening faintly in the eerie blue light.
The air here is heavy, charged with a magic that prickles against my skin, almost as if the tunnel itself is alive and watching us.
Kade moves with unsettling ease, his steps silent, purposeful.
The chain between us hums faintly, pulsing in time with some unseen rhythm that sets my teeth on edge.
I grip the hilt of my blade tighter, my other hand brushing the stone wall to steady myself.
The floor beneath us is uneven, jagged in places, as though carved in haste or left unfinished.
“Is this some kind of test?” I ask, my voice low but sharp.
The oppressive silence of the passage makes my words feel intrusive, too loud against the unyielding quiet.
“Everything with Malric is a test,” Kade replies, glancing over his shoulder. His tone is calm, but there’s a tension in his jaw that betrays his unease. “Stay sharp, kitten. He has a way of testing your resolve.”
The air grows colder the deeper we go, and my breath clouds in front of me.
The passage suddenly widens, opening into a cavernous chamber bathed in a sickly, shifting light that seems to have no source.
The walls are etched with intricate runes, their glow pulsing faintly in a rhythm that matches the hum of the chain.
At the center of the chamber stands a massive stone table, its surface marred with deep grooves and dark stains that could only be blood.
And there, leaning casually against the edge of the table, is Malric.
He’s nothing like I expected. His form is lithe, almost serpentine, his skin pale as moonlight and his hair a shock of silver that cascades down his back. His eyes are the only color on him and their piercing, unnatural red pierces right through me.
He looks up as we enter, a slow, predatory smile spreading across his face.
“It’s been a long time, Kade,” Malric says, his voice smooth and venomous. “And you’ve brought a little witch. Is she a present, or a problem?”
Kade stiffens at Malric’s words, his posture taut like a bowstring.
“Neither,” he says evenly, though there’s an edge to his voice. “She’s about to become my wife.”
Malric’s smile deepens, revealing teeth several shades too sharp.
He pushes away from the table, his movement fluid and deliberate, like a predator stalking prey.
His gaze drifts lazily over me, and the weight of it is suffocating.
I force myself to meet his eyes, though the unnatural crimson glow makes my stomach churn.
“A curious choice, binding yourself to someone so untamed,” Malric drawls, his tone laced with mockery. He circles us slowly, his presence filling the chamber like smoke. “Tell me, little witch, do you even know what you’ve gotten yourself into?”
“I’m figuring it out,” I say, as my fingers twitch against the hilt of my blade.
Malric’s laugh is soft but menacing, echoing off the cavernous walls.
“Oh, I do like this one, Kade. She’s got bite. But I wonder...” He stops directly in front of me, tilting his head as if studying a particularly interesting specimen. “Does she have teeth?”
“That’s enough, Malric,” Kade cuts in, stepping between us. His voice is low and warning, his presence suddenly a shield. The chain hums faintly, the energy between us surging with his tension.
Malric raises a pale hand as his eyes narrow and their red burns brighter. His smile doesn’t falter, but his features sharpen and he hisses as he sucks air between his teeth.
“A blood weave,” he snarls.
Malric’s reaction sends a chill through the chamber, the sickly light around us flickering in response to his sudden shift in demeanor. His gaze locks onto the chain connecting Kade and me, the crimson glow of his eyes burning brighter with each passing second.
“A blood weave,” he repeats, his voice a low, venomous hiss. He takes a deliberate step closer, his earlier amusement replaced by something darker, more dangerous. “You’re bound. Truly bound. Tell me, Kade, was it desperation or stupidity that drove you to such extremes?”
Kade doesn’t flinch, his expression hardening into a mask of defiance.
“It was an accident,” he replies, his voice steady but carrying a weight that makes my chest tighten.
Malric’s lips curl back, revealing those unnervingly sharp teeth in a snarl as the oppressive air of the chamber grows heavier with each breath.
Shadows shift and writhe along the walls, as though alive and responding to his rising anger.
The sickly light pulses erratically now, casting jagged, dancing shapes that seem to mock us.
“Stupidity then,” he says, his tone dripping with disdain. “Do you even realize what you’ve done? A blood weave doesn’t just tie you together. It feeds off you. It unravels your identities. Slowly. Painfully. Until there’s nothing left but ash and regret.”