Chapter 22 – The Cage

The news reached Nikolai before dawn. He had been standing in the courtyard, his hands pressed against the cold stone of the clock tower, his forehead resting against the wall. He hadn't slept. He couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Ela's face. The way she had looked at him in that underground room. The way her voice had cracked when she said you knew. The way she had walked out the door and into Lukas's arms. He had watched her leave. He had stood in the doorway like a coward and watched her drive away with the one man who wanted to destroy them both.

He should have stopped her. He should have run after her, grabbed her hand, begged her to stay. But he hadn't. Because part of him believed she was right to leave. He had lied to her. He had kept secrets. He had let her fall in love with him without ever telling her that their bond was arranged before they were born. She deserved better. She deserved someone who would never lie to her, never manipulate her, never use her. She deserved Kai, maybe. Or even Thorne. Anyone but him. Anyone but the boy whose blood was cursed to destroy her.

The messenger came from the east wing, a young wolf with panicked eyes and a trembling voice. He told Nikolai everything. Ela had arrived at the Brandt estate. Lukas had given her a room in his private quarters. They had shared wine by the fire. She had stayed the night.

Nikolai didn't remember moving. One moment he was standing in the courtyard, his hands frozen against the stone. The next he was running, his boots pounding against the cobblestones, his heart roaring in his ears. The world blurred around him. Students scattered out of his path. He heard someone shout his name, but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. Lukas had taken her. Lukas had her. And Nikolai was going to kill him.

The east wing was quiet when he arrived. Too quiet. The guards at the entrance tried to stop him, but he threw them aside like they were made of paper. Their bodies hit the walls with sickening cracks, and he didn't look back. He didn't care. He didn't care about anything except getting to her.

He found Lukas in the私人 library, sitting in a leather chair by the fire, a glass of wine in his hand. He was alone. Ela was not there. Lukas looked up when Nikolai burst through the door, and his green eyes widened for just a moment before the smile spread across his face. Nikolai. I was wondering when you would come.

Where is she? Nikolai's voice was a growl, low and dangerous, vibrating with the wolf beneath his skin.

Lukas took a slow sip of his wine. Safe. Comfortable. Happier than she ever was with you.

Nikolai lunged.

The fight was not like the first one. That had been anger, hot and reckless, a brother's fury at being betrayed. This was something else. This was a man who had lost everything and had nothing left to lose. Nikolai's fist connected with Lukas's jaw, and he felt bone crack beneath his knuckles. Lukas stumbled back, but he was smiling, always smiling, even as blood poured from his split lip. That's it, Lukas said. Let it out. Show everyone what you really are.

Nikolai hit him again. And again. And again. He didn't stop when Lukas fell to the ground. He didn't stop when the blood sprayed across the marble floor. He didn't stop when he heard footsteps in the hallway, when he heard voices shouting, when he felt hands grabbing at his arms. He didn't stop until the headmaster's voice cut through the chaos like a blade.

Enough.

Nikolai froze. Aldric Vane stood in the doorway, his gold-flecked eyes cold, his face unreadable. Behind him were half a dozen Council guards, their weapons drawn, their eyes fixed on Nikolai like he was a wild animal that needed to be put down. Lukas lay on the floor, his face bloody, his chest heaving. But he was still smiling. He was always smiling.

Nikolai, the headmaster said, his voice quiet and deadly. You have broken every rule in this academy. You have attacked a fellow alpha without cause. You have endangered the safety of every student in this building. What do you have to say for yourself?

Nikolai looked at Lukas. At the blood. At the smile. He did not look at the headmaster. He did not apologize. He did not explain. He just said, She is mine. And I will burn this entire academy to the ground before I let him keep her.

The headmaster nodded, as if he had expected nothing less. Then he gestured to the guards. Take him to the cage.

The cage was beneath the academy, deeper than the archives, deeper than the underground room where the family trees were carved into the walls. It was a place Nikolai had heard about but never seen. A place for wolves who had lost control. A place for wolves who needed to be reminded that they were animals, not men.

The cell was small. Stone walls. Stone floor. Iron bars that hummed with magic, preventing any wolf from shifting or summoning their strength. There was no bed, no blanket, no window. Just a bucket in the corner and a chain bolted to the wall.

They chained him to the wall. His wrists and ankles, heavy iron cuffs lined with silver that burned his skin. He didn't cry out. He didn't give them the satisfaction. He just sat there, his back against the cold stone, and listened to the sound of their footsteps fading away.

The door slammed shut. The lock clicked. And Nikolai was alone.

The days blurred together. He didn't know how long he had been down here. Time moved differently in the dark. He slept, or maybe he passed out. He dreamed of Ela, or maybe he hallucinated. In his dreams, she was standing in front of him, her brown eyes soft, her hand reaching for his face. In his dreams, she forgave him. In his dreams, she stayed.

But then he woke up, and the chains were still there, and the silver was still burning, and she was still gone.

The guards brought him water once a day. Sometimes bread, if they were feeling generous. He didn't eat. He didn't drink. He just sat there, staring at the wall, and thought about everything he had done wrong. He should have told her the truth from the beginning. He should have trusted her with the secret of the arranged bond. He should have been honest about his fears, his doubts, his desperate, consuming love that he still didn't know was real or just magic.

But he hadn't. And now she was with Lukas, and he was in a cage, and the curse was still killing her.

On the third night, or maybe the fourth, he heard footsteps in the corridor. Different footsteps. Lighter. Hesitant. He lifted his head, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. The door groaned open, and a figure stepped inside, carrying a single candle. The flame illuminated her face.

Ela.

She looked different. Thinner. Paler. The black veins of the curse were visible on her arms now, spreading up toward her shoulders like cracks in porcelain. Her eyes were red from crying, and her hands were shaking.

But she was here. She had come back.

Nikolai stared at her. He couldn't speak. His throat was too tight, his heart too full. He had dreamed of this moment so many times that he no longer believed it was real. Ela, he whispered. His voice was raw from disuse, cracked and broken. Ela, is it really you?

She didn't answer. She just stood there, looking at him. At his chains. At the silver burns on his wrists. At his bare chest, covered in scars she had never seen before. Some were old, pale lines from fights long past. Some were new, still pink and healing. All of them told a story of pain she didn't understand.

Ela, he said again. Please. Say something.

She stepped closer. The candlelight flickered across her face, and he saw tears streaming down her cheeks. I didn't know, she said. I didn't know they would do this to you.

I attacked Lukas, Nikolai said. I broke the rules. I deserve this.

No one deserves this. She knelt in front of him, her knees pressing against the cold stone. She reached out, her fingers hovering over the burn on his wrist. The silver had eaten through his skin, leaving behind raw, red flesh. It must have hurt so much.

Nikolai looked at her hand. So close. So warm. He wanted to touch her more than he wanted to breathe. But the chains held him back, and the silver held him down, and all he could do was watch. It doesn't matter, he said. It's nothing compared to what I did to you.

Ela shook her head. You didn't do anything to me.

I lied to you, Nikolai said. I kept the truth from you. I let you fall in love with me without telling you that our bond was arranged before we were born. I used you, Ela. Maybe not on purpose. Maybe not even consciously. But I used you. And I will never forgive myself for that.

Ela was silent for a long moment. Then she reached out and touched his face. Her fingers were cold, but they burned him anyway. I have been so angry at you, she said. So angry that I couldn't see straight. I blamed you for the curse. I blamed you for the arranged bond. I blamed you for everything that went wrong.

It was my fault.

No. She shook her head. It was our parents' fault. The Council's fault. The Shadowborn's fault. But not yours. And not mine. We were children when they made this bond. We didn't choose it. We didn't ask for it. We were just born into it.

Nikolai closed his eyes. Her hand was still on his face, and he leaned into her touch like a starving man leaning into a meal. I don't know if my love is real, he admitted. I don't know if anything I feel is real. But I know that when I'm with you, I feel whole. When I'm without you, I feel like I'm dying. And I don't care if that's the bond or fate or some ancient curse. I just know that I don't want to be without you.

Ela's tears fell on his skin. Then don't be, she said. Don't be without me.

The chains rattled as he shifted, trying to reach for her. But the silver held him back, and the magic held him down, and all he could do was sit there and let her touch him. I'm trapped here for a week, he said. A week in this cage. A week without you.

I'll come back every night, Ela said. Every night, I'll find a way.

The guards will catch you.

Then I'll be more careful.

Nikolai opened his eyes and looked at her. At her tear-streaked face. At the black veins spreading across her arms. At the candle flame reflecting in her brown eyes. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to tell her that everything would be okay, that they would find a way to break the curse, that they would survive this nightmare together. But he couldn't make promises he wasn't sure he could keep.

Ela, he said. If I die down here—

You're not going to die.

If I die, I need you to know that I loved you. I loved you before I knew what love was supposed to feel like. I loved you when I hated you. I loved you when I was trying to push you away. I loved you when I was too scared to admit it.

Ela pressed her forehead against his. The candle flickered between them, casting dancing shadows on the stone walls. I know, she whispered. I know.

They stayed like that for a long time, her forehead against his, her hand on his face, his chains rattling every time he breathed. Neither of them spoke. There was nothing left to say. The truth was out. The lies were exposed. All that remained was the bond, the curse, and the impossible choice that lay ahead.

Finally, Ela pulled back. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and stood up. I have to go, she said. Before the guards come back.

Nikolai nodded. He didn't want her to leave. He wanted her to stay forever. But he knew she couldn't. The cage was no place for her. She deserved sunlight and fresh air and a life that wasn't filled with chains and curses and broken promises.

Ela walked to the door. She paused with her hand on the iron frame and looked back at him. I'll come again tomorrow, she said. I promise.

Don't make promises you can't keep.

I can keep this one.

She stepped through the doorway, and the candlelight faded, and the darkness swallowed her. The door groaned shut. The lock clicked. And Nikolai was alone again.

But this time, he was smiling. Because she had come. She had seen him at his worst—chained, broken, bleeding—and she had not run. She had stayed. She had touched his face. She had whispered I know. It was not forgiveness. It was not love. But it was something. Something small. Something fragile. Something that might, against all odds, grow into the thing that saved them both.

He leaned his head back against the cold stone and closed his eyes. The silver was still burning. The chains were still heavy. But for the first time in days, Nikolai Volkov was not alone. And that was enough.