He didn’t answer at first. He just stood there, watching me silently, which felt like a threat. Then he said, “I don’t know anyone named Zara. I came to thank you… personally. For saving Jack today.”
Something twisted in my stomach.
“Jack is very important to me,” he continued. “And I want to make sure you understand something very clearly.”
He stepped closer. He was small in stature, but overwhelming in pressure, like a storm bearing down.
“If you ever hurt him, betray him, or so much asthinkabout killing him, I will destroy you. Do I make myself clear?”
I nodded stiffly, unable to find my voice.
He leaned in, the black pits of his eyes searing into mine.
“Remember this,” he said. “You get one chance.Don’t fail.”
“I-I would never hurt Jack,” I stammered, my voice brittle. “You don’t even know me.”
He held my gaze, unblinking. “I knowexactlywho you are. I’ve been watching you for a long time. You’re a vicious littleserpent. But don’t mistake that for invincibility. I can still kill you.”
The words hit like ice water down my spine.
“Kill me?” I sputtered, the absurdity rising like bile in my throat. I let out a short, bitter laugh. “You’re hobbling. You look old and frail.”
But the man didn’t flinch. He smiled.
And somehow, that smile unsettled me.
“Appearances,” he said softly, “can be deceiving. Your thirst for the blades is insatiable. You’ve lied to everyone in your path. But I know the truth. I know your darkest secrets.”
His voice dropped into something colder. Deeper.
“One false move,” he whispered, “and I will snuff out your life like a candle in the wind. You didn’t save Jack out of compassion. You saved him because youneedhim. But Jack James is precious to me.”
His lips curled into something cruel and knowing. “Don’t underestimate me. Or my power. Imadeyou a Timeborne, Alina. And I can just as easily take it away.”
He stepped forward.
Agony exploded in my chest.
I cried out and collapsed to my knees, clutching my heart as fire seared through my ribcage—like he’d carved a mark into my soul.
“Now,” he murmured, “do not make the same mistake twice. If you hurt Jack… I will make sure yousuffer.”
I stumbled backward, my breath ragged—a pulsing heat radiated from my chest, a warning burned into my core. My blood surged, fast and furious, like a dam had broken open inside me—filling me with strength, rage, and terror.
“You don’t know who you’re threatening,” I spat, rising to my feet. “Balthazar is my lover. He’s not someone you toy with. He could reduce you to ash with a glance if I commanded it.”
The words echoed in the silence between us.
But the man only laughed—a hollow, mirthless sound.
“Oh, Alina,” he said. “You used Balthazar’s love like a knife. You bent his trust, poisoned his mind against Malik, and then turned on him the moment it suited your ambitions.”
He stepped closer. I couldn’t move.
“I see through every lie you’ve ever told,” he hissed. “If you cross me, I’ll unleash Balthazar on you—not the lover you once knew, but the part of him you fear most. And I will make certain he drags you into a cataclysm of tortures so excruciating you’ll beg for death long before it comes.”
His words landed like a flurry of blades, each one striking the bruised flesh of my past.
