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 saiddon’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 likebefore… Once I start, Iwon’tstop. 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’renota 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 sharpclinksounded 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 castleat nightinstead 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.
