His shoulders hunched, his arms wrapped around himself, like a child trying to ward off the cold.
He swallowed hard, then mustered the courage to ask, “W-what do we do now?”
I shot him a disgusted glance.
“Why do you think I have the answer?” I hissed.
I didn’t know Tristan, but he reeked of weakness. He was a spoiled child, unworthy of the blood running through his veins.
Balthazar’s presence shifted.
A heartbeat later, he was standing before us.
I jerked back, blinking?—
A moment ago, he had been across the room.
Now, he was right in front of me.
My blood turned to ice.
Balthazar’s face twisted into a wicked sneer, his eyes shimmering with cruelty.
“What are you whispering about?” he asked.
“Are you plotting?” His smile widened into something inhuman, his canines glinting in the dim light.
Then, in a blur, his hand fisted my lapels?—
And hauled me into the air like I weighed nothing at all.
I hung there, my body suspended like a ragdoll, my breath tight in my throat.
Terror coiled around my ribs, but I forced myself to stay alert.
Balthazar’s grip tightened, his fingers like an iron vice around my collar.
“You’ve disappointed me, my boy.” His voice was a low, menacing growl, vibrating through my bones. “You should have gone to the masquerade and found the Sun Dagger.”
He shook me violently, and my head snapped forward and back, my vision blurring from the force.
“But instead,” he sneered, “you stayed home like a wailing, whimpering bitch.” With a scoff, he shoved me away, finally releasing me.
The words cut deep, but I kept my expression blank, refusing to give him the satisfaction.
Balthazar began to pace, a caged predator radiating fury with every taut, deliberate step.
“I don’t know if the dagger is still trapped in the rubble.”
Rubble?
What the fuck happened tonight?
Before I could dwell on it, he released me, and I collapsed backward, landing in a heap on the cold stone floor.
I coughed, dragging air into my bruised lungs, but I knew better than to stay down too long.
Balthazar loomed over me, his shadow stretching across the room.
