Chapter 35 Dorian
DORIAN
The moment Sebastian's counter-contract silenced Ivy, every protective instinct Dorian possessed screamed for action. His panther surged beneath his skin, demanding he leap onto that stage and tear the warlock's throat out for daring to harm their mate.
He was moving before conscious thought could stop him, vaulting over the barrier between crowd and stage with inhuman speed.
But he made it only three steps before an invisible force slammed into him like a freight train, sending him crashing back into the hay bales with enough impact to crack ribs.
"Dorian!" Diana's voice carried alarm as she started toward him, but he was already struggling to his feet.
"Stay back," he growled, tasting blood where he'd bitten his tongue. "There's a ward."
Sebastian's laughter carried across the square, cultured and cruel. "Did you really think I'd come unprepared for interfering shifters? The protective circle around this stage has very specific rules. Anyone who attacks first gets to experience the consequences."
"Coward," Emmett snarled from his position near the Council seats. "Using wards that prevent others from stopping you."
"I prefer the term strategically prepared.
" Sebastian's pale eyes swept the crowd with satisfaction.
"And before anyone else gets heroic ideas, I should mention that the ward specifically targets supernatural beings who act aggressively.
Humans might be able to approach, but something tells me the good people of Hollow Oak won't risk their precious reputation on an outsider. "
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Dorian could smell their confusion, their fear, their growing uncertainty about what they were witnessing. Sebastian's blood contract looked legitimate, its magical signature powerful enough that even non-practitioners could sense its authority.
"That's right," Sebastian continued, his voice carrying over through square.
"Look around you. How well do you really know this woman?
She appeared in your town a few weeks ago with nothing but a guitar and a sob story.
Now she's trying to break legally binding contracts in front of witnesses, claiming she doesn't remember signing them. "
"The contracts are coercive," Varric said, rising from his Council chair. "Magical bindings that control a person's voice and choices violate supernatural law."
"Do they? Or do they simply enforce agreements made in exchange for valuable consideration?
" Sebastian's smile was sharp as winter.
"Miss Lane received extensive magical training, professional connections, and substantial financial investment in exchange for her exclusive representation agreement.
If she chooses to violate those terms now that success has made her ungrateful, that's breach of contract, not liberation. "
More murmurs, uncertainty spreading like ripples in a pond. Dorian could see doubt creeping into faces that had been supportive moments before. Sebastian was skilled at twisting truth, making his predatory control sound like legitimate business.
"He's lying," Twyla called out, her voice cutting through the crowd's confusion. "I've seen what his magic does to her. That's not management, that's slavery."
"According to whom? A café owner with no legal training?" Sebastian's tone dripped condescension. "Or perhaps you'd prefer the testimony of binding spirits who witnessed the original contract signing? Entities who cannot lie or be deceived?"
He raised the parchment higher, and ghostly figures became visible around its edges. Twisted, ethereal beings that radiated the kind of ancient power that made mortals instinctively step back. Their presence lent weight to Sebastian's claims that was hard to argue with.
"The contract is legitimate," one of the spirits intoned, its voice like wind through dead leaves. "Signed in blood, witnessed in truth, bound by will freely given."
"Freely given under magical compulsion," Moira protested, but her voice lacked conviction. Blood contracts witnessed by binding spirits were among the most powerful magical agreements possible. If the spirits said Ivy had signed willingly, that testimony carried weight in any supernatural court.
"Ah, but can she prove compulsion?" Sebastian's smile widened. "Memory charms leave no traces when properly applied. There's no evidence I influenced her decision beyond the normal persuasion any manager might use."
Dorian forced himself to remain still. The ward around the stage would punish any aggressive move, and Sebastian was counting on that. He was also counting on the crowd's growing uncertainty to isolate Ivy further.
"Look at her," Sebastian said, gesturing toward where Ivy sat frozen on her stool, voiceless and trapped.
"She came to your town running from legal obligations.
She's disrupted your festival, brought unwanted attention from supernatural authorities, and now she's trying to break contracts that could result in significant financial penalties for your community if she succeeds. "
"That's not how magical law works," Emmett said, but several people in the crowd were already shifting uncomfortably.
"Hollow Oak harbored a contract breaker and aided in her attempted violation of binding agreements.
That makes your entire community complicit in magical fraud.
" Sebastian's voice carried just enough legal authority to sound plausible.
"Unless, of course, you return her to my custody now and avoid further complications. "
The crowd's energy was shifting, support wavering as doubt took hold. Dorian could smell fear replacing solidarity, self-preservation overriding community loyalty. Sebastian was isolating Ivy exactly as he'd planned, making her seem like a burden rather than a member of their family.
"He's manipulating you," Dorian called out, his voice carrying across the square with alpha authority. "Everything he's saying is designed to make you doubt your own judgment."
"And everything you're saying is designed to protect someone you've claimed as yours," Sebastian shot back. "Tell me, shifter, how objective is your perspective when it comes to Miss Lane? How much of your supposed concern is actually territorial possessiveness?"
The accusation hit home because it contained enough truth to sting. Dorian's panther did see Ivy as theirs to protect. But that wasn't all she was to him, and it wasn't why he was fighting for her freedom.
"This isn't about territory," he said, forcing his voice to remain calm despite the rage burning in his chest. "This is about choice. About a woman's right to control her own voice and her own life."
"Pretty words. But you weren't there when she signed the original contract.
You don't know what she agreed to or why she agreed to it.
" Sebastian's pale eyes gleamed with malicious satisfaction.
"You're asking these good people to risk their community's safety based on the word of an outsider they've known for a few weeks. "
Silence stretched across the square, heavy with uncertainty and growing fear.
Dorian could see the crowd beginning to fracture, some people still supporting Ivy while others looked toward the exits.
Sebastian's manipulation was working, turning the community against newcomers with surgical precision.
"Enough."
The word cut through the tension like a blade, carrying power that made everyone turn to look. Elder Varric stepped forward, his storm-gray eyes fixed on Sebastian with the kind of authority that had kept Hollow Oak safe for decades.
"This is our town, warlock. Our laws, our customs, our choice about who belongs here." His voice carried to all corners of the square. "And we choose to stand with Ivy Lane."
"Even if it costs you legally? Even if supporting her brings consequences your people can't handle?"
"Even then." Varric's smile was winter-sharp. "Because that's what community means. Not abandoning someone when things get difficult."
But Dorian could see that Sebastian's words had done their damage. The crowd's unity was broken, their confidence shaken. Some people were already leaving, unwilling to risk whatever consequences Sebastian was threatening.
And through it all, Ivy sat silent on her stool, her voice stolen once again just when freedom had seemed within reach.
"The choice isn't yours to make, Elder," Sebastian said with quiet triumph. "It's hers. And she's already made it." He gestured toward the parchment. "Three years ago, when she signed her name in blood."
Dorian forced himself to swallow the panther's demands for violence. Sebastian wanted him to lose control, wanted to trigger the ward and prove that Hollow Oak's protection was really just one shifter's territorial aggression.
Instead, he looked directly at Ivy, meeting her amber-green eyes across the chaos of doubt and fear.
"It's your choice," he called out, his voice steady as winter stone. "Whatever that contract says, whatever he claims you agreed to, the choice of what happens next is yours. Always yours."
The words hung in the air between them, a lifeline thrown across the void of Sebastian's manipulation. Not a demand or a command, but an invitation to reclaim the agency Sebastian was trying to steal.
"Decide, Ivy," Dorian said quietly, the words carrying on the night air. "We'll stand with whatever you choose."