I froze.
Then, heat erupted.
I turned just in time to see flames burst from Lazarus’ hand, slamming into the building beside him. Fire swallowed brick and glass, the heat crashing into my skin like a tidal wave. I stumbled back, heart racing.
“If you think that will save you,” he snarled, eyes glowing like molten pits, “go ahead—cling to your dark prince. But don’t mistake desperation for strength. You’re afool, Alina.”
He stepped toward me, power radiating off him in waves. “You think by aligning with Salvatore, by playing games with Balthazar, and poisoning your daughter’s blade, you’ve outsmarted me?” His lip curled. “You masquerade as a mother, a protector—but you loathe Jack, right? You wear your benevolence like a mask, but it’s slipping.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut through me like thunder.
“I willnotlet Olivia fall again. I will defend her with my life.”
“Again?” I gasped, my voice breaking.
That was when I felt them.
Cold. Slick.Alive.
Dozens of snakes slithered up my legs—ghostly, unnatural, scales like ice against my skin. I screamed, but no sound escaped. My mouth refused to move, sealed shut by some unseen force.
The serpents coiled tighter, wrapping my arms and waist and winding up my throat. Their heads nuzzled at my lips, hissing, pushing, trying to worm their way inside.
Panic detonated in my chest like a bomb. I clenched my jaw, squeezed my eyes shut, fighting the nightmare slithering across every inch of me—but it was futile. I was drowning in their writhing, icy bodies.
Lazarus stood amid the inferno—unmoved, untouched, as if fire bowed to him.
And in that moment, clarity struck like lightning.
He wasn’t a scholar.
He was amonsterwearing the mask of reason.
His eyes gleamed with hatred as he spoke. “I created you, Alina.Imade you a Timeborne. And your pathetic attempts to forge that journal, to erase what you are, will fail. You can burn the pages, twist the tale, but I remembereverything.” He took a step forward, his voice growing colder. “You are the vilest, most underhanded serpent I’ve ever had the misfortune to encounter again. Every word that leaves your lips is soaked in deceit—and I see through all of it.”
My thoughts spun.He created me?No… no, that was the Eclipsarum Obscura. It had to be. He was lying—wasn’t he?
The snakes coiled tighter. My body trembled, smothered by their scales. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. My heart thrashed wildly, threatening to shatter through my ribs.
Lazarus stood calm, almost amused, as my body writhed in invisible agony.
Then, he vanished from a distance and reappeared right before me. One heartbeat, he was yards away. Next, his hands crushed around my throat like iron shackles.
The snakes tightened with him, responding like hounds to their master.
I tried to scream, to fight, but no sound came. No strength remained.
“Your reckoning is coming,” he whispered. His eyes glinted with malice, old and bottomless. “You thought Salvatore could shield you? Let his twisted games begin.”
He tightened his grip, savoring the fear in my eyes.
“Iwillwatch him fall,” he snarled. “And when the final shadow descends, I’ll be waiting at the end of the tunnel—with a smile. I’ll see you bothbroken, and I’ll have the last laugh.”
His gaze pierced into me, a searing brand of hatred. It scorched my soul with the promise of vengeance.
“I’m going to enjoy watching you suffer,” he promised.
And then—like smoke in a violent wind—he vanished.
