Chapter 5 alastor
I pulled against the iron chains again, and they answered with a harsh metallic rattle that echoed through the stone chamber. The sound scraped along the walls and came back to me like mockery.
A slow breath left my lips.
My arms were going numb from being suspended above my head for so long. My shoulders burned as if they were being torn from their sockets. Every slight shift sent a wave of fire down my spine. The iron cuffs had rubbed my wrists raw days ago; now they were slick with dried blood.
“Prince Alastor,” the captain teased from the doorway.
His voice carried amusement—like this was entertainment.
I lifted my head enough to glare at him through strands of dark hair. “Let me out,” I hissed, baring my teeth.
The soldiers behind him chuckled.
“Still making demands?” the captain asked lightly. “You’re in no position for that.”
The door shut again. Their boots faded down the corridor.
Silence returned.
Day bled into night without ceremony. The only difference was the faint silver glow that slipped through the narrow window near the ceiling when the moon rose. Hunger twisted in my stomach. Thirst cracked my lips. My back throbbed with every shallow breath.
Two soldiers passed my cell later, their conversation drifting lazily through the bars.
“What’s her name? The nurse. I’ve seen her around the library,” one asked.
“Lexie, I think,” the other replied.
My head snapped up despite the protest from my neck.
“Stay away from her,” I growled, my voice hoarse but sharp.
They stopped.
“Aww,” the older one mocked, stepping closer to the bars. “Does that hit a nerve?”
The younger smirked. “I think I’ll ask her to marry me after the war.”
Their laughter scraped against my sanity.
Rage exploded in my chest. I jerked violently against the chains, ignoring the way my wrists split open again. The iron bit deeper into my skin. Pain flared bright and blinding.
But the chains held.
They always held.
I sagged slightly, breathing hard.
Lexie won’t know they’re coming.
The thought hollowed out my chest.
The cell door creaked open later that night. I forced myself upright.
The captain stepped inside, followed by the younger soldier, who spun a knife between his fingers like it was a toy.
“We’re going to ask you some questions,” the captain said calmly.
I stared at him in silence.
The younger man moved behind me. Fabric tore as the back of my shirt was ripped open.
“Why were you on our side of the border?” the captain asked.
I said nothing.
He nodded.
Pain exploded across my back as the blade sliced into my skin.
A broken sound escaped me before I could swallow it down.
“Why?” he repeated.
“I was dropping off medical supplies,” I managed through clenched teeth.
“For our soldiers?” he asked, feigning surprise.
“They were dying.”
Another slash. Hot. Precise. Merciless.
Blood slid down my spine in thin, burning lines.
Hours blurred together. Questions. Silence. Pain. Mockery.
They left eventually, locking the door behind them.
I hung there, trembling despite myself. My arms felt detached from my body. My legs had long since lost strength from lack of use.
A small beam of moonlight filtered in.
Silver. Full.
Lexie loved the full moon. She once said it made the world feel softer.
There was nothing soft about this.
Days passed in the same pattern. Interrogation. Cuts layered over older cuts. Little food. Less water. The chains were never removed.
When the door opened again, I barely had the strength to lift my head.
“Just let me go,” I rasped, hating the weakness in my voice.
The captain ignored it.
“How do we get into your castle?” he asked.
I laughed softly, though it hurt. “You don’t.”
The blade carved into my back again.
He stepped closer. “If you don’t talk, I’ll change my tactics.”
I forced my eyes up to his. “You won’t make me.”
He crouched slightly so we were eye level.
“I’ll start with Lexie.”
My breathing stopped.
“You wouldn’t,” I whispered.
He tossed something onto the ground.
It slid across the stone floor and stopped near my feet.
A photograph.
Lexie.
She was bent slightly over a wounded soldier, hair pulled back, focus etched across her face. She hadn’t noticed the camera.
My chest tightened painfully.
“It’ll be the last time you see her,” the captain said lightly. “My soldier plans to marry her.”
Rage surged through me so violently the chains rattled against the wall.
“Go to hell,” I said.
The blade struck deeper than before.
I clenched my jaw and refused to give him the satisfaction of another sound.
After they left, I stared at the photograph for a long time.
The first time I saw her, she’d been arguing with one of our generals—no fear, no hesitation. Just fire.
And now they were threatening to use her.
They thought I would break.
Fear crept in anyway.
The next time the door opened, it was the younger soldier alone.
He stepped inside cautiously.
“You should just tell us everything,” he muttered. “It’ll be easier.”
I didn’t respond.
He moved closer.
“She smiled at me yesterday,” he added.
The chains trembled as my body tensed.
“She deserves someone who isn’t a vampire,” he said, the word dripping with disgust.
The air in the room shifted slightly—just slightly—as power stirred beneath my skin.
The torches flickered.
He froze.
The chains groaned under the sudden strain as I jerked forward with everything I had left.
A sharp crack echoed—
—but the metal did not break.
Instead, the enchanted cuffs flared with searing heat.
Agony shot through my arms like lightning. I gasped as the magic forced me back against the wall, draining the surge of power from my veins.
The younger soldier stumbled back toward the door.
Boots thundered in the hallway as the captain rushed in.
“What’s happening?” he demanded.
“He tried to—” the younger one stammered.
The captain looked at the glowing cuffs and smiled slowly.
“Ah,” he said. “The enchantments are working.”
I hung there, breathing heavily, wrists smoking faintly where the magic had burned me.
“You see?” the captain said quietly. “You’re not getting out.”
He stepped closer, just out of reach.
“You can rage. You can threaten. You can bleed.” His gaze dropped to the photograph on the floor. “But you’re staying right here.”
I lifted my head slowly, meeting his eyes despite the exhaustion weighing on me.
“This isn’t over,” I said.
He smirked. “It is for now.”
They left again.
The door slammed shut.
The lock turned.
Silence swallowed the room.
I hung there in the dark, chains digging into torn skin, body shaking from pain and fury.
I wasn’t free.
I wasn’t escaping.
Not tonight.
But as the moonlight touched the floor beneath me, one thought remained steady in my mind:
If they touched her—
Even chained, even broken—
I would find a way.
And when I did…
They would wish these chains had held forever.