“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 momenttogether, 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.
Chapter fourteen
True Monsters
Magnur
The binding circle locked around me, cold and familiar as an old nightmare. Every sigil pulsed with sickly blue light that seemed to burrow under my skin, making the old scars across my body burn and itch as if freshly carved. I forced my legs to remain steady beneath me, refusing to kneel before Trevor despite the crushing weight of magic pressing down on every inch of my body.
The magical chains tightened, invisible but undeniable, restricting my movements and dampening my power. The sensation was horrifyingly familiar.
Trevor’s laughter echoed through the warehouse, the sound bouncing off concrete walls and reverberating in my skull. He circled the binding, admiring his handiwork with the proud eyes of an artist viewing his masterpiece.
“Perfect,” he said, trailing his fingers just outside the glowing boundary. “Absolutely perfect. Just like the journals described.”
Trevor completed his victory lap around my prison and strode toward Jade, knife glinting in the dim warehouse light. My muscles tensed instinctively, a growl building in my throat that the binding couldn’t quite suppress. He noticed my reaction and smiled as he moved behind her chair.
“Watch closely, demon,” he taunted, bringing the knife to the ropes at her wrists. “I want you to see exactly what you’ve lost.”
