Lee stepped forward, his face a mixture of sorrow and resolve. He briefly took Mom’s hand. “Your mother turning up after all these years... It shocked me as much as it has you. I was aware of the Timehunters, always cautious, always hiding our abilities to ensure they would never find us. I never for a moment thought they would have captured her.”
He glanced at my mother, a silent understanding passing between them. “When I found her, broken yet defiant, the only way I could protect her was through Mathias.”
I sat back, the pieces of this twisted puzzle refusing to fit together—my mother, a prisoner turned fugitive, Lee, a childhood ally turned protector, and Mathias, an enigmatic figure whose role in this web of secrets was still unclear. The room spun around me, a carousel of truths and lies, and at its center stood Salvatore—the Shadow Lord who claimed dominion over time itself.
Golden light cascaded from above, scattering luminous patterns that danced across the dining room table. The tension was nearly tangible in the lavish space, wrapping around me like the cool Welsh mist outside the estate.
“How did you know Mathias?” I asked, my voice barely rising above a whisper, an anxious tremor betraying the semblance of calm I fought to maintain.
Lee’s face was shadowed, and his eyes flitted to the gilded cornices as if seeking guidance from the ornate decor.
“He came to me when you were young,” he said, his tone laced with a reluctance that seemed to age him further. “When Alina... When we thought she had died, Mathias showed up out of nowhere. He claimed he was Alina’s father and wanted to be part of your life. He watched you from afar, never intruding too close. We kept in touch, but nothing serious.”
“Did my papa know Mathias?” I pressed, my pulse quickening at the thought of my father being ensnared in this web of deceit.
“No, he didn’t.” Lee shook his head, his jaw tightening. “We had to protect your father from the truth. The risk was too great, and the less he knew, the safer he would be.”
He took a slow breath. “When Alina returned, we needed a solid plan to defeat Balthazar. First, we deal with that asshole. The rest shall follow.”
The revelations settled upon my shoulders like the heavy velvet drapes adorned the tall windows. I was enveloped by the lore of my lineage, a narrative I could never have imagined to be so intricately woven into the fabric of darkness we all now sought to unravel.
The tension in the room wound tighter as Mathias, his eyes reflecting the soft glow of the chandelier above, leaned forward to address the growing list of questions that hung heavy in the air. Though laced with a certain weariness, his voice carried an undeniable authority that commanded attention.
“I contacted Malik,” he said, the name dropping like a stone into still water, “and together we secured Balthazar’s dagger. It was imperative to weaken him—to ensure your mother’s safety.”
A shiver ran down my spine at the mention of the weapon tied so closely to our family’s turmoil. Resolve etched into Mathias’ features, a manifestation of years spent plotting.
“Your mother is an expert in excavation,” he said. “She’s essential in helping us locate the moon dagger and ultimately defeating Balthazar.”
He tapped lightly on the walnut table, betraying a hint of impatience or perhaps anxiety. It wasn’t easy to discern.
“All I ever wanted,” he said, the words escaping him like a sigh, “was to be reunited with my family. To be reunited with you, Olivia, and Emily.”
His sentiment echoed through the lavish dining room, bouncing off the gilded frames of portraits that watched over us—silent guardians of a legacy fraught with secrets. The notion of family, once a simple concept, now seemed like a puzzle where pieces kept appearing and disappearing at will.
“My father doesn’t know that Alina is alive?” I asked, the words tasting bitter on my tongue. The thought of him being kept in the dark twisted something deep inside me.
Mathias regarded me with a look that seemed to carry the weight of untold stories. The shadows in his eyes betrayed the turmoil that must have been boiling beneath his composed exterior.
“Your father…” His voice caught in his throat, and he gazed at the floor momentarily before regaining his composure. With a deep breath, he shifted the topic to our current predicament, skillfully avoiding my question about my father’s involvement.
I clutched my hands together, striving to quiet the turmoil inside.
“Honey, but you must know Salvatore is hunting you,” Mom said with certainty.
“Now that Balthazar is locked up, I have someone else after me,” I murmured, trying to piece together the fragments of this twisted narrative. “Salvatore,” I repeated, the name tasting like poison on my tongue. The Shadow Lord. The one who claims to have created the Timebornes, who commands the Timehunters with an iron grip. A man who bends time to his will, shrouded in secrecy and fear. My pulse hammered. And now he was after me.
The question hung between us, tinged with disbelief and a creeping dread that had begun to take root.
Lee’s face softened, empathy etching lines into his weathered features. The silence stretched taut, a fragile thing ready to snap under the weight of unspoken truths and revelations yet to come.
Mathias’ eyes were like dark stones as he leaned back in his chair, a false veneer of ignorance playing across his face. “He’s after the sun and moon daggers mostly. But you have become his target since you possess one of the blades and are looking for the next blade.”
“What I want to know is why are all these people after these blades? Balthazar, Raul, his men, and now this Salvatore person?” My voice was steady, but my heart raced with fear and curiosity. “I heard these blades can make the world dark and vicious. I’ve heard they can destroy all darkness and cure it from killing daily.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to discern the truth. “But a part of me thinks that there is something more powerful about these blades that no one is telling us.”
Mathias met my gaze, his expression unreadable. “I don’t know much about these blades.”
