Claimed By The Mistborne Alpha-Chapter 53: Tomorrow

He just sat there, watching me, after dropping the bomb. And it was true, it didn’t feel like he was the one who was trapped. It felt like it was me all along.

I crossed my arms, appearing to look confident, so he wouldn’t think that he was getting to me. "You said you came here for me. Did you really have to go to this length to do it? Is it really for all the power that I apparently have? You’re not weak by any means, Darek. Can’t you just let me go without exploiting me? Does this ever end without all these people getting hurt?"

For a minute I thought he wouldn’t answer.

"At the end of the day, I am the Commander. I can’t just let these people go who have been plotting behind our backs to bring everyone down. That’s just wishful thinking. Would you have done it if you were in my place?"

"If I were in your place, I wouldn’t have slaughtered half the population of Kargahart just because I was doubtful if they had mutated into a Varcolac. I would have tried to find another way. I also wouldn’t treat people the way you do. You’re just plain evil."

"If that’s what you think, there’s nothing I can do about it."

"Fine," I said tightly. "You’re sitting here, pretending to be powerless, while everyone out there thinks they’ve won. So let’s say I believe that you’re doing this willingly. What happens next? What exactly do you want right now?"

"You. You’re all I want right now."

There was something in the way he said it that made my insides coil.

"You mean my powers."

"No, sweetheart. Just you."

My heart stuttered.

What was he trying now?

"Is this some new way to make me fall for you so you could escape? Was that your master plan? Because that would be a terrible plan for someone with your intelligence."

He ignored me.

"Why is it, Maeve, that you decided to meet me today? I’m sure your instincts must have told you not to. So why is it that you always tend to run towards the thing that you’re sure would hurt you?"

"I’m not here for me," I snapped harshly. "I’m here for the people you’ve hurt. To get information so that you and the others at Parthenn don’t hurt any of us anymore. Don’t play mind games with me, Darek. You’re not in control anymore."

"Aren’t I?" He smiled faintly, that same unnerving calm settling over his face.

"Okay then," he took a deep breath and continued. "You wanted information. I can give it to you but only you. I will not talk to anyone else."

"Tell me then."

"...But not today."

"What?" Irritation flashed across my face. Now, he really was just playing with me.

He gave a chuckle on seeing the look on my face.

"Sleep well, Maeve. You’ll get what you need tomorrow and not a minute earlier."

I screamed internally. He was making it so hard. I wanted to talk to him today and get it over with so I didn’t have to see him again. I didn’t even expect him to cooperate or agree to give me any sort of information. But at least I could have told Avelora that I tried my best so she could leave me alone. And now, it felt like he was trying his level best to keep me around as much as possible.

When Valden knows about this, I have no idea how he would react. But I didn’t have a choice.

"Fine, tomorrow then," I said in defeat. "But please don’t try anything."

"If I wanted to try anything I would have been long gone by now."

A strange shiver racked my body at the confession but somewhere in me, I knew it was true.

I turned away before he could see my face and hurriedly left his room and the cellar which had already started to suffocate me.

I remained calm as everyone looked at me like I held the secrets to our world and the mist.

Avelora sat at the head, surrounded by Valden, Joren, Lesra, and a few of the other Beta and Delta soldiers that I’d seen around in the cavern. Somehow I didn’t have the heart to tell them I had no useful information to give them.

"I got nothing right now. Tomorrow is hopefully the day he’ll finally open up."

"Is that all he said?" Avelora asked for the third time, now, while I nodded my head. I didn’t want to tell them the rest of it. I didn’t want to tell them that he had willingly let himself be caught and was sitting in his cell as confident as he could be. I knew that would make everyone go into a frenzy, much more than before.

Valden kept his head down, staring at his hands like he knew I wasn’t saying everything.

"He’s obviously bluffing," Joren spoke out. "He just wants more time so he can figure out how to get out of here. And he’s probably going to use Maeve for that."

"We should at least hear him out though. What’s the worst that could happen?" Lesra muttered, rubbing her hands against her chin.

"You do realise that every time someone says that phrase, the worst thing to ever happen actually happens, right?" Joren said rolling his eyes.

We were all silent as his words sank into our brains. It was true, that was exactly why I’d personally never used that phrase before.

Valden still hadn’t spoken yet and that was turning out to be more worrying than I expected. I didn’t know if he was still angry about the fact that I agreed to talk to Darek or if he was just worried about what Darek might do to the others. Either way, his silence was unnerving.

"Well, that’s all for today then." Avelora got up from her seat, addressing everyone else. "I have hopes that Maeve can achieve what none of us could and figure out enough from Darek so we could start preparing for the upcoming war."

Everyone nodded their heads as we prepared to be dispersed.

I got up, hoping to talk to Valden but he didn’t even look at my face once. He was walking away briskly before I could even catch up to him. But I had to. I didn’t want there to be any kind of miscommunication between us anymore.

We’d been away from each other for so long. We’d yearned for each other for so long and had just found each other recently. I couldn’t let something like this bring us down.

I spend quite a bit of time trying to find him but to no avail. Surprising since where could he possibly have disappeared to when the cavern was this limited?

I was about to ask Joren or Lesra when a man, probably a few years older than me, walked up to me urgently to tell me that Avelora was looking for me.

I guess Valden has to wait now.

I quickly made my way over to her study.

"Avelora," I called out as I entered and saw her pacing back and forth, her face a mask of worry. "You called for me?"

She looked startled for a second but quickly seemed to recover as she trained her dark eyes on my form. She looked troubled, much more troubled than when the guard had burst into the room to tell her about the first breach before capturing Darek.

"Yes of course, Maeve," she said, sounding like she just ran a marathon. "We got word from Darek. Apparently, he put forth a few conditions when he meets you tomorrow to talk to you."

"Okay...," I said, already dreading it. There was no way it wouldn’t be a calculating move on his part that would do us any good. "What is it?" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"He said he wants to talk to you outside. Where he will not be confined within the stone walls."

The stone walls.

He wanted to talk to me when his powers were not dampened by the Stargar Stone.

"But of course, he would still be chained and his powers would still be suppressed. But we still don’t see a reason for him to demand it. So rest assured, we will not be allowing that."

"Are you sure, his being chained by the stone would still dampen his powers?"

"Yes, we’re sure. That’s how it was when we managed to catch him in the beginning. So it wouldn’t matter even if we’re outside. But something doesn’t feel right to me about this."

Nothing about it felt right to me either. He must have a reason to be outside. He probably had other Delta guards posted out there, ready to jump on us if we did. Or he’s been pretending that the chains around his wrist and leg really did make him weak. The possibilities were endless.

But then why would he come here in the first place and keep himself here for three days just for that? He could have easily just broken in and grabbed me and taken me away.

Nothing made sense.

"Maeve, I understand that it seems unsafe. But...if you think you can manage it, we can do it in the safest way possible. We can make him weak, we can do it at a spot where we won’t be spotted, we can take all precautions."

Every fibre in my body yelled as I made my final decision.

"Let’s do it," I muttered.