His words carried effortlessly through the thick glass, evidenced by how Balthazar winced and clamped his hands over his ears.
“Stop screaming,” Balthazar rasped.
Mathias tilted his head. “I’m not screaming,” he smiled. “I’m merely savoring the victory.”
Balthazar’s body convulsed with a deep, phlegmy cough that sent a wave of bile up my throat.
I forced myself to swallow it down.
Then, in a voice that sounded decades older, weaker, Balthazar croaked, “What’s the point?” His lips curled into something between a sneer and a grimace. “I still won.”
Mathias didn’t move.
Balthazar’s cracked lips stretched wider, revealing white teeth, his voice little more than a rasp.
“I beat the teacher.”
I strained to hear him, my pulse hammering.
I was puzzled by how Mathias could project his voice so clearly through the dense silicate. But then, nearly everything about the darkness was an enigma.
Mathias didn’t so much as flinch. He crossed his arms, tilting his head. “How so?” His voice almost amused. “What makes you think you’ve won?”
Balthazar forced his way upright, staggering toward the glass wall.
I instinctively shrank back.
Mathias remained unmoved.
Balthazar steadied himself with both palms against the barrier, his breath fogging the surface as he sneered.
“I killed Cora,” he whispered, eyes glinting with malice. “Took over your school. Made every darkness as evil as me. I seduced your beloved daughter, Alina. I took her for myself.”
A twisted grin spread across his face.
“If only you knew Alina’s true colors.”
Then, he threw back his head and laughed.
A jagged, wretched sound that sent an icy shudder down my spine.
The laughter dissolved into a brutal coughing fit, racking his body so hard he collapsed onto the floor.
Curled in on himself, his hands clutched over his abdomen, he gasped through the pain. But still, he kept talking.
“Now, I finally know who this mysterious Count Montego is…” His eyelids fluttered, his energy draining fast, yet his voice carried a venomous glee. “And yet, I can still see that I’ve won. I killed the most precious thing you ever knew. I destroyed your wife. I took your daughter. I killed…” His eyes began to slip shut. “I killed them both.”
Silence crashed over the chamber.
Then—
Mathias laughed.
So hard, so deeply, that tears streamed down his face. He laughed like he had just heard the greatest joke of all time.
I stiffened. What the hell?
Balthazar groaned, barely able to lift his head, blinking sluggishly as if struggling to focus.
