My father’s eyes narrowed as he stared at me, suspicion clouding his gaze.
“Why is it that something tragic happens to every man who courts you?”
I gasped, feigning shock. “Papa, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Don’t you, Alina?” His tone was ice. “It’s time we set things right. We need to clean up this mess—and talk while we’re at it. You’re coming with me.”
He turned toward the door, his expression grim.
“No, Papa!” I cried. “I can’t take it anymore! I saw Davide’s lifeless body, and if you force me to relive that again, I swear—I’ll break down!”
Tears streamed down my face, hot and heavy. The fire in my chest burned brighter than ever, all-consuming and barely restrained.
Papa paused, glancing back at me for a second. Confidence and disappointment warred in his eyes, and then they hardened again.
“It doesn’t matter what you can or can’t take,” he said. “What matters is that we fix this, so it doesn’t happen again. Now come.”
Outside, he harnessed one of our horses to Davide’s and hitched them to the family carriage. I climbed in beside him, arms folded tight across my chest, lips pressed into a scowl.
“People are starting to talk, Alina,” he muttered as he clucked the horses forward. “They’re afraid to let their sons near you.”
Stupid birds chirped cheerily around us, as if mocking me. Their carefree songs grated against the tempest swirling inside me.
“I can’t help it if their sons are careless,” I snapped. “Or if they take me on rides with unruly, willful horses. You saw how they reacted. Did you see how they acted when I approached the carriage?”
Papa sighed deeply. “Yes, I saw. But it seems like misfortune follows you. When we found you, this… wasn’t the life your mother and I envisioned.”
My head turned toward him. “Foundme?”
He clicked his tongue and urged the horses faster. For a long moment, he said nothing—just silence and hooves beating against the road like a ticking clock.
Finally, he spoke. “My beloved daughter… you’re adopted.”
The world shifted beneath me.
“Your mother and I were walking in the park, years ago. We found you nestled in a basket beneath a tree. There was a note pleading that whoever found you, care for you. We had tried… and failed… for years to conceive. So, we brought you home.”
My breath caught. “You… found me?”
He nodded, eyes still fixed ahead. “We gave your dagger to Giovanni. He told us you were a Timeborne. Not from this time. You were brought here through adoption—placed with us for reasons we still don’t fully understand.”
My hands trembled in my lap.
“A dagger?” I whispered. “Timeborne? What does that even mean?”
Papa swallowed hard. The only sound was the rhythmic clatter of hooves on the dusty road for a long time. Then, as we rounded a bend in the countryside, he finally spoke.
His voice was soft. Gentle. Too gentle.
“It means, my dear… that you can travel through time.”
I turned to him, my breath caught in my throat.
“You were born with a mystical dagger at your side. We found it in the basket with you. We gave it to Giovanni, our most trusted friend. He’s the one who told us what you are—a Timeborne.Wedidn’t want to tell you until you were ready. But now… you’re here. And the time has come.”
I sat motionless, the wind tugging at my hat, the countryside blurring past.
Time travel.
