And something inside me wanted to destroy that.
To obliterate it.
Her purity clung to the air like a curse—unnatural, maddening. I burned to ruin it, to defile every gentle thing she was and expose the darkness buried beneath her perfect facade. The hunger to do so pulsed through me, wild and feral, drowning every thread of reason.
I reached the top of the landing, my boots pounding against the floor as I stormed toward the sleeping room.
She stood at the center of it all, the child wailing as she gently placed it into a woven basket. And in Cora’s hand, the dagger.
The child’s dagger.
Its hilt was etched with scripture from the Old World—markings no one outside the ancient dark circles could decipher. I snarled as I saw her wrapping a ruby and moonstone necklace around the child’s neck.
Zara’s necklace.
That sacred, delicate piece—the last relic of my beloved—was never meant to be hers. And yet, gods help me, the baby looked angelic with it resting against her tiny collarbone.
Anger. Regret. Pain. It all surged through me at once.
I unleashed a primal roar, the sound rumbling through the room like thunder, laced with the full force of my darkness. It shook the very walls. I knew she felt it—Cora froze, her eyes widening, breath catching in her throat.
Then, like lightning, she moved.
With trembling hands, she slashed the infant’s palm. Blood welled up as she whispered the forbidden verse, her voice determined.
“No!” I bellowed, diving forward.
But it was too late.
A pulse of blinding white energy rippled outward. The baby vanished, the necklace gleaming one final time before the light swallowed her whole.
She was gone—ripped from my grasp, sent to another time, another place far beyond my reach. Her cries faded into the ether.
Rage consumed me.
I lunged at Cora, my hands closing around her throat. She beat at my chest, coughing, sobbing, gasping for air beneath my tightening grip.
“You can’t hurt her now,” she rasped through the agony. “She’s far away… safe from your vicious hands.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“One day, Balthazar… someone will kill you. Light always finds a way to vanquish darkness.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I snarled. “I shall rule the world with darkness.”
I bore down on her slender neck. Bone cracked beneath my grip like splintering ice.
Cora’s eyes met mine one last time—pleading, filled with grief. Then she closed them, accepting her fate with haunting grace.
Snap.
Her body went limp.
Then—footsteps. Thunderous. Rushing.
“Cora!” Mathias’ voice roared through the hallway, echoing off the stone like a death knell.
I turned, spinning on my heel with a savage grin, bloodlust humming in my veins.
