My daughters were gone.
My wife was a ghost.
My legacy had been scorched by fire and betrayal.
But now—now, there was a chance to restore it.
Zara had told me the blades could bring them back—the Sun and Moon Daggers—powerful enough to pierce the boundaries of time. I would find them. I would wield them.
Even if it meant spilling blood to do it.
Even if it meant hunting down Alina and ending her life.
How foolish I’d been to let passion blind me. To touch the daughter of the man who murdered my children.Mathias’ blood runs in her veins.
There would be no more mercy.
No more hesitation.
Only rage-fueled vengeance.
I was coming for Alina; no force on this earth or beyond would stop me from reclaiming my family.
And destroying Mathias’ legacy forever.
Chapter 29
Balthazar
When I arrived in 1990, I despised everything about it.
The shrieking machines hurtling down paved roads. The garish neon signs. The constant hum of electricity in the air. It was loud, fast, hollow—utterly divorced from everything I had once known. I loathed the people, too—so distracted, so unaware. This time wasn’t meant for me. I didn’t belong here.
I wandered, observing, adapting. The world felt like a fever dream—cold metal, plastic, screens, and no sky in their eyes.
Then, I found it.
McMont College.
Alina’s domain.
And there she was—my wretched Alina.
I stopped dead in my tracks.
She moved through the quad with a regal grace, the world seeming to part for her. Two young men hovered around her, arms full of books and starry-eyed with adoration. She laughed at something one of them said, and the sound drifted toward me like poisoned honey.
The sight of her ignited something violent in me.
I stepped forward, and agony exploded in my chest.
A searing pain tore through my ribcage. I gasped, staggeringback, clutching at my shirt as my knees buckled beneath me. My vision swam. My breath caught.
I was dying.
What was happening?
I looked around wildly. People passed by, oblivious, their faces indifferent blurs. Panic rose, thick and suffocating. I tried to shout—to call for Alina—but all I managed was a ragged moan.
