Controlled Burn

Chapter 20: Bound by Ice

Cade awoke with a sharp intake of breath, his body instantly tensing as the cold bit into his skin. His vision was blurry, the world around him a haze of frost and shadow, and for a moment, he didn't know where he was. Then the pain hit—the bone-deep ache of exhaustion, the throbbing reminder of his failure.

He was still in the cell. Still under Lucian's control.

A groan escaped his lips as he tried to move, but his limbs wouldn't respond. Panic seized him for a split second before he realized why. Ice. The cold crept up his body, locking him in place. Cade glanced down, his breath catching in his throat when he saw the chains—not metal, but ice—wrapped around his wrists and ankles, freezing him to the floor. The frost was so thick, so heavy, it felt like weights pulling him down, keeping him trapped.

The fog in his mind cleared, and the events of before came rushing back—Lucian's relentless push to break him, to force him into submission, the cold invading his body, his mind. He had fought, had tried to resist, but in the end, he had collapsed. His flames were too weak, his strength too drained. Lucian had been right all along.

He was losing.

Cade's body shook with the effort of just breathing, the cold wrapping around him like a suffocating blanket. He gritted his teeth, trying to will the flames inside him to rise, to fight back, but they barely flickered in response. The fire was still there, burning faintly beneath the surface, but it was subdued, as if it, too, had been trapped by the ice.

Lucian's voice cut through the silence, low and sharp, sending a shiver down Cade's spine. "You're awake. Good. We're far from finished, Cade."

Cade lifted his head slowly, his gaze blurry but focused on Lucian, who stood across the room with a cold, calculating expression. The ice demon's blue eyes gleamed with a cruel kind of satisfaction, his presence dominating the small space. Cade wanted to speak, to lash out, to tell him to go to hell, but the words stuck in his throat. His body was too weak, too cold.

Lucian stepped forward, his boots crunching on the frost-covered floor as he closed the distance between them. His movements were slow, deliberate, the air around him thick with his icy power. Cade tensed, instinctively trying to pull away, but the ice bindings held him in place, unyielding.

Lucian knelt beside him, his icy fingers trailing over Cade's skin in a mockery of gentleness. Cade flinched at the contact, the cold seeping into his flesh, making him shudder violently.

"You're still fighting me, Cade," Lucian murmured, his voice deceptively soft, but laced with that familiar, dangerous edge. "But it's useless. You've lost. You just haven't accepted it yet."

Cade's jaw clenched, the fire inside him flaring weakly in response to Lucian's words. He wanted to scream, to fight, to break free of these chains, but he couldn't. His body was locked in place, his pride slowly crumbling under the weight of Lucian's relentless control.

Lucian's eyes glinted as he watched Cade's internal struggle, the faint glimmer of defiance still flickering in the fire demon's gaze. He let out a soft sigh, shaking his head as if disappointed. "You're making this harder on yourself, Cade."

Lucian's hand moved lower, his cold fingers gripping Cade's chin, forcing him to meet his gaze. The ice spread from his touch, freezing Cade's skin, making his breath hitch. Cade's muscles tensed, but there was no escape. Lucian had him. Completely.

"You need to understand your place," Lucian said, his voice smooth, almost cruelly calm. "You need to accept what you are."

Cade's breath came in shallow, ragged bursts, his eyes blazing with the last remnants of his pride, his anger. "I'm not—"