Claimed By The Mistborne Alpha-Chapter 50: Chained

The air outside the room was thick with some sort of smoke and the remnants of everyone else’s panic.

I couldn’t even let myself be fully relieved that everyone was safe before Valden and Joren were dragging me through the familiar narrow path, their grips unyielding. Joren jogged a bit faster than normal all the while clutching the strange radio thing like it was his lifeline.

As we entered the hallway from the narrow exit, I realised that everywhere we turned, there was pure unbridled chaos. People running and shouting orders and dragging wounded through the narrow corridors.

"What’s happening?" I demanded, trying to match their pace. "Was it Darek? Was he here?" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Not now, Maeve," Valden snapped, his voice clear but strained. "We need to move fast."

"That’s exactly why I’m asking!"

"Maeve," Joren said, glancing at me over his shoulder, his face pale but still somehow managing that infuriating half-smile. "You’ll see soon enough. And trust me, when you do, don’t pull one over us and pass out, okay?"

"Why would I possibly pass out?"

"Because I almost did."

That didn’t help at all.

The deeper we went into the hallway, the louder it got, like we were approaching the centre of a storm. There was a strange mix of awe and disbelief in the air, people whispering too fast and as quietly as they could. Words like "impossible" and "how did we manage this" floated through the noise.

By the time we reached the central hall, I could feel my pulse getting even more erratic. It was driving me crazy that I wasn’t able to know what was happening.

And the moment I stepped inside the centre of the cavern, I froze.

The room that had once been quiet and tense was now alive with noise. Dozens of people filled the space, crowding so tightly that it was hard to breathe. Their faces were lit up by the eerie green glow from the Stargar Stones, and every single pair of eyes was fixed on the same point at the centre of the chamber.

I followed their gaze carefully.

And then I saw him.

Darek.

Chained.

My lungs stopped working for a second.

He stood in the middle of the hall, silver restraints wrapped around his wrists and feet, the heavy chains attached deep into the ground as if they feared he would break them easily like a twig and take off the next second. His head was tilted slightly downward, silver hair shadowing his hazel eyes. Blood streaked one side of his jaw. His shirt was torn open across one shoulder and his exposed skin was marked with shallow cuts that were already healing.

And yet, he didn’t look defeated at all. In fact, he looked... amused.

As if the idea of being chained and embarrassed in front of his enemies was the funniest thing that had happened to him all week.

But no one else seemed to notice that. The rebels were too busy staring at him in awe, not able to believe their luck probably, muttering words of disbelief and triumph.

Avelora stood a few feet away, her chin high and her eyes blazing with barely concealed victory. "The Alpha Commander of Kargahart," she declared to the crowd, her voice was like a soothing balm. "Is finally bound and caught....and helpless."

Cheers erupted instantly from everyone in the crowd until the sound was deafening.

I stood rooted to the spot. My stomach was twisting, and my brain was refusing to process the sight in front of me.

This couldn’t be real.

This man, this unstoppable, feral, and untouchable force, was now shackled before us like a common prisoner. My heart was screaming so loud it appeared to drown out the crowd’s voices.

Avelora took a slow, deliberate step forward. "You should have stayed in your mansion, Commander. You had more important things to attend to after all. You should never have come for her right now."

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t look away.

Joren leaned forward from behind me, closer to my ear, and whispered, "See? Told you you wouldn’t believe it."

He was right. I couldn’t, in any sense of the word, believe this.

Because even as the crowd started roaring around me again, and as the chains holding Darek rattled as he folded his arms and people shouted about victory, every cell in my body screamed the same thing.

This couldn’t be a victory.

It had to be a trap.

Darek said nothing as he stood straight in his chains, a foot taller than Avelora. His face was a mask, with no emotions evident whatsoever.

Not a word blew past his plush lips. Not even a huff.

When Avelora stepped closer, her voice was calm but a seemingly quiet frustration bubbled beneath the surface, but her tone was steady despite the triumph trembling beneath it.

"You’ve caused enough damage to last a lifetime, Commander," she said, circling him slowly. "You’ve done so much damage to our city, killed countless people in the name of safety when the whole point was to help them survive. And now, you have nothing to say?"

Again, he didn’t respond. He didn’t even blink. Just stared right into her soul until she shifted uncomfortably, the first break in her demeanour.

The silver chains around his wrist gleamed faintly in the light of the Stargar Stones as his wrists shifted, ever so slightly, against the restraints. His head was tilted up now, looking straight, hazel eyes shadowed by loose strands of silver hair, and yet somehow it felt like he was watching everything.

I didn’t even realize Lesra had joined us until she was standing by my side near Joren, her expression unreadable. "You should have been here when it happened," she said quietly.

I turned to her, startled. "When what happened?"

"How we caught him."

She exhaled, brushing her blonde braid back over her shoulder. "Apparently he’s had his eyes on this place for a while. He must have sensed something was off. That’s why he sent two of his guards up here to scout the perimeter. We thought it was over after they left until he showed up himself, breaking through the entrance like a damn storm."

I swallowed. "And you still caught him?"

"That’s the strange part," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "He could’ve killed half of us if he wanted to. He avoided every hit. Every single one of them acted as if he were just playing along. But when we hit him with poisonous gas, he didn’t dodge then. He just stood there and let it take him down."

My stomach dropped.

"So, he let you catch him?"

Lesra didn’t answer, but her silence said enough. She was skeptical. And but the looks of it so was Valden and Joren.

I looked back toward the centre of the hall. Avelora was still speaking, trying to provoke him, but Darek didn’t so much as flinch. He stood there, completely still, like the chaos around him was irrelevant.

I’d seen him angry before. Smirking or mocking me or sharp-tongued and dangerous.

But never quiet like this.

And somehow, this silence felt far, far worse.

It didn’t feel like submission at all. More like calculation.

Valden’s voice broke through my thoughts. "Something’s off," he muttered beside me.

"You see it too," I said, relief and dread mixing in my voice.

"Yeah." He crossed his arms, eyes narrowing. "The poison should’ve worn off by now. He’s definitely not weakened right now, I think he’s just pretending to be. Those chains don’t seem strong enough to withstand his wolf."

I glanced at Darek again, at the dry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as Avelora turned away from him in defeat of trying to get him to respond.

"There’s nothing we can do right now. We can’t risk alerting him that we’re onto him. We just have to keep watch as usual. Keep continuous monitoring until we decide what to do with him," Valden muttered.

Before I could say anything else, a small group of soldiers moved toward the centre. They were too careful as they surrounded Darek to take him away. He didn’t resist even a little bit when they pulled him away from the hall and the rest of the crowd.

But right before he disappeared into one of the narrow paths on the side, Darek turned his head slowly.

And looked straight at me. And smiled.

Not the playful kind I’d seen before. Not the amused curl of his lips that teased and taunted. Not even the dangerous one he had on when he tried to torture my feelings. This one looked like he was in on a joke that none of us understood yet.

And I think I heard it. A very faint voice calling my name in my mind. But maybe I was imagining it.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him until he finally disappeared around the corner.