Zara let out a feral war cry and plunged her blade into another, her eyes blazing.
Then, a shadow passed through the firelight.
A towering figure emerged from the doorway of our fiery home.
Chronosbane.
His grin was carved from ice and cruelty. And in his arms was one of my daughters.
Dead.
He strode forward, smoke curling behind him like a cloak, and dropped Tove at my feet as if she were nothing.
My breath caught.
My world stopped.
And everything inside me erupted into ash and fury.
Horrified, I dropped to my knees. My arms shook as I gathered my daughter’s lifeless body to my chest. A guttural sound tore from my throat, raw and primal. Hot tears streamed down my face, mingling with the soot and sweat, as rage surged through me, thick and molten, flooding my veins until I burned with it.
“My Tove…” I whispered into her hair, her warmth already fading. I laid her gently behind me, out of the monster’s sight, shielding her from his cruel gaze. With trembling fingers, I brushed her eyelids closed. “May Folkvangr welcome you into her arms.”
Then I rose, fury a storm within me.
I turned to face him—the self-proclaimed Timehunter, the murderer standing amidst the ruin of my life.
“I’ve heard the tales,” I snarled. “Of your deeds—cruel, vile, depraved. You wear them like armor. You slaughter the innocent like vermin, possessed by some twisted force that whispers deathinto your ears. I’ve watched you butcher soldiers as if they were ants beneath your boot.”
Chronosbane sneered. “And I’ve watchedyou, Balthazar. You and your precious wife—monsters in human skin. Feeding on the souls of innocents to prolong your corrupted lives.”
His lips curled, baring dagger-like teeth that gleamed in the firelight. “We are your reckoning. We are the Timehunters. And your children? They are Timebounds. That makes them our prey.”
He raised a gleaming blade above his head, poised to strike.
But I was faster.
With a roar, I drove my dagger into his gut, burying it to the hilt. I twisted hard.
He gasped, mouth falling open in shock. Blood spilled from his lips as his insides poured from the ragged wound. He fell to his knees, eyes wide with disbelief, and four of my daughters’ necklaces slipped from his grasp, clattering to the earth like a death knell.
“No!” I choked, diving forward to scoop the necklaces into my hands.
I turned and tore into the burning wreckage, clutching them against my chest like a prayer—like a promise I still hoped I could keep.
Inside, smoke filled my lungs and stung my eyes. I stumbled over fallen timber and the smoldering remains of our home—our life. Flames licked at the walls. Ash drifted like snowfall through the ruined space. And then I saw them.
In the far corner, curled together as if in sleep, lay the charred remains of three of my daughters.
“My children!” I screamed, the sound wretched, ripped straight from the core of my soul. “No! No—please!”
I fell to my knees, the heat blistering my skin as I crouched before them. With shaking hands, I matched each necklace to its rightful owner.
“This one is Tove’s,” I whispered. “I’ll return it to her when I’m back at her side. This is Revna’s… Astrid… Meya…”
I placed the necklaces gently upon their blackened chests, my lips moving in trembling murmurs, whispering prayers to Folkvangr—May the goddess receive you, may she cradle you in peace—as I closed their eyes with shaking thumbs.
Then I shot to my feet, lungs scorching with smoke and anguish.
