Chapter 32
Alina
When Jack and I returned from Iceland, I couldn’t shake the urgent need to tell Lee what we’d found. My heart thundered in my chest as I approached his condo, every step weighed down by nerves. We were never close—never friends in the true sense—but still, I felt compelled. Maybe for validation. Maybe for protection. Perhaps because I didn’t know who else to trust.
Lee opened the door, eyebrows lifting in surprise. “Alina!” he said, sounding more welcoming than I expected. “This is a surprise. Come in, come in.”
I entered his front room, where the air was thick with cedarwood and old leather scent. The walls were a history museum—ancient drums stretched with timeworn hide, carved masks that seemed to watch from their perches, and vibrant tapestries woven with symbols of the land’s first people—every shelf brimmed with relics—arrowheads, pottery shards, beadwork, and bone-handled blades.
My pulse quickened as I followed him into the kitchen, where sunlight streamed across stone countertops and a pot of tea steamed quietly on the stove.
“Lee,” I said, my voice taut with anticipation. “I did it. I found the dagger.”
He froze. The astonishment on his face was genuine; his hand stilled mid-motion on a ceramic mug. “You found it?”
I nodded once, tightly.
He rubbed a hand over his smooth jaw, something unreadable crossing his face. “You’ve changed, Alina. You’re not the same woman who started this journey. You’ve become... stronger. Better.”
I gave him a smile—tight, rehearsed, masking the dread that coiled tighter around my throat with each breath. The man with the glasses… he could be watching. He always was.
Lee’s expression darkened. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you,” he said. “I don’t trust easily—for very good reason.”
His face turned to stone, unreadable now, like he’d slammed a door shut inside himself. Whatever he was hiding, he had no intention of letting it slip.
But that was fine.
We were both carrying secrets.
“I saw Balthazar,” he whispered, his voice raw, as if the words themselves had scraped their way out. “He was just... standing there and watching us as we walked down the street. One blink—and he was gone. I think he’s looking for us.”
A current of electricity jolted through my body. My stomach turned to ice, my limbs taut with silent panic. I could almost feel Balthazar’s gaze on me, his voice in my skull like a cruel echo. He was close. Closer than I had feared.
My mind spun with urgency, already crafting lies and contingencies. I had one of the blades. He couldn’t know that. He must not know that. I would protect what I had, shield myself, even if I had to betray everyone again.
Power was within reach. And I would not be outplayed.
“Don’t worry,” Lee said, waving a hand as if dismissing the horror. “Maybe I drank too much that day. It was when I sent you to the Antiquarium. Could’ve imagined it.”
“I see,” I replied flatly, calming my features. I steered the conversation back to the Sun Dagger, my voice steady, but my thoughts screamed beneath the surface.
Still, the chill remained, burrowed deep in my chest like a splinter of ice. A warning. A premonition.
Balthazar was coming.
Chapter 33
Balthazar
At the prestigious McMont College, Scarlett’s eyes widened in alarm as she watched me stagger toward Jack James like a man possessed. I had spent weeks trying—and failing—to get close to Alina. Now, driven by desperation, I clung to Scarlett’s suggestion like a lifeline—Get to Jack, and Alina will follow.
The sea of students parted around me, oblivious to my mission. I moved through them like a blade through water, every step sharp with purpose. My gaze locked on Jack—he was the axis around which everything turned. If I could just reach him…
Sweat beaded on my brow as pain prickled down my spine, familiar and cruel. The same torment that punished me every time I neared Alina now returned with a vengeance. My lungs tightened. My limbs trembled. It had to behim. The gray-eyed specter. That godless wraith who haunted my every move.
I growled low in my throat, and a nearby girl let out a startled shriek before skittering away.
Good. Let them fear me.
