Free Web NovelChapter 387: When The Tables Turn
Bram;
The chain snaps tight the moment I try to move, and I groan.
That is not a mistake. Neither is it an accident. It’s deliberate. These chains were measured and calculated to remind me exactly where I am every time I so much as shift my weight!
I scoff.
At least they’re not stupid.
I let the tension sit against my skin for a second—feeling the metal dig into my wrists before I ease back against the wall again.
The stone behind me is cold, prickly, and rough in places where time has worn it down unevenly, but I don’t react to it.
Pain is not new. Discomfort is not new either.
Compared to what I went through in that bitch Liandria’s hard, this... This is nothing.
My gaze drifts lazily around the cell, taking in the details without needing to move my head much.
A dark cell, iron bars, low light, and a door thick enough to make a point. They put effort into this. Not just to hold me...but to make sure I understand I’m being held.
That almost earns them my respect.
...Almost.
I tilt my head slightly, testing the chain again, slower this time... quieter. It holds exactly the way it did before. No weakness, no signs of giving out.
Whoever set this up knew what they were doing. Of course they did.
Rhydian would have made sure of it.
The name slices through my thoughts like something sharp dragged across skin.
Rhydian...
I let out a quiet breath, and a mangled laugh slips through before I can stop it.
He really did it.
He stood there, played the fool, staggered through the festival like he couldn’t even hold himself upright...and I believed it.
No.
Not believed. I fell for it. That’s worse.
I saw what I wanted to see, and he used it.
The memory hits clean. The sound of the log connecting with the back of his head... The way he dropped.
The way his eyes looked when he stared up at me, wide, confused, exactly how they should have looked.
And then... the shift.
Too fast. Too precise. That moment where everything clicked into place, just a second too late.
My jaw tightens slightly as I roll my shoulder against the wall again, the chain clinking softly with the movement.
He let me talk. That’s the part that lingers.
Not the punch. Not the reveal. But the waiting.
He lay there and let me say everything.
Every detail... Every piece of it. And I handed it to him on a diamond platter.
A slow, amused smile crawls onto my face.
I underestimated him. I won’t make that mistake again.
My eyes lower briefly, landing on my hands before driving up again.
These are still Alana’s hands. Even now. Even here.
That part is... interesting.
They locked me up, but they didn’t strip the disguise. Didn’t try to break it. Didn’t even question how to break it in a way that mattered.
Because they can’t. Because they don’t know how.
Because what’s holding this together isn’t something they can just tear apart with just anger.
And as long as it holds— I remain above them. That thought soothes something inside me.
They can’t kill me. At least not yet.
Not when I’m the only thread that leads to what they actually want.
Alana. The real one.
The one they’re pretending to care about while they look at me like I’m the worst thing they’ve ever seen.
I almost laugh again.
They’ll want answers. They’ll want to know where she is. How to find her. How to stop what’s already been set in motion.
And I’m the only one who can give them that.
Which means this... isn’t a defeat.
It’s a pause. A shift in the orbit. Nothing more.
My fingers flex slightly against the chains, slow and deliberate, as I feel the edges of what’s holding me in place.
If I want to stay alive... All I have to do is stay silent.
That’s it. No struggle, no panic or desperation... Just silence.
It’s almost insulting how easy that is. I’ve endured worse. Much worse.
My head tilts back against the stone as my thoughts drift, not aimlessly, though. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
I think about how they may feel they have stopped something. But they actually haven’t. And I’m glad I didn’t say more than I did. Because this? This was never everything.
It was just one path. One move... One way to pull things into place.
And even if my path failed... The rest didn’t.
There’s still Calisí’s path.
The name slides into my mind like a nightmare, and I shiver in response. That woman was a terror. Of all of them, she terrifies me the most.
And she’s still out there. Still where she needs to be.
Still moving, and fully capable of doing what I couldn’t finish here.
Koda isn’t here. He’s over there now. They think he’s safe because he’s away from me, but to be honest, whatever I would have done to him would be much kinder than what Calisí can do to him.
She’ll shift the target for Elián to that clueless Alpha.
Me or Calisí, it doesn’t matter who delivers the blow. All it takes is one clean strike.
One single breath from her, and everything resets.
Wilhelm will come running the moment his precious heir is hurt... or dead.
And when he does—That’s when the real hell begins.
My lips curl slightly, something colder settling into place in my bones.
They think dragging me into a cell changes anything.
It doesn’t.
The plan was never fragile. It was never dependent on me alone.
And that’s the part that should scare them... If they were smart enough to understand it.
My jaw tightens again, but this time the feeling behind it shifts.
Elián...
It always comes back to him. Every path. Every decision.
...Every damn thing that’s gone wrong traces back to that one name.
If he had just died... If he hadn’t dragged me into this world... If he hadn’t become something so difficult to eliminate, I wouldn’t be here.
I wouldn’t have had to bend. Wouldn’t have had to trade... Wouldn’t have had to stand in several places and let them look at me like I was nothing.
The irritation sharpens in my heart, but it doesn’t drown my mind.
I don’t let it. Because anger without direction is useless.
And I don’t do useless.
He’s still out there. Still breathing. Still protected... Still surrounded by those brothers who I don’t know what they see in him!
But that won’t last. I swear it won’t!
My gaze drifts back toward the faint light filtering into the cell, as my thoughts settle again into something colder... steadier.
Rhydian... Liandria. Igma. All of them.
They think this is over. They think they’ve stopped something.
How clueless of them...
A quiet breath leaves me, slower this time.
Despite all being weighed and considered... There’s one thing I can’t ignore.
If this failure ripples too far—If the witches and warlocks decide I’ve done more damage than good—
Then I become expendable. Not valuable. Not necessary. But a mistake.
And mistakes don’t get rescued... They get erased.
The thought scares me. But it also reminds me of exactly what matters now.
I must survive. I must stay useful.
And to do that, I must stay quiet.
My lips curve again, slower this time.
Because I will survive this. One way or another.
And when the tables turn—Because they will— I won’t be the one in chains.
I’ll be the one laughing last. I’ll be done with my mission to kill that bastard, and I will finally be able to return to the real world.
