Above us, the storm raged, lightning splitting the sky with eerie brilliance. Thunder rolled like a beast growling in the heavens. The downpour soaked my clothes and my skin, but I felt nothing.
Satan could have come for me then, and I wouldn’t have cared.
Roman crouched beside me, his face streaked with rivulets of rain. His voice, though soft, carried an edge of desperation.
“You didn’t choose this destiny, Malik. It was forced upon you.”
But his words barely touched me.
I felt nothing but the hollow expanse inside me—vast, endless.
My fingers closed around the hilt of my knife. I must have dropped it beside me in my frenzy.
The blade gleamed, washed clean of blood by the relentless storm.
I stared at it, uncomprehending.
A sudden movement—Roman swayed, his body giving way to weakness. He fell forward onto his hands and knees.
Osman rushed toward him, waving a small vial. “This is the antidote. He needs more of it.”
I frowned, suspicion piercing through my numbness. “Who are you?” My voice came rough. “How do you know so much about poisons and antidotes? Are you a Timehunter?”
Osman shook his head, eyes flashing with urgency. “No! I’m a scholar. A healer.” He knelt beside Roman, cradling the vial between careful fingers. “Tip your head back and open your mouth.”
Roman obeyed without question, and Osman poured the tincture past his lips.
“You’ll start to feel better soon.” He turned toward me then, his gaze steady despite the storm. “My betrothed came here for the Moon Dagger. Raul took her because she’s Timebound.”
His voice cracked slightly, but he pressed on. “We were staying at the cottage where you found me.” He gestured toward his modest home in the distance, barely visible through the rain.
“I came to the tavern because I was getting nowhere.” Osman’s expression darkened. “That’s where I met Roman and Marcellious. They protected me.”
His words should have meant something. It should have brought me back to reality.
But all I could see were the corpses. Blood washing down the cobblestones in winding rivulets, the night swallowing my sins whole.
I gave a nod.
“The solar eclipse is coming soon,” Osman continued. “The Timehunters will be out in full force, hunting Timebornes and Timebounds.” His voice dropped. “None of you are safe.”
A chill rippled down my spine.
Roman sat back on his haunches, studying me. “You’re not afraid of a solar eclipse, are you?”
I exhaled sharply. “It’s not the eclipse itself. It’s what it means for us.”
Roman frowned. “And what’s that?”
“That’s the only day when the darkness isn’t the darkness.” I met his gaze, letting the truth settle between us. “For twenty-four hours, we have no power.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I wish I were.” The very thought of it made my stomach twist. “On that day, we’re not even human. We’re nothing. We have to lock ourselves away and disappear. It’s complete misery.”
Even now, bloated with the spirits of the dead, an unfamiliar exhaustion pulled at me, threatening to drag me under.
I shook it off. “Where’s your brother, Roman? Where’s Marcellious?”
