Chapter 214

Chapter 214: Chapter 214

Drake’s pov

"You breached my home," I said, my voice flat, level, and empty of anger. "You brought a dark practitioner into my domain. You targeted my family. Your life ends here."

"If my life ends here," Julian said, his grin widening until his teeth showed, "then your baby’s heart stops in the very same second."

The air in my chest froze.

My thumb stayed locked on the safety catch, my eyes narrowing into razor-thin slits as I looked down at his pale face. "What did you say?"

Julian slowly lowered his cuffed wrists, letting his arms rest on his lap. He leaned forward, his silver eyes burning with a bright, toxic light.

"You really thought Gideon and I were stupid?" Julian purred softly, his voice smooth and steady now. "You thought we just brought a witch into that cellar to cast a simple spell? We knew you were strong. We knew there was a chance you would wake up, break through the wards, and track us down before the work was finished."

A cold, bad feeling settled deep in my stomach, turning my blood to ice. I took a slow step closer to the metal table, the weapon still pointed steady at his forehead.

"Explain," I commanded, every word dropping like a stone.

"It was an insurance policy," Julian explained, tilting his head to the side. "While you were fast asleep in your study from the wine I served you, I gave the witch a drop of my own blood. A dark blood ritual, Drake. An ancient life-bond."

He raised his hand, pointing a single manicured finger straight at my chest, then shifting it toward the floorboards pointing up toward the west wing.

"She tied my core directly to the baby inside Lysander," Julian said, his tone dropping into a quiet, poisonous whisper. "Not to Lysander. To the child. My heart is tethered to that little pulse growing in his belly. We share the same thread of life now."

"You’re lying," I said, though my chest tightened so hard I could barely pull air into my lungs. "You’re lying to save your neck."

"Am I?" Julian laughed, a light, mocking sound that echoed off the cold walls. "Go ahead and try it, then. Squeeze the trigger. Put a bullet through my skull right now. Watch what happens to Lysander in the room upstairs. The second my pulse hits zero, that dark thread snaps, and it will tear your baby’s life core to shreds before you can even run up the stairs."

My jaw locked so tight the muscle ached along my face.

I stretched my senses outward, pushing past the concrete walls of the holding cell, driving my awareness up through the floorboards, through the central complex, and straight into the private suite in the west wing.

I found Lysander’s signature instantly. He was sleeping peaceful on the soft mattress, wrapped in warm blankets, his breathing slow and steady.

Then I looked deeper. I reached past his warm skin, past his hybrid heat, straight into the center of his core where our child rested.

Deep beneath the healthy, steady rhythm of the baby’s pulse, I caught it.

A thin, dark, almost invisible thread of magic was wrapped around the tiny core like a quiet parasite. It was silent, harmless as long as Julian was breathing, but it was anchored deep into the baby’s life force. It pulsed in perfect, terrifying harmony with the rapid, shallow heartbeat of the man sitting on the bench in front of me.

The realization hit my chest like an iron bar.

He wasn’t lying. The witch had done it before I ever stepped into that cellar.

My hands shook for a fraction of a second, a micro-movement that no normal eye could see, but Julian caught it instantly. His dark laugh rose again, loud and triumphant in the small room.

"You see it now, don’t you?" Julian taunted, standing up from the metal bench, his chains clanking loudly as he took a step toward me. "You can’t kill me, Drake. You can’t lock me in a hole and let me starve. You can’t even let me catch a fever. If I die, your precious little child dies with me."

I lowered the sidearm slowly, my fingers tightening around the grip until the plastic groaned under my strength.

"You think this makes you safe?" I growled low in my throat, a dark, terrifying sound that made the air in the cell turn instantly cold.

"It makes me untouchable," Julian corrected, holding his head high, a arrogant smile spread wide across his face. "You wanted to execute me? Too bad. Now you get to keep me alive. You get to feed me, protect me, and make sure not a single hair on my head is harmed. Because my life is the only thing keeping your family whole."

I stepped right into his space, stopping inches from his pale face. The dark fury in my eyes was so bright, so absolute, that his smile flickered for a brief second, his breath hitching in his throat.

I didn’t raise the gun. Instead, I reached out, my fingers locking around his jaw in a sudden, crushing grip that forced his head back against the wall.

"You are not untouchable, Julian," I whispered into his ear, my voice flat, cold, and utterly devoid of mercy. "You are a prisoner. I will not kill you today. But I will find the witch, I will break that dark thread, and the moment your bond is cut from my child..."

I leaned closer, my thumb pressing hard against his cheekbone until he gasped in pain.

"...I will make you beg for the bullet I almost gave you tonight."

I let go of his jaw, letting his head crack back against the concrete wall. He stumbled, clutching his face, his breathing coming in fast, ragged gasps as the arrogant grin finally melted from his lips.

I holstered my weapon with a sharp click.

I turned on my heel, hit the wall console, and stepped out into the hallway as the heavy steel door slid shut behind me, locking the serpent in his cage.

I stood in the corridor for a moment, taking a slow, deep breath to steady my racing pulse. I pulled out my secure comms device and called Valen.

"Sovereign," Valen answered instantly.

"Double the guards on the subterranean level," I commanded, my voice cold as ice. "Place a medical team outside Julian’s cell. He is to be monitored twenty-four hours a day. No one touches him. No one speaks to him. Keep him alive."

"Understood, My Lord," Valen replied, sound puzzled but obedient. "And the witch’s body?"

"Bring in our best trackers," I said, my eyes narrowing as I walked toward the elevator. "Find her notes, find her altar, and find every piece of dark magic she left behind in those woods. I want that curse broken."

I cut the channel and stepped into the elevator, heading back up to the west wing, my heart heavy with a brand new war.