Dreaming Freedom Chapter 1 Novels & Stories

CHAPTER 55 – BREAKING CHAINS Althea’s POV There are moments when you don’t hear the chains until they loosen. For years, I thought freedom would feel like relief. Like breathing after being underwater too long. Like a door swinging open. I was wrong. Freedom felt like fear. It came to me slowly, creeping in during the quiet hours of the night after Samantha’s threat, after Damian’s cold resolve, after Darius’s protective fury. It arrived when the noise finally faded and I was left alone with one unbearable truth:

The way silence fell in certain parts of the house. I was blind, yes. But I wasn’t helpless. Every sound was a map. Every scent, a signal. Every vibration, a warning. I had learned this house better than anyone. Better than him. And one day, it would be the thing that set me free. That thought was enough to steady me. Freedom. It seemed impossible, like sunlight through stone. But I could still imagine it. What would it feel like? To breathe air that didn’t smell like dust and blood. To walk without pain in my leg. To lift my face to the sky and feel warmth, not the sting of cold shadows.

“And I always will.” She smiled, a smile that came from somewhere deep inside her. “We’re finally free,” she said softly. “Free to start over. To build something real.” He brushed a strand of hair from her face, his thumb stroking her cheek. “A new chapter,” he agreed. “No more shadows, no more lies. Just us.” She nodded, her heart steady and full. “Just us,” she echoed. As they drifted into sleep, the city lights shimmered outside—soft and golden, like the promise of a new dawn. Nia felt no fear, no doubt. Only the warmth of the man beside her and the quiet certainty that whatever the future held, they would face it together.

I pulled the hood lower and shut my eyes, pressing the letter to my chest. If I failed, this wouldn’t just cost me my freedom. It would cost him his life. And that thought, more than any, kept me lying still as the cart rattled into the night. By the time the torches of the palace faded behind me, I dared a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. I was free. For now. But freedom was only the beginning.

The words danced before my eyes, but one passage caught my attention. "Freedom is not given, it is taken." I smiled at the name of the book, assholes like him study books that keep them more evil.

His words tumbled out in a torrent, a desperate attempt to shield me from the darkness that lurked within him. I could feel the anguish in his voice, a pain that masqueraded as fury, a cry that echoed through the chambers of his heart as he beheld my countenance frozen in terror, my eyes wide with a mixture of fear and disbelief, my very soul recoiling in horror. "I'm free..." I whispered, the words tasting like honey and ash on my lips. "Free from slavery, a wish I could only dream of, and now it's given to me... my freedom."

For who she might never be again. For the war she brought home. “I want to be free,” she whispered. But the storm answered, rumbling in the distance. And Xavier’s voice slithered back: “Freedom is a lie, Freya. You were born to kneel.” Silence wrapped around her like chains. It pulsed. Crawled up the walls. Squeezed her until she forgot the sound of her own voice. No visitors. No light. No lies. But the worst lies lived in her own mind.

Pulling the hatch back up and sliding the bar across it to lock it, I set my drink down before I collapsed into the mattress. Looking up at the ceiling, I sighed. It was painful being patient for so long, I have been moving behind the scenes but now I had to step forward. For Sky’s sake and for my own sake. We deserved to be happy. More importantly, we deserved to have our freedom. Rolling over, I wrinkled my nose before I pulled out one of my books from the shelf that was at the head of the mattress. Opening up, I started to read the chapters we needed for class tomorrow. At some point in the third chapter, I dozed off.

“ Honestly it's creepy to stay in this place I know that We have not really been together but then I still remember everything that you like and that is why I'm telling you that if you're missing him, all you have to do is say the word” “ I don't know Jada, I've always longed for this freedom and I've always wanted to be very far away from him, but now that I have gotten it, it seems as though I want something else and not just Freedom. this freedom given to me was given to me on a platter of gold, and I should be happy but then each time, I keep staring at his picture and even when I try to hide it, I just keep thinking about him, my heart aches and my hand itches for him to pick up my phon