Claimed By The Mistborne Alpha-Chapter 52: Trap

The hallway leading to the cellar was eerie and so quiet that I could hear my own heart thudding against my chest. Each step echoed too loudly, like the sound was trying to warn me to turn back. I didn’t want Darek to know I was coming, but it was probably too late.

The door at the end of the hall stood massive and metallic, carved with faint sigils that glowed a dull green. I’d never seen markings like those before but when I bent to inspect them, I realised they were actually made of Stargar Stones built into the metal.

It looked less like a door and more like the mouth of a beast waiting to swallow whoever was foolish enough to step through. But behind that door lay an even bigger beast and I’d be a fool if I wasn’t expecting peak manipulation in there.

I hesitated.

Avelora’s voice whispered at the back of my mind, saying, ’You have nothing to fear. ’

Right.

Except I did about literally everything. She was just trying to make me say yes to this, and honestly, it was surprising that I agreed to it. Maybe it was because somewhere in the back of my mind I felt a searing guilt for putting the safety of this place at risk the moment I came here.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open.

Inside felt heavier and colder. It wasn’t just the temperature; it was like stepping into a vacuum, and a strange numbness crept across my skin, a quiet pull that made my stomach churn.

The Stargar Stone.

It didn’t just weaken him. It probably weakened anyone who entered here. So right now, it was feeding on both of us.

I kept walking, my boots scuffing against stone which lined every wall and roof and the floor, until I reached the far end of the cellar, where the real door to the monster lay. It was smaller and simpler, and looked as harmless as a door to a study. But every instinct in my body screamed at me not to open it.

I did anyway.

And the sight hit me like a physical thing.

Darek sat against the wall, wrists bound in glowing chains made of stone and metal that looked heavy enough to drag a human body down. He was wearing the same shirt that he came in, the one that was half torn on the side, collar open, and smeared with blood, his hair still a silver mess falling into his eyes. He looked less like the Alpha Commander of Kargahart and more like a ghost wearing his skin.

I felt a pang when I realised what they were doing to him. He didn’t even look like he was allowed basic necessities. He looked like they had tried to torture him for information and failed.

But even exhausted and even restrained, he still had that air about him, that quiet and terrifying command that didn’t need power to exist.

He lifted his head the moment I stepped in.

And then he smiled. It appeared strained like he didn’t do it even once after I saw him last. But it was still slow and dangerous. And a little too calm for someone chained to a wall.

"Maeve," he said softly. Like he’d been saying my name in his head every day for the past three days, just waiting for me to walk through that door.

I swallowed hard. "You look terrible."

He huffed a quiet laugh. "That’s a terrible first thing to say to someone who’s been waiting to see you for three days."

"I really wasn’t planning to come here. If I hadn’t, then you would have been waiting for nothing."

"Oh, I know." His eyes gleamed faintly in the dim light. "But you came anyway."

"I had a few questions. I heard you’ve been very uncooperative."

"Of course you do." He leaned back against the wall again, eyes never leaving mine. "I knew they’d finally throw you to the wolves to get what they wanted."

I ignored that. "Why are you here, Darek? What do you want?"

"Isn’t it obvious, Maeve?"

"Enlighten me anyway."

He tilted his head slightly, almost curious. "Did you really think these people actually managed to catch and bind me?"

"That’s what it looked like."

"And you believed that?" His voice was almost amused now. "You’ve seen me fight, Maeve. You really think a handful of rebels could take me down in the open?"

A chill crawled up my spine as his words proved what I had been dreading.

"So what are you saying?"

"I’m saying," he murmured, his gaze locking onto mine, "that I came here knowing full well that you were here."

The words hung in the air for a second too long.

"How did you even know?" I managed to whisper.

His smile deepened just enough to make my heart skip. "You underestimate me, Maeve."

The way he said it, deliberately and like a predator, made my blood run cold.

"You could’ve found me anywhere," I said, my voice shaking despite myself. "You didn’t need to walk into a trap for that."

"I didn’t walk into a trap." He leaned forward, the chains clinking softly as he moved. "I made one."

My heart thudded once, hard enough to hurt.

"Darek..."

"Three days," he went on quietly. "Three days I’ve sat here, waiting for them to get desperate enough to send you. I knew they would. The kind of hypocritical people here who would do anything to satisfy their morals, always do. You’re the only one they trust who could talk to me without shaking."

I took a small step back before I even realized it.

"You planned this, you’ve probably been planning to ambush everyone here for quite some time, didn’t you?" I asked, barely more than a whisper.

His expression softened, but it didn’t make me feel any safer. "You still don’t get it, do you?"

"Get what?"

"I don’t care about their rebellion or their plans to bring down everyone here because that’s never happening."

His voice dropped lower. "I came here for you."

I froze.

"And now," he murmured, "you’re exactly where I need you to be."