All Chapters of Cold Hearted Captain: Trapped In His Game Of Love: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Aria.Aria’s body stepped back, obedient. The silver cage tightened. Shadow hands rose like grave hands and gripped Jace’s shoulders. He did not scream this time. He blinked hard and the last light in his eyes flickered like a candle being smothered.Damon lunged into the small space like a boy throwing himself at a cliff. His blade found a seam in the bindings and struck; for a second sparks flew like hope. But fingers of smoke closed around his wrist. He cursed. He was pulled away, slid across the stone, thrown into a pile of smoldering rubble; he spat blood and tried to pull himself up.“No!” he howled. “You take her and you lose me!”Magnus smiled a slow, patient smile. “That is a bargain you may accept later. For now watch. Learn what power looks like when it is not coy.”Aria’s hands rose. Her palms were empty of compassion. The air around her shivered as she drew in breath and with it the echo of a thousand hungry voices. The runes on her arms flared and braided together, formi

Aria.The fire left me hollow.Silver light tore the sky in half, thunder cracked against the false clouds, and the ground split beneath me in molten seams. The smell of ash and blood clung to everything, thick in my throat. My knees buckled. My palms smoked where the fire had erupted.When the storm cleared, silence pressed in. The world was nothing but scorched stone and shadows. My chest heaved.“What… what did I do?” My voice shook.A slow clap broke the silence.Magnus stepped through the smoke, untouched. Not a mark on him. Not even a wrinkle in his black coat. His smile was a blade. “Exquisite,” he drawled. “Absolutely exquisite. I thought I might have to coax the fire from you. But no, you carry it as if it’s always been yours.”I stumbled back, horrified. “You should be dead.”He chuckled, tilting his head. “Oh, flame, you cannot kill me with power that I gave you.”My throat went dry. “You’re lying.”“Am I?” He leaned close enough that his silver eyes reflected mine, warped

Aria.The fire ripped out of me again, hotter, brighter, louder than before. It lit up the broken ground and screamed through the air like it had its own voice. My arms shook under the weight of it. My throat felt raw from shouting. I wanted it to stop but it only grew.Magnus stood beside me, his hand heavy on my shoulder, steady and cold. His voice was sharp but smooth. “Yes. That is what I want to see. That is what you are meant to be. Now finish him.”Inside me, the reflection howled like a wild thing. Do it. Burn him. Kill him before he kills you. This is what you were born for.My heart pounded so fast I thought it would break me. Across the ruined ground, Jace stood there, bloody and torn. His chest was covered in glowing runes, brighter than fire. He did not move. He did not try to hide. He only looked at me.“Aria,” he said, his voice rough and broken, but it carried through the smoke. “Do it.”I froze. “What are you saying?”“Hit me,” he growled. His eyes locked on mine, ste

Aria.The world narrowed to light and sound. The creature was on me, all teeth and shadow and hot silver light. My hands were a furnace. My lungs felt hollow. Every part of me wanted to release everything and end the thing that moved like fear itself.Jace was down. He had been thrown across the stones. He groaned and pushed himself up like he was made of something that refused to break. The runes across his chest pulsed like a second heart.“Aria,” he rasped, eyes burning with that raw look I knew too well. “Hit it. Hit it now.”I could hear Magnus behind me. His voice was soft and sure as a blade. “Do it. Finish the thing. Prove you are what I claimed.”Inside my head the reflection snarled with a hundred teeth. Do it. Do it now. Take what is yours.My chest split with a sound like an animal. I screamed and let the fire fly.It tore forward brighter than before. It hit the creature full in the chest. There was a sound like glass breaking inside a mountain. Stone shattered. The air w

Aria.The new thing that crawled out of the crack was not like the beast before. This one walked slow. Its skin shimmered like smoke and metal, stretched too tight over its frame. Its eyes were pure silver, sharp and endless. When it smiled, I saw teeth that did not belong to anything from this world.The air went colder the closer it came. My breath turned heavy, like frost.Jace was the first to move. His body was still broken and bleeding, but he roared like the wolf inside him had nothing left to lose. He threw himself forward, claws out, his body crashing into the thing before it could reach me.The sound was sickening. Jace’s claws scraped across its chest, sparks flying, but the thing did not bleed. It only tilted its head, as if curious. Then it swatted him aside with one hand.He hit the ground hard, blood spattering the stones. My chest seized. “Jace!”He pushed himself up again, coughing blood but still standing. His chest runes glowed like fire under his skin. His voice wa