I tracked the movement, watching the glass container like a cornered animal. My entire body tensed, half-expecting him to pick it up again and continue his torment. But instead, he stepped away, sauntering across the room to lean against the fireplace mantel.
Behind him, the logs crackled, sending fiery embers against the iron grate. Shadows stretched across his features while the flames cast an eerie glow behind him.
“I’m waiting,” he said coolly.
“For?”
Holding myself upright became too much effort. My muscles gave out, and I slumped back onto the mattress.
“For your justification.” His voice hardened. “For marrying a human—that human. And for making choices without consulting me.” His face twisted with disgust.
“I had my reasons,” I groaned, attempting to curl my knees to my chest as another wave of pain shot through me. The movement was impossible. My body refused to cooperate.
“And what might those be?”
Balthazar stalked toward me, each step echoing through the cavernous room. The click of his boots against stone was deafening, each impact striking my ears like gunfire.
“She’s Olivia’s sister.” My voice was raw, strained. “So, I married her.”
Balthazar stilled.
I squeezed my eyes shut, panting through the searing pain. When I caught enough breath to continue, I forced the words out.
“It had to look real… I had to pretend…” My abdomen throbbed, the agony coiling tighter. “I had to pretend I was a changed man.”
Balthazar’s brows furrowed, his chest rising and falling in rapid succession. His entire body went still.
“What did you just say?” His voice was dangerously quiet. “The first part.”
He loomed over me, shadows twisting across his features.
I tried to shove him away—weakly, pathetically.
“Emily… she’s Olivia’s sister.” My body tensed against another jolt of pain. “Alina had two children.” I groaned and writhed, bile rising in my throat. “Different fathers.”
A horrifying realization spread across Balthazar’s face.
“That means Emily is a Timebound.”
His head snapped back, and a roar tore from his throat, shaking the rafters.
I flinched, instinctively throwing my arms over my head for protection. When no blow came, I risked a glance at him.
Trying to redirect his rage, I rasped, “What is a Timebound?”
“Fuck Alina!” Balthazar snarled, completely ignoring my question. “She gave birth to two bastards and never gave me a child! Instead, I have a son who is an idiot and a complete failure.”
A son?
Balthazar has a son?
The revelation barely registered as fresh waves of agony racked my body. It felt like wild dogs were tearing into my entrails, gnawing and snapping at exposed flesh.
Balthazar stormed around the room, his fury rattling everything—the bed, the candles, the ancient books lining the shelves. Even the logs in the fireplace crackled and flared as if feeding off his wrath.
Then he stopped.
He stood beside my bed, his chest heaving. He closed his eyes and inhaled, long and deep, as though forcing himself into control.
