Chapter 33
CHAPTER
I woke to the sound of chains.
The room was dark, the air heavy with damp stone and thick mist. I couldn’t move. My wrists ached, metal biting into skin already rubbed raw and each breath drew in dust and iron. When I finally lifted my head, I saw him.
Malakai was chained against the opposite wall.
The iron cuffs glowed faintly, a strange magic sealing him, each pulse dimming the crimson veins beneath his skin.
His jacket was gone, his shirt torn open where the chains crossed his chest, the marks of the fight still carved into him.
He looked both alive and fading, breathing hard, but not from weakness. From maintaining control.
The room was bare, nothing but cold stone and the chains to keep us from reaching each other. Where were we? By the faint shadows swirling along the floor I assumed we were still in some part of the castle.
“Well,” a voice drawled. “You both look comfortable.”
The Demon King stood right inside the doorway, arms folded, his expression carved with amusement. The torches flared to life at his gesture, their light throwing deeper shadows across the walls.
“I do admire symmetry,” he said, glancing between us. “Two halves of the same mistake.”
“Let her go,” Malakai rasped, his voice raw but steady.
The King’s smile was slow. “You make demands as though you’re in a position to bargain.”
He turned to me. “He’s been very disciplined, you know. Not even a flicker of hunger since you fainted. Though, I can feel it gnawing at him.” His gaze slid back to Malakai. “You can smell it, can’t you? Her blood? The way it hums through the air between you?”
Malakai didn’t move, but his eyes darkened, pupils razor thin. “You said you would let her go.”
“I did let her go, from my power’s grasp,” the King hummed, thoughtful. “Let’s see how long that control of yours lasts.”
He stepped closer to me, and before I could shrink away, his hand traced along my cheek, mock tenderness.
“A test,” he murmured. “A little reminder that you are, after all, mortal.”
I tried to jerk back, but the chains held. His clawed fingertip drew a thin line along my neck. Shallow, precise. The blood welled up immediately, warm and slow.
I bit back a whimper as the metallic scent filled the room.
Malakai’s head jerked up.
The air shifted. His breath quickened, fangs pressing against his lower lip as if he was forcing them to stay hidden. The crimson glow returned to his eyes, too bright, too sharp.
The King stepped back, watching him with delight. “Beautiful,” he murmured. “So close to losing it already. Tell me, son, how many breaths before you snap? Ten? Twenty?”
“Stop it,” I said through clenched teeth.
He ignored me. “You see, little flame, hunger is the only truth. No matter what noble things he whispers to you, in the end he’ll drink. They all do.”
Malakai strained against his chains, muscles taut, the sound of metal grinding echoing through the chamber.
The King’s laughter was soft, rich. “I could watch this forever. But, alas, I have other amusements to attend. Try not to kill each other before I return.”
And with that, he was gone, his presence vanishing in a ripple of heat and shadow, leaving only the sound of our breathing and the flicker of the torches along the walls.
For a long time, neither of us spoke. Malakai hung his head, to avoid looking at me—maybe it was easier on his hunger that way… I swallowed and shifted slightly, my body uncomfortable and sore.
“Don’t move,” Malakai said quietly.
“Like I have a choice,” I muttered, trying to lean against the wall. “He wants you to break.”
“I know.”
“Don’t give him the satisfaction.”
His chains creaked as he exhaled, the sound almost a laugh. “It’s not that simple.”
“You’ve held it back this long.”
“I had you,” he said, voice low. “Your magic kept it quiet. But it’s been too long, and he knows it.”
I hesitated, studying his movements through the dim light. “Then take it. Take what you need.”
His head snapped towards me, eyes glowing brighter. “Don’t say that.”
“Malakai—”
“I said don’t!” The word tore through the air, sharp enough to make the torches flicker.
He looked away, breathing hard. “You don’t understand what you’re offering.
It’s not like before… Once I start, I won’t stop.
And if it comes to choosing between you and control—” He broke off, shaking his head.
“I don’t care what happens to me, as long as you live.
Do you hear me? That’s all that matters. ”
The silence that followed was thick, heavy, aching.
“You’re not a monster,” I said finally. My voice was softer than I meant it to be.
He looked up at that, really looked. His eyes glowed fully now, demonic and raw, but the expression behind them wasn’t hunger. It was sorrow.
“If only you were right,” he whispered.
I wanted to reach for him, to touch his face, to remind him that he was still the man who’d crossed realms for me. But the chains held, the space between us humming cold.
A sharp clink sounded from the window above, followed by a low curse.
Both of us looked up.
A shadow moved outside the glass, then another. A flash of movement, the glint of metal, and then a familiar voice, muffled but unmistakably annoying.
“Remind me again,” Nate hissed. “Why we’re breaking into a demon castle at night instead of setting it on fire from the outside?”
“Because we need them alive, idiot,” Ashley whispered back. “Now, shut up and hold still before you drop the damn rope.”
“Would both of you stop breathing so loud?” That was Eve, sharp, irritated, controlled. “He’ll hear us before we’re halfway in.”
Another voice, calm and steady. Lionel. “Focus. We go in on my mark.”
Malakai’s eyes met mine, filled with shock, disbelief, and something dangerously close to hope.
The glass of the window shattered, as the stock of a rifle smashed through it, the shards cascading inwards.
From the corner of the window, a rope dropped.
A hand followed it, gripping the edge, before Jaden’s grinning face appeared upside down in the flickering light.
“Hey, beautiful,” he whispered. “Did somebody order a rescue?”
And for the first time since the world began to crumble, I felt relief.
They had come for us—glass shards, whispers, and the sound of boots hitting stone was no recipe for a sneaky entrance, but they were here to rescue us all the same.
“Clear,” Lionel murmured, his voice steady even in the shadows.
The others followed through the window one by one, practiced and silent. Ashley landed in a crouch beside me, her hair in a messy updo and her grin sharp despite the danger. Nate dropped behind her, a coil of rope in one hand and a half-muttered joke dying on his tongue when he saw the chains.
“Damn,” he breathed. “You two look like you’ve had better dates.”
“Not now,” Lionel warned, scanning the room. His gaze fell on me, softened for a heartbeat. “We’ll get you out.”
“Where’s Faelin?” I asked, my eyes searching.
I saw them stiffening as if I had whipped them across their backs.
“She… She didn’t make it,” Eve answered quietly.
My heart stumbled, another life lost to this blasted war…
My eyes went to Jaden who was tense, the only one of the newer recruits who had survived this long. Was it because of me? Had we not prepared them enough? Was there anything I could’ve done to—
No.
The answer was simple; there was no way to reverse what had already happened.
Death was as natural as life, and yet I feared I’d brought all of my friends straight to their doom. But we had no time for fear or sorrow, our lives were on the line and if we hesitated or stalled even the slightest, we would all perish.
Eve knelt beside my restraints, fingers already working the clasps. Her expression was focused, impersonal, but I caught the flicker of relief when the lock clicked open. The moment the chain fell away, I pushed to my feet, shaking off the ache.
“Easy,” Lionel said. “We don’t know what those glowing chains binding him will do when we touch them—”
“I don’t care,” I said, already crossing the room towards Malakai.
Ashley and Jaden were studying the glowing chains that kept him at bay, muttering between themselves.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Jaden sighed, brows furrowed in annoyance.
“Nothing a bomb can’t handle,” Ashley shrugged.
“We want to leave with him in one piece, not thousands,” Nate pointed out behind them.
“Details,” Ashley smiled and locked eyes with Malakai, but his expression was blank.
His eyes looked up as I neared and the shift in his visage stopped me cold.
He was pale, too still. The runes on his cuffs pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat, a quiet, cruel reminder of his imprisonment. His eyes had dimmed, now glowing faintly crimson in the dim light, but there was no rage in them. Just exhaustion, and fear.
Lionel moved to help, but Malakai’s voice cut through the silence.
“Don’t.”
Everyone froze.
Malakai’s gaze swept the room before settling on me.
“Leave me in these chains,” he said quietly. “I can’t—” His breath hitched. “I don’t trust myself yet.”
“No,” I snapped, the word harder than I meant it to be. “We’re not leaving you like this.”
“Ethalyn,” Malakai growled sharply. “I said, leave. The moment these chains hit the ground, your life will end.”
“Splendid,” Nate joked. “So maybe we’ll all stay here and make it easier for the demons to tie us up once they find us, hmm?”
“When are you going to get it through that thick skull of yours?” I hissed at Malakai. “I’m not leaving without you.”
“Oh, so it’s better to sacrifice yourself, in order for me to be free?” Malakai clenched his teeth. “No thanks.”
“Do we get a vote in this?” Ashley asked, confused. “Now, I know black powder isn’t a fancy smell for you, so I’m safe. And I have a vague memory of saying Ethalyn can make her own damned choices.”
Malakai shook his head. “You don’t understand.”
“I do,” I said, stepping closer to him with determination. “I was there when he cut me. I saw what it did to you.”
He looked away. “Then you know why I can’t—”
“Why you won’t,” I interrupted again, fire sparking along my fingertips. “That’s not control, Malakai. That’s surrender.”
His head lifted sharply. “You think this is easy for me?”
“No,” I said. “But I think you’re choosing the easier way.”
The words hit like a slap. His eyes flashed bright crimson, heat rippling through the room. Lionel tensed, hand moving towards his weapon, but I shook my head.
Malakai strained against the chains, voice low and dangerous. “You have no idea what I’m holding back.”
“Then stop holding it back!” I shouted. The torches flared with the echo of my fury. “I don’t care what he did or what you are, you’re not a monster unless you choose to be. And I’m not letting you prove him right.”
For a moment, neither of us moved. The air between us pulsed with shared heat, and something even more raw beneath it. The crimson light in his eyes dimmed, flickering like a candle in a storm.
He exhaled slowly. “You should hate me.”
“I don’t,” I said softly. “I just hate watching you give up.”
“I don’t want to kill you,” he whispered defeated.
“You won’t,” I deflected. “I intend on living a long life with you.”
His eyes widened and a long silence followed.
“And if I hurt you, anyway?” Malakai asked, head bowing forward. “I know you, kitten, you’d do anything to save me. Because I would do the same for you.”
I exhaled slowly. “No, I’d stop you and bring your sanity back. I’d do anything to save you, yes, but giving up and dying isn’t an option, because it really defeats the point of living together, doesn’t it?”
Malakai’s body tensed, before he suddenly began laughing; a maddening sound that echoed throughout the room.
“You’re right.” Without looking up, he muttered low. “Get me out.”
I glanced back at the others who nodded as our eyes locked. Eve stepped forward, silent as ever, and with Lionel’s help began working the lock. The runes flickered, but as the chains came free, they faded.
Malakai slumped forward, catching himself with one hand against the floor, his breathing ragged. I moved instinctively, grabbing his arm before he fell. For a second, his forehead pressed against my shoulder, a feverish heat radiating through his skin.
His hand snapped to my upper arm, gripping it tightly.
For a brief moment, I wasn’t sure if it was to hold me in place or to find stability with my help.
His jaw tensed, eyes slowly dragging to my neck as red threads spilled from him, knotting together as if trying to hold back.
The demon inside of him was yearning for a taste of my blood.
“That’s not good,” Nate murmured and I heard someone slap him—probably Ashley.
Without hesitation, I stretched my hand out and let my fingers stroke along his jaw. His powers stilled, frozen in time.
“Malakai,” I whispered. “Let’s get out of here. Together.”
He exhaled and nuzzled against my hand, the threads curling back into his veins. He shifted and planted a kiss in my palm. “Together.”
“See?” I murmured. “Still you.”
Ashley cleared her throat loudly. “Okay,” she said. “Now that the emotional melodrama is out of the way, maybe we can stop whispering sweet praises and figure out how to not die in here?”
Nate grinned faintly. “She means, let’s get the hell out of here.”
Jaden stretched his shoulders, glancing at the door. “I say we blow the place and sort the details later.”
“Subtle as ever,” Eve muttered, double checking her rifle.
Lionel’s expression tightened, but his voice stayed calm. “We move quietly until we can’t. We can’t take the same way out, because someone blew up the bridge we used to get here. We’re lucky they haven’t caught up to us yet.”
“You mean I saved your ass,” Ashley shrugged.
“Let’s try getting to the north side of the building, the cliff wasn’t as steep there,” Lionel suggested.
Malakai straightened slowly beside me, the glow fading from his eyes but not entirely gone.
When he spoke, his voice was steady again.
“Let’s move. Before he decides to come back and end the game.
” His arm tightened around me as he pressed his lips against my head.
A silent ‘thank you’ that sent warmth throughout my body.
The team exchanged quick glances of fear, determination and trust, and fell into motion, weapons drawn, magic stirring like the faint promise of dawn.
For the first time since the castle’s gates closed behind me, I finally had all my friends by my side again.