Chapter 18 #2
I sat up, intrigued. “Or,” I said, “we go a different route. I knew a man once—Raul Costa. An Italian apothecary from centuries past. His family has perfected the art of poisons for generations. Not just death—they create things that can melt a mind, peel back memory, torment the soul. If I time travel to Raul’s era, I can return with something. .. exquisite.”
Balthazar’s face flushed crimson with rage. “No!” he roared, his voice cracking like thunder through the stone chamber. It reverberated off the walls, swallowing the silence. “I know Costa. He’s a fucking Timehunter. I forbid it. You’re not going anywhere.”
He advanced on me, slow and menacing—his towering form casting a long shadow over mine, like a wrathful god preparing to strike.
“Everyone keeps whispering about these Timehunters,” I snapped, stamping my foot. “Who the hell are they, and why is everyone so terrified of them?”
“They’re a threat to you, Alina,” he said. “They’ll kill you the moment they learn what you are. You’re a Timeborne. To them, that makes you a target.”
I stared at him, unblinking. “But why are you scared of them, Balthazar?”
His eyes narrowed into slits. “Just fucking let me handle my people,” he growled. “I’ll deal with Malik my way.”
My heart hammered in my chest, the tension between us thick and stifling. Sweat clung to my skin, but I refused to flinch. Instead, I glided toward him, hips swaying, masking my frustration with allure.
“Balthazar, my darling…” I murmured, my voice honeyed as I slid my hands across his chest, tracing the lines of muscle with a lover’s touch. My fingers drifted lower, teasing the waistband of his trousers, lingering at the edge of heat and hunger.
He growled and shoved my hands away, turning to leave.
“Listen,” I snapped, grabbing his arm. “Your tortures aren’t working. Malik isn’t breaking. The poison you’re using is weak. Costa’s poison—it’s lethal, untraceable, devastating. It’s the only thing that might work.”
Balthazar turned, his snarl feral. “Don’t you dare try to outmatch me,” he hissed, his eyes burning with warning. “I’ll handle this. You just keep torturing Layla.”
His eyes blazed with fury as he shoved me aside and stormed toward the dungeon.
Moments later, he came stomping back up the stairs, his face a mask of barely restrained rage. “Malik hasn’t weakened. Not even a little,” Balthazar hissed. “He’s too strong.”
“That’s because your poison is pathetic,” I snapped. “It’s not nearly potent enough.”
We exploded into a screaming match, hurling our grievances at each other with the force of weapons. The air between us snapped with fury.
“Then you go to Raul!” I shouted. “You get the poison!”
Balthazar’s face turned crimson. He roared, the sound deafening, echoing off the dungeon walls like thunder meant to break the stone.
“No!” he bellowed, slamming his fist into the wall with enough force to leave cracks in the stone. “You stay here. I’ll find poison elsewhere.”
For days, we subjected Malik and Layla to the worst torments our minds could conjure, and still they endured.
No matter what we did—no matter how we twisted their pain—they did not break.
It was as if they shared a silent vow, unspoken and unshakable, even locked away in separate cells, unable to see or hear one another.
The rage boiling inside me became unbearable. I needed the blades. I had to get my hands on them. The thought of Layla surviving, of Malik defying us, ignited something monstrous in my blood.
Balthazar stalked past me, hand curled tightly around the hilt of his blade. “I’m going after the Sun and Moon Daggers,” he said, his voice cold and final.
My fists clenched. “Then I’m coming with you!”
My voice echoed in the stone chamber, a sharp rebuke to his command. But Balthazar didn’t even flinch.
“You’ll stay here,” he said with steel in his eyes. “Watch the prisoners.”
And just like that, he locked me in my room.
On the night of the full moon.
Alone.
Furious.
I screamed until my throat went raw.
I was apoplectic with rage.
After hours, I finally picked the lock on my bedroom door.
I burst into the hallway, my skin flushed with fury, heart hammering with vengeance.
The thrill of what came next made my breath quicken—every scream I’d rip from Layla’s throat would echo like a hymn.
Each strike would be worse than the last.
My laughter bounced off the stone walls as I creaked open the heavy door to her cell. She lay there, filthy and trembling, her eyes wide with dread.
I grinned. “He can hear you, you know. Malik hears every scream—and still, he doesn’t come. Do you finally understand why?”
“He loves me,” Layla sobbed. “Malik loves me with all his heart!”
“Then I suppose that makes this so much more tragic.”
Time passed like dripping poison. Balthazar didn’t return. And his absence pressed down harder with each hour. My cruelty intensified. I clawed at Layla’s spirit. But the bitch refused to break.
So, I decided.
As soon as the full moon bathed the estate in silver, I was gone—through time, through fury, through the night.
I would return with exactly what we needed.
When Balthazar came back, there would be answers.
And two corpses waiting.
The rush of power was intoxicating.
I raced up the steps of Raul Costa’s estate, my knuckles rapping against the door. It swung open with a creak.
Raul’s eyes widened as he saw me. “Alina!”
He swept me into his arms before I could object. Time had only made him more dangerously beautiful—his chiseled face framed in golden light, his body strong and familiar.
“Where have you been?” he demanded, eyes narrowing. “You vanished after your family was slaughtered.”
I dropped my gaze, letting just the right meekness enter my voice. “I had to disappear. To survive. I’ve been grieving… hiding. But now, I need you.”
His grip on my arms tightened protectively. “You know I would do anything for you.” He cupped my face in his hands, searching my eyes. “Tell me what you need.”
My heartbeat thundered in my chest. “I’m in danger, Raul. Real danger. Balthazar and Malik—they’re going to kill me. I need your strongest poison. I need to destroy them before they destroy me.”
At the mention of Balthazar’s name, Raul’s entire demeanor shifted. His expression froze. The blood drained from his face.
“So, it’s true,” he whispered, stepping back. “You’ve been in league with him. I heard rumors… that you and Lord Balthazar were lovers. And now, you come crawling to me for help?”
He turned his back on me, voice cold as steel. “I’m afraid I can’t offer you anything.”
Panic flared. I rushed forward, grabbing his arm with desperation.
“Raul, please!” I cried, my eyes brimming with tears, forced into being. You’re the only one who can help me. I’m begging you!”
He looked down at my hand on his arm with disgust, as if I’d infected him. “Let go of me, witch. If Balthazar is part of this, you don’t need an apothecary. You need a holy man.”
“Who then?” I whispered, breathless. “Who can help me?”
His eyes locked onto mine, burning with suspicion. “Perhaps a priest. Someone to cleanse you. Because, Alina, you’ve made a pact with the Devil himself.”
Desperation surged through me like wildfire.
I dropped to my knees, clutching the tops of Raul’s boots with trembling hands.
“You don’t understand,” I gasped. “Living with Balthazar is torment. I fake love for him to survive. He’s a monster, Raul.
He suffocates me. And now Malik—another creature of darkness—wants to possess me, too.
I can’t take it anymore. I need to be free. Please… please have mercy.”
For a beat, Raul stood frozen. Then something flickered in his eyes—something darker than pity or compassion.
“Alina,” he growled, seizing my arm in a bruising grip that made me cry out. “Stop this madness.” He yanked me to my feet, and I stumbled, unsteady.
Before I could protest, he pulled me into a suffocating embrace, his breath hot against my ear. “There, there,” he crooned, eerily tender. “I’m sorry I doubted you. I can see now—you live in hell.”
He leaned back and smiled, his eyes glittering with calculation. “You’ve come to the right man. I belong to a secret order—Timehunters. We exist to destroy darkness. To kill Timebornes. And I have exactly what you need to weaken them both.”
Relief collided with dread inside me. His generosity was too neat. Too easy.
“You… you will?” I whispered, searching his face.
“Oh yes,” he said with a flash of teeth. “But it will come at a price.”
“Anything you want,” I said quickly, the words tumbling from my lips like a lifeline. “Just name it.”
Raul chuckled darkly. “Careful what you promise. I intend to collect.”
I hesitated. Balthazar’s threat rang in my ears like a war drum—If you ever open your legs to another, I will kill you.
But then I remembered the gleam in Balthazar’s eyes when he locked me in that godforsaken room before running off on his own.
Try it, my lord, I thought. Try to murder me.
“If it’s sex you want,” I whispered, stepping closer, “I shall accommodate you.”
Raul’s eyes darkened—not with desire, but something colder, more cutting.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” he said disdainfully. “I have a wife. A son of sixteen. What kind of respectable man would I be if I betrayed them for a whore of shadows?”
I froze, then began to circle him, each step feline. Dangerous.
“You, my sweet,” I purred, “were never anything close to respectable. Not as I remember.”
I brushed my hand across the front of his trousers, delighting at the rigid heat I found there.
“Or is this merely hot iron,” I whispered, “left there by the blacksmith’s hand for safekeeping?”
He seized my wrist, halting my touch—but not before a dark, husky laugh rumbled from his chest.
“What a wicked spell you weave, my venomous snake.”
“Let me keep weaving,” I murmured, “and you’ll forget you ever doubted me.”
With a furtive glance over his shoulder, Raul dragged me into the barn.