Controlled Burn

Chapter 16: A City of Lies

Lucian left Cade's containment cell, the frost in the room slowly retreating as he stepped into the sterile hallway. The cold air outside the cell felt familiar, safe, a stark contrast to the emotions that had been swirling inside him just moments ago. His breath was steady, his face impassive, but beneath that cold exterior, Lucian was anything but calm.

Cade's story lingered in his mind, the weight of the fire demon's trauma pressing against the walls of Lucian's carefully constructed mental barriers. His footsteps echoed against the concrete floors as he made his way back to his office, each step measured, calculated. But his mind wasn't on his usual routine. He was still replaying Cade's words, the raw pain in his voice, the fire barely held in check as he relived the horrors of his past.

Lucian had heard stories like this before—whispers about the mistreatment of fire demons, rumors of how some ice demons used their power to dominate and destroy with impunity. It wasn't something that was openly talked about. Ice demons, especially those in positions of power, were rarely held accountable for their actions when it came to fire demons. The flames were too volatile, too dangerous, and it was too easy to place the blame on those who couldn't contain their power.

But Cade's story—it wasn't just some rumor or half-truth whispered in dark corners. It was real. It had happened. And Lucian was beginning to see just how deep the rot went. Cade's life had been destroyed, piece by piece, and the system that should have protected him had instead helped bury him.

Lucian's hands tightened into fists as he reached his office. He pushed open the door and stepped inside, the cold immediately deepening as the temperature dropped in response to his internal turmoil. He crossed the room in long strides, stopping in front of the large, frost-covered window that overlooked Novum City.

The city sprawled out below him, a maze of lights and shadows, skyscrapers cutting through the night like blades of glass. From here, the world looked orderly, pristine—a place where power was maintained, where demons like Lucian made sure that balance was kept between fire and ice. But that balance was a lie, wasn't it? It had been tipped in favor of the ice demons for years, and demons like Cade had been caught in the crossfire, treated as nothing more than collateral damage. He now overlooked a glimmering City of Lies. Half-truths and shoddily checked stories. 

Lucian hadn't wanted to see it.

He'd heard the whispers before, of course. The stories of fire demons being mistreated, of ice demons going too far in their "discipline." But Lucian had told himself that it wasn't his problem, that the world wasn't so black and white. That fire demons were dangerous by nature, and that their flames had to be kept in check. It was easier that way. Easier to believe that the system he served was just, that his role in it was necessary.

But Cade had shattered that illusion.

Lucian's mind was still working through the details of Cade's story, connecting the dots between the missing pieces in his record and the truth that had been hidden beneath layers of official reports and lies. The ice demon who had tortured Cade as a child—the one who had nearly killed him—had never been brought to justice. The ice demon who ran the underground circuit, forcing Cade to take Accelerant and fight for survival, had slipped through the cracks, protected by the very system that had condemned Cade as a "danger."

And all the while, Cade had been left to rot.

Lucian's hands tightened against the frost-covered windowsill, his breath coming out in a slow, controlled exhale as he fought to keep his emotions in check. He couldn't let this go. He wouldn't.

The pieces were falling into place now. Cade's dependency on Accelerant wasn't just an addiction—it had been forced on him, used as a means of control by the ice demons who had enslaved him in the fighting circuit. Every fight had been a matter of life and death for Cade, and every dose of Accelerant had been the difference between survival and freezing to death at the hands of his captors.