I didn’t know who he truly was.
Worse—I didn’t know whoIwas.
Something inside me had awakened, and it wasn’t just lust or rebellion.
It was darkness.
Something lurking in the pit of my soul, hungry, whispering.
I didn’t want to believe my father could hold answers. But if Signor Zampa knew the truth… if he could explain the shadows inside me, the pull I felt toward death, desire, and domination—then I had no choice.
At first light, I would go.
I would discover what they’d kept from me.
I would find out who I was.
And then—only then—would I decide what to do with the monster that loved me… and the one that lived inside me.
Chapter 10
Alina
Istood before Giovanni Zampa’s house—a tall, imposing structure that seemed to loom over the narrow street, casting shadows that clung even in the earliest light. Dawn had just begun to stir, its first strokes of pink and gold brushing the dark sky like a painter at work.
Before I could even raise my hand to knock, the heavy wooden door creaked open.
A man stood in the doorway—small and wizened, radiating quiet authority. His inquisitive eyes studied me, brows lifted in silent question.
I hesitated, then stepped forward. “Mi scusi… I’m looking for Signor Giovanni Zampa?”
His gaze sharpened. “Who’s asking?”
“My father sent me,” I said quickly, breathless. “He said you could tell me what a Timeborne is.”
His expression darkened. “Not out here,” he hissed, glancing down the street. “Come inside. Quickly.”
He stepped aside, and I slipped past him, my heart fluttering with a mixture of anxiety and expectation. The air inside the house was cool, thick with the scent of ancient books and faint incense. Shadows clung to the corners, and the hallway stretched ahead like a secret waiting to be revealed.
Zampa led me down the corridor and into a dimly lit room at theback of the house. There, resting on an ornately carved table, lay an object that immediately drew my gaze.
A dagger.
Its hilt gleamed with strange metallic patterns, almost alive in the low light, and the blade shimmered faintly with an unnatural sheen.
“This,” he said, hushed, “arrived with you the night you were found. Along with a note. That was all.”
I stepped closer, drawn by the strange energy radiating from the blade. It seemed to hum in the air, brushing against my skin without touch, like it recognized me.
“You are a Timeborne,” he said softly. “One born under a rare celestial alignment. On the night of a full moon, if you speak the sacred words, this dagger will let you travel through time.”
The words felt impossible.
I stared at him, my thoughts crashing into one another like waves in a storm. At first, nothing made sense. I felt untethered, as if I were standing inside a dream, watching myself from somewhere far away. But as the truth settled, it rooted itself in my bones.
A Timeborne.
A time traveler.
