All Chapters of The General's Return: Chapter 71
- Chapter 80
170 chapters
Chapter Seventy – Blood Chains
The night had teeth. Selene felt them sink deep, gnawing through bone, marrow, and reason as Fowler’s word replayed in her mind. Carter.Her family’s name. Her pride. Her curse.The fire hissed in the clearing as Elias’s body cooled, but Selene could not move. Her throat was raw, her chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven breaths.Every part of her screamed to deny it, yet the truth wrapped itself tighter with every second of Fowler’s silence. “Explain,” she demanded. Her voice was brittle, a blade about to snap. “Now.”Fowler’s jaw tightened, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles whitened through the blood and dirt. His eyes avoided hers, staring instead at the corpse that had carried his torment for years.“Fowler!” Her voice cracked like a whip. “What did you mean by Carter? What does my family have to do with your silence?”Vivienne flinched at the sharpness, her own face pale with unease. “Selene, maybe this isn’t the place”“Don’t you dare.” Selene’s head whipped toward
Chapter Seventy-One – The Breaking Point
The fire’s glow danced across Fowler’s convulsing body, throwing jagged shadows against the trees.His skin burned clammy under Selene’s frantic touch, his muscles locking and spasming as though unseen chains ripped through his veins.“Fowler! Stay with me, don’t you dare leave me now!” Selene’s voice cracked with desperation, her tears spilling hot and fast down her cheeks.She tried to hold him, but his strength was too violent, too overwhelming, like she was trying to restrain a storm with her bare hands.Blood trickled from the corner of his lips, sizzling as it hit the hot earth. His eyes wild, glassy, and pained found hers for a fleeting instant.“Selene…” His breath was a rasp, his voice strangled. “…don’t… let it… take me…”Her heart ripped in two. “Take you? What is it? Tell me how to stop it!”The scarred man lurched closer, nearly collapsing, his hand pressing to his ribs as he struggled to speak. “It’s the blood chain! He broke its terms by even hinting at the truth. Your
Chapter Seventy-Two – Chains of the Heart
Selene’s blood mingled with Fowler’s on the scorched earth, steam rising where it sizzled against the embers. The air grew heavy, pressing on every chest as though the night itself was holding its breath.Fowler’s ragged convulsions slowed, his body shuddering before finally collapsing into her arms. His chest rose and fell in labored but steady rhythm, each breath a victory pulled from death’s teeth.Selene held him tightly, blood streaming down her cut palm and dripping over his uniform. The moment her crimson touched him, something invisible locked around her.It wasn’t pain at least not the way Fowler had suffered. It was weight. Crushing, suffocating weight.As if shackles of molten iron clasped around her bones, threading through her veins, linking her pulse to something vast and merciless.Her breath hitched. She tried to pull away, but her blood kept flowing onto him, as though the ground itself demanded more.Vivienne staggered forward, her voice frantic. “Selene! Stop you’re
Chapter Seventy-Three – The Silence of Selene
The silence hit harder than any scream. Selene’s mouth moved, her throat strained, but nothing emerged. Not a whisper. Not a sound.Fowler’s heart stopped cold. He gripped her face in his bloodstained hands, terror burning through every scar and muscle. “Selene! Say something, anything!”Her lips trembled. Her eyes, wide and shining with pain, pleaded with him. She tried again, forcing air through her throat. Still nothing.The world collapsed around Fowler. Her voice the one thing that had carried him through chains, through war, through exile was gone.Vivienne stumbled back a step, her hand flying to her mouth. “Oh my God… she can’t…”The scarred man lowered his head, grim as a verdict. “The blood chain has bound her. Where it stole your tongue through fire and death, it’s sealed hers in silence.”Selene’s chest heaved, a sob shaking through her body, but it was voiceless. Her hands fumbled at Fowler’s shirt, gripping it tightly, as though her desperate touch could speak what her l
Chapter Seventy-Four – The Prison Within
Darkness. That was all Selene could see. It wasn’t the natural dark of night, nor the gentle black behind closed eyes. This was heavier.A darkness with weight, with teeth, with hunger. It pressed against her from all sides, crushing, suffocating, yet never quite killing.She tried to scream, but her throat was sealed, her voice chained. The sound caught inside her chest, clawing for release, but it died in silence.Am I dead?The thought echoed, faint in the void. But no she could feel. She could feel the burning shackles wrapping around her veins, the serpentine shadows curling tighter around her throat.Every beat of her heart made the chains pulse hotter, hungrier.Somewhere, distant, muffled, she felt Fowler’s arms around her. His voice desperate, furious was little more than an echo.She wanted to answer, to tell him she was still here, still fighting. But the curse smothered her words before they could form.Then a whisper slithered through the dark. Finally… you are mine. Sele
Chapter Seventy-Five – The General’s Breaking Point
Fowler had faced ambushes, betrayal, and warzones soaked with blood. He had walked through hell in chains and returned alive. But nothing had prepared him for this.Selene’s body writhed against him as though possessed, her back arching in unnatural angles, her throat constricting with strangled gasps.Her nails tore at her own skin, leaving streaks of blood across her arms. Her eyes, once pools of fierce light, were glazed white, trembling behind lids that refused to close.He held her tighter, his voice raw. “Selene! Stay with me, dammit stay with me!”Her mouth opened, but no sound came. Only silence. The silence of chains. Fowler’s jaw locked. He had seen this before. Not on her but on himself.Years ago, in the deepest cell of Blackwall Prison, when the curse of the Carter oath had tried to claw into him. The suffocating silence, the bleeding from within, the feeling of being eaten alive by shadows.And now it was killing her. Vivienne stood frozen just feet away, horror etched a
Chapter Seventy-Six – Chains in the Dark
Inside the void, Selene’s world fractured. Her hands were no longer her own. They moved with monstrous strength, gripping something warm, solid Fowler.She couldn’t see him here in the darkness, not with her eyes, but through the bond she could feel him. His heartbeat. His breath. His life.And she was choking it out. “No stop!” she screamed inside her mind, thrashing against the invisible chains binding her soul. Her body outside did not obey. Her fingers tightened, cruel and merciless.The curse laughed, its voice slithering through her veins. Look at you. So fragile. So desperate. And yet you are the perfect vessel. Do you feel his life slipping away?She shook her head violently, tears burning hot down her unseen cheeks. “I won’t kill him! I love him!”The darkness hissed, wrapping her tighter, smothering her every thought. Love? Love is a leash. That is why your father bound him. That is why I own you now. Because you, Selene Carter, are weak.The shadows shoved her forward, forc
Chapter Seventy-Seven – The General’s Vow
Fowler held her against his chest, her body cold, her breath gone. “No…” The word was a rasp, almost too quiet for even him to hear.His throat still burned from her grip, every swallow fire, but none of that mattered. His arms cradled her limp form, rocking as though the motion could bring her back.“Selene. Wake up.” His hand trembled as it brushed across her cheek, smearing blood and dirt. He pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes burning with a pain he’d never let anyone see. “You don’t get to leave me. Not you.”Vivienne was frozen a few steps away, her pistol hanging uselessly in her hand. “Is… is she”“Don’t.” Fowler’s voice cracked like a whip, sharp enough to silence her. His chest heaved, but his eyes stayed locked on Selene. “She’s not gone.”The scarred man coughed blood against the tree, his voice a rasping sneer. “You’re blind, General. The oath eats everything it touches. She fought it so it tore her heart instead. That woman is dead.”Fowler’s head snapped toward him,
Chapter Seventy-Eight – Between Worlds
Cold. That was the first thing Selene felt. A bone-deep cold that seeped into her marrow, heavier than any winter frost. She tried to open her eyes, but there was only darkness.Not the writhing abyss of the curse. Not the suffocating chains that had strangled her. This was different. Empty.Her feet touched nothing, yet she stood. Her hands moved, yet she grasped only air. And the silence it wasn’t crushing like before. It was hollow, like the world itself had stopped breathing.Am I… dead?The thought drifted out of her like a whisper. And then, faintly, she heard something. A voice. Low, hoarse, breaking. Fowler. “Selene… don’t you dare leave me.”Her chest jolted. She clutched at it, but her body felt strange, translucent, half-there. “Fowler?” she called, though her voice didn’t echo. “I’m here, I’m still here!”Her words vanished into the dark. Then another sound crept through. Not Fowler. Not Vivienne. Not any living voice. It was laughter. Soft, mocking. Did you think you esca
Chapter Seventy-Nine – Breaking the Unbreakable
Fowler laid Selene’s body on the torn earth as gently as if she were glass. Her skin was pale, her lips drained of all color, her chest still.She looked peaceful, as though she had simply fallen asleep but he knew better. He could feel it. Her soul was trapped, strangled in the same chains that had haunted him for years.He brushed a strand of blood-matted hair from her face, his hand steady though every nerve in his body screamed to shake her awake.“You hear me, Selene?” His voice was low, steady, every word deliberate. “You’re not gone. Not while I’m still here.”Vivienne stepped forward, her heels crunching on shattered stone. Her hands trembled around the pistol she still carried. “Fowler she hasn’t moved. It’s been”“Don’t.” His voice cracked like a blade unsheathed. “She’s still here. I feel her.”The scarred man coughed, blood dribbling from his mouth, his voice hoarse but mocking. “You think love will break chains forged in Carter blood? You think you can outwit an oath boun