Lee cut in, “Jack, would you excuse us for a sec? I need to have a word with my roommate.”
Jack blinked, confused. “Sure. I think this beer’s hitting me anyway. Where’s your bathroom?”
“First door on the right,” Lee said.
Jack wandered off, wobbling slightly. As soon as the door clicked shut, Lee whirled toward me.
“Jack’s a good guy,” he hissed. “He’s sweet on you. Don’t mess with that. I mean it, Alina. If you hurt him—I swear, Iwillstop you.”
I narrowed my eyes, still rattled from the man outside. “What are you implying? I know what I’m doing.”
“Do you?” Lee snapped. “Because I’m not convinced.”
“Please,” I snapped back, voice low and seething. “Stop doubting me.”
“Listen to me,” Lee said, grabbing my arm. His voice dropped, hoarse with urgency. “We don’t know if there are Timehunters in this city. You need to stay low. Blend in. Don’t sayanythingto Jack about who you are. Act normal—as if your life depends on it.”
I jerked my arm free, fists clenched at my sides. “Iknowthat. I’ll play the part. I’ll be the perfect student. I don’t need you to babysit me.”
But the chill crawling through my veins said otherwise.
Could the man outside have been a Timehunter?
No.
He was more than that. Far more powerful. Butwhat, then?
I marched into the kitchen, drained the rest of my beer in one long pull, and slammed the bottle into the trash.
Then I glanced toward the window.
And froze.
He was still there.
The hooded man. Standing just beyond the edge of the complex, black eyes fixed on mine. Watching. Waiting.
As if reminding me he hadn’t left.
As if daring me to make the wrong move.
Chapter 28
Balthazar
Ihad been searching for Alina for years, chasing shadows through cities and ruins, across lifetimes and bloodstained paths. Hope had become a flicker—a dim, fading ember I could barely see anymore. Every lead ended in nothing. Every name turned cold. It was as if she had been swallowed by time itself.
Nothing made sense anymore. My life had become a void.
The only comfort I clung to was the memory of my children—of the brief, golden days before the Timehunters took them from me. It felt like a lifetime ago. Their laughter, once vibrant in my mind, faded like a song I couldn’t recall. Even those memories were slipping into the abyss that revenge had carved inside me.
I no longer slept. I barely breathed. I drank. I killed. I searched. Again. And again. And again.
Each corpse I left behind was another scream into the silence, another reminder that happiness, real happiness, had died long ago. And yet, a part of me still ached, aching to rebuild what had been stolen. Deep down, I feared I had already become too broken, too far gone.
That night, I stumbled home under the weight of darkness and bourbon, the streets around my estate silent and still. Once filled with life and voices, the vast halls of my manor now echoed with only the sound of my own destruction. It felt more tomb than home.
I paused in the corridor, the floor tilting beneath me as the liquor surged in my veins.
