Chapter 13 Freedom
Chapter thirteen
Freedom
Magnur
Jade was here. I could feel her presence like a phantom limb where our connection should be. The warehouse stretched before me, cavernous and dimly lit, shadows pooling in the corners. My vision adjusted instantly, cataloging every detail and there, in a pool of sickly yellow light was Jade.
My world narrowed to a single point. Everything else fell away, her face was bruised, one eye swollen nearly shut, dried blood crusting at her temple and lip. But she was alive and breathing.
Mine. I took one step forward, my focus locked on freeing her and destroying whatever had harmed her.
“That’s far enough, demon.”
The voice came from behind Jade’s chair, and a figure stepped into view, positioning himself where I could see him clearly.
Trevor. The warlock descendant. He looked absurdly ordinary but there was nothing harmless about the knife he now pressed against Jade’s exposed throat, the blade gleaming dully in the weak light.
I froze mid-step, every muscle in my body locked, the rage inside me threatened to explode outward, my vision bleeding to red around the edges.
“There you go,” Trevor said, his voice smooth and satisfied. “Good boy. Didn’t take you long to figure out the rules of this game, did it?”
“Let her go,” I said. “Now.”
Trevor’s lips curved into a smile that never reached his eyes. “I don’t think you’re in a position to make demands.” He tightened his grip on the knife, pressing it more firmly against Jade’s skin until she winced, a tiny sound escaping her that sent fresh waves of fury through me.
“What do you want?” I asked, keeping my tone level despite the storm raging inside me.
“Smart question,” Trevor replied, seeming pleased with himself.
“Simple answer.” He gestured with his free hand toward something on the floor between us, a circle, I realized.
Not just any circle, a binding circle. Warlock symbols arranged in patterns I recognized with bone-deep terror, glowing faintly blue against the concrete.
My stomach dropped as understanding crashed over me.
The trap at Jade’s apartment, the fire, the lure all of it had been leading to this moment.
This wasn’t just about Jade or Trevor’s obsession with her, it was about me and vendetta passed down through generations of a warlock family that had once owned a demon and lost him.
“Let me be absolutely clear,” I said. “If you harm her, there will be no place in this world or any other where you can hide from me. I will hunt you until the stars burn out. I will tear your soul from your body and ensure it never finds rest.”
Trevor’s expression flickered briefly with what might have been fear before his smug confidence reasserted itself. He pressed the knife harder against Jade’s throat, drawing a thin line of blood that gleamed wet and bright against her skin.
“Big words from someone who’s about to be on a very short leash,” he replied. “Now, shall we discuss terms? Either you step willingly into this circle, or I cut her throat and you watch her die."
“How did you know?” I asked, buying time while frantically evaluating options.
Trevor’s expression brightened at the question, pleased to show off his knowledge. “Family journals. Detailed records going back generations, hidden and preserved.”
“If you think I’ll willingly walk into those chains—“ I began, but Trevor cut me off with a dismissive wave.
“Save the dramatics. You’ll do exactly what I want because of her.” He pressed the knife harder against Jade’s throat, drawing another thin line of blood that made my heart stutter. “The mate bond is so predictable. Such a useful weakness.”
My mind raced through options, each more desperate than the last. I could attack but Trevor’s hand was already in position.
One reflexive jerk of his wrist and Jade would bleed out before I reached them.
I could attempt magic, try to immobilize him from a distance, but the wards he‘d created around Jade would interfere with any spell I cast. I could stall, try to negotiate, but the manic gleam in his eyes told me patience wasn’t his strong suit.
Push him too far, and he might decide a dead hostage was better than an uncooperative one.
Every scenario ended with unacceptable risk to Jade.
“Don’t do it.” Her words were strained but clear, her remaining good eye locked on mine, there wasn’t a trace of fear in her expression. Only resolve.
“Don’t you dare step into that circle,” she continued. “Not for me. Not for anything.”
Trevor yanked her head back by her hair, exposing more of her throat to the blade. “Shut up,” he hissed. “This isn’t your decision.”
“It is exactly her decision,” I growled, claws flexing at my sides. “The choice you’re offering involves her life.”
“And I’m saying no,” Jade insisted, her gaze never leaving mine even as tears welled in her eyes. “I know what it would mean for you. What you survived before.” Her voice broke slightly. “I would rather die than be the reason you go back to that. I won’t let you trade your freedom for my life.”
The selflessness of her decision made my eyes misty, she was choosing death over seeing me enslaved again.
Trevor‘s face contorted with fury. “This isn’t how this works!” he shouted. “You don’t get to play the martyr, Jade. You’re supposed to beg for your life, to convince him to save you.”
“You never understood me,” she replied, her voice steady despite the tears now sliding down her cheeks. “Not during our relationship, and certainly not now. I don’t bargain with people I love.”
Love. The word hung in the air between us, a declaration made in the worst possible circumstances yet perfect in its timing.
I stared at her, this remarkable human who had somehow become the center of my universe in mere days.
The weight of my history pressed down on me.
Freedom had been hard-won. Precious beyond measure. I had sworn never to be bound again.
But Jade was worth more than freedom.
Our eyes locked across the warehouse, a silent communication that needed no magical thread to convey its meaning.
In her gaze, I saw both permission and plea—permission to save myself, to flee this trap and preserve the freedom I’d fought so hard to win; plea to understand that she couldn’t live with being the cause of my re-enslavement.
The selflessness of it humbled me, this human willing to die rather than see me suffer.
But her life was not a price I was willing to pay. Not for freedom. Not for anything.
Trevor watched our silent exchange with growing frustration, the knife in his hand wavering slightly against Jade’s throat. “Enough of this,” he snapped. “Make your choice, demon. The circle or her life. You have ten seconds before I start cutting deeper.”
The decision settled over me like a second skin—immediate and absolute.
There had never really been a choice, not from the moment I’d burst through that warehouse door.
Not from the moment I’d first seen Jade on that rooftop, our threads connecting with a snap that had reverberated through centuries of loneliness.
My eyes fixed on her face, deliberately ignoring Trevor and his knife, his ultimatum, his circle of binding sigils.
None of that mattered now. Only she did.
“Ten,” Trevor began counting, his voice tight with impatience. “Nine...”
I tuned him out, stepping closer but stopping well short of the circle. I kept my eyes locked on Jade’s, my expression softening as I addressed her directly.
“Jade,” I said, my voice gentle in a way that seemed to surprise Trevor into momentary silence. “Look at me. Only me.”
She did, her one good eye fixed on my face with such intensity it felt like a physical touch. A tear slid down her cheek, leaving a clean trail through the dirt and blood.
“There is no freedom worth your life,” I told her, my voice steady despite the fear coursing through me.
“I lived through centuries of captivity before. I survived. But I would not survive losing you.” I took another careful step forward, still outside the circle’s boundary.
“I would rather die than live in a world without you in it. Even if we never have another moment together, I choose your survival. I survived captivity before, I will survive it again. But only if I know you’re out there, alive, fighting. ”
More tears spilled down her face as she shook her head slightly. “No,” she whispered. “Please. Run.”
“I can’t run from this,” I said simply. “Not from you. Not from what I feel for you.” I paused, the words I’d been carrying since our first night together finally finding voice. “I love you. I will be yours—always. No matter what happens next.”
I loved her. Completely. Irrevocably. Enough to walk willingly back into my nightmare.
Jade’s expression crumpled, silent tears streaming down her face. “Magnur, don’t,” she pleaded, her voice breaking. “You can’t. Not again. Not for me.”
I smiled at her. “Especially for you.” I kept my eyes locked on hers, memorizing every detail of her face as if it might be the last time I saw her this way.
“When I break free and I will break free I’ll find you,” I promised her. “No matter where he takes you. No matter how long it takes. I will find you again.”
“I’m coming in,” I said to him. “Remove the knife from her throat.”
Trevor‘s smile was cold and victorious. “Once you’re fully bound, not before. Step into the circle, demon.”
I looked back at Jade one final time, trying to convey everything I couldn’t say aloud.
My body rebelled as I approached the circle’s edge, every instinct screaming at me to run and fight anything but surrender to chains again.
Sweat beaded on my forehead, my muscles locked in resistance against what my mind had already decided.
I forced it all down, I wouldn’t give Trevor the satisfaction of seeing my fear. Instead, I looked back at Jade once more.
“I’ll be okay,” I told her, the lie bitter on my tongue. Then, to Trevor, “If you harm her after this, no binding on earth will stop me from tearing you apart.”
Trevor’s smile widened. “Just get in the circle.”
I took a deep breath, memorizing the sensation of freedom before I stepped across the boundary.
The moment my foot crossed the line, the sigils flared with cold blue light.
Magic surged up from the floor, wrapping around my ankles like chains before racing upward to engulf my entire body.
The sensation was horrifyingly familiar, icy tendrils slithering over my skin, seeking entrance, probing for weakness.
I fought the urge to struggle, knowing from experience that resistance would only make the binding more painful.
The spell locked into place with a sound like a key turning in a massive lock, audible only to me.
My muscles seized as control was stripped away, layer by layer.
But even as the binding tightened around me, squeezing the breath from my lungs and forcing my will into smaller and smaller spaces, I kept my eyes on Jade.
Her face was my anchor as the familiar horror of captivity closed over me like a tomb.
The blue light of the binding circle reflected in her tears as the spell reached its crescendo, and I felt my knees buckle as my freedom slipped away in an instant.
I had survived this before. I would survive it again. For her.