Then she vanished, just as footsteps echoed down the hallway.
I collapsed onto the bed, my whole body throbbing, my head ringing with pain. Sobs tore through me, real and raw.Balthazar, I thought, his face flickering in the chaos of my mind.
But he wasn’t coming. Not this time.
Not after what I’d done.
The betrayal. The lies. The poison.
I was alone.
Utterly, unforgivably alone.
Then the door creaked open.
Philip stepped in, balancing a tray. “I come bearing sustenance,” he said with a soft smile. “You look like you could use some comfort.”
His kindness made me want to scream. But instead, my tears dried. My pain turned cold.
And something inside me shifted.
A new plan began to take shape, dark and sharp as the shard I’d used to cut my skin.
I would seduce him. Make him fall for me. Let him believe the child washis. I’d bury the truth so deep it would never surface.
And while he clung to hope, I’d find the blades.
No one would stop me, not Balthazar, Zara, or fate.
Not now.
Not ever.
Chapter 21
Balthazar
My mouth felt like it had been stuffed with cotton and left to rot. I woke up shivering on the cold floor, my limbs tangled in a discarded fur that lay beside me like a carcass. It looked as if I’d thrashed in my sleep—if you could call whatever I just experienced sleep.
I blinked through the haze, but my eyelids scraped over my eyes like sand across raw stone. Pain bloomed in every muscle as I forced myself upright. The room spun, a cruel carousel of shadows and fractured light. I staggered forward, one hand gripping the edge of the opulent sofa, the other clutching the coffee table as I dragged myself across the threadbare carpet of the living room.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
My thoughts reeled.What the fuck was in that drink?My mouth tasted like poison and regret.
“Alina!” I called out, but it came out hoarse, barely a growl. “Alina!” I tried again, louder this time. “Where are you, bitch?”
My voice ricocheted through the house, echoing like a curse.
Fueled by fury, I stormed from room to room—through the main floor, then upstairs. No sign of her. No whisper of her scent. No trace of her warmth.
Only the silence.
Only the fucking silence.
I tore through the house like a storm unchained. I upended furniture,ripped open drawers, tore clothing from closets, and flung it across the room. Jewelry clattered to the floor like shards of betrayal. I smashed trinkets, shattered glass. I didn’t care. I wanted to break something. I wanted to see the world burn with me.
“Where are you, Alina?” I snarled, teeth bared. “What did you do?”
