“They’re a threat to you, Alina,” he said. “They’ll kill you the moment they learn what you are. You’re a Timeborne. To them, that makes you a target.”
I stared at him, unblinking. “But why areyouscared of them, Balthazar?”
His eyes narrowed into slits. “Just fucking let me handle my people,” he growled. “I’ll deal with Malik my way.”
My heart hammered in my chest, the tension between us thick and stifling. Sweat clung to my skin, but I refused to flinch. Instead, I glided toward him, hips swaying, masking my frustration with allure.
“Balthazar, my darling…” I murmured, my voice honeyed as I slid my hands across his chest, tracing the lines of muscle with a lover’s touch. My fingers drifted lower, teasing the waistband of his trousers, lingering at the edge of heat and hunger.
He growled and shoved my hands away, turning to leave.
“Listen,” I snapped, grabbing his arm. “Your tortures aren’t working. Malik isn’t breaking. The poison you’re using is weak. Costa’s poison—it’s lethal, untraceable, devastating. It’s the only thing that might work.”
Balthazar turned, his snarl feral. “Don’t youdaretry to outmatch me,” he hissed, his eyes burning with warning. “I’ll handle this. You just keep torturing Layla.”
His eyes blazed with fury as he shoved me aside and stormed toward the dungeon.
Moments later, he came stomping back up the stairs, his face a mask of barely restrained rage. “Malik hasn’t weakened. Not even a little,” Balthazar hissed. “He’s too strong.”
“That’s because your poison is pathetic,” I snapped. “It’s not nearly potent enough.”
We exploded into a screaming match, hurling our grievances at each other with the force of weapons. The air between us snapped with fury.
“Thenyougo to Raul!” I shouted. “Youget the poison!”
Balthazar’s face turned crimson. He roared, the sound deafening, echoing off the dungeon walls like thunder meant to break the stone.
“No!” he bellowed, slamming his fist into the wall with enough force to leave cracks in the stone. “You stay here. I’ll find poison elsewhere.”
For days, we subjected Malik and Layla to the worst torments our minds could conjure, and still they endured. No matter what we did—no matter how we twisted their pain—they did not break.It was as if they shared a silent vow, unspoken and unshakable, even locked away in separate cells, unable to see or hear one another.
The rage boiling inside me became unbearable. I needed the blades. Ihadto get my hands on them. The thought of Layla surviving, of Malik defying us, ignited something monstrous in my blood.
Balthazar stalked past me, hand curled tightly around the hilt of his blade. “I’m going after the Sun and Moon Daggers,” he said, his voice cold and final.
My fists clenched. “Then I’m coming with you!”
My voice echoed in the stone chamber, a sharp rebuke to his command. But Balthazar didn’t even flinch.
“You’ll stay here,” he said with steel in his eyes. “Watch the prisoners.”
And just like that, he locked me in my room.
On the night of the full moon.
Alone.
Furious.
I screamed until my throat went raw.
I was apoplectic with rage.
After hours, I finally picked the lock on my bedroom door. I burst into the hallway, my skin flushed with fury, heart hammering with vengeance. The thrill of what came next made my breath quicken—every scream I’d rip from Layla’s throat would echo like a hymn. Each strike would be worse than the last.
My laughter bounced off the stone walls as I creaked open the heavy door to her cell. She lay there, filthy and trembling, her eyes wide with dread.
I grinned. “He can hear you, you know. Malik hears every scream—and still, he doesn’t come. Do you finally understand why?”
