“Mathias, no!” I screamed.
From the corner of the dank cell, a guttural howl erupted as Balthazar writhed in agony, the poison seeping through invisible vents and enveloping him in its deathly embrace. Malik and Roman, their faces etched with horror and disbelief, rushed toward us, but they were too late to stop the vile act.
“Shut off the poison!” My voice broke, the words barely escaping through the lump in my throat. When no one moved, I looked for the source. A dull, iron handle protruded from the wall to Balthazar’s cell. I lunged toward it and cranked it off.
Mathias turned to me, his eyes unnervingly calm amidst the chaos.
“He’s telling his ridiculous tales, and they need to stop,” he said, his voice steady, soothing in its madness. The sickening click of the handle still echoed in my ears. “All this crazy talk. Calling you ‘your majesty.’ He’s telling you lies. He wants you to feel sorry for him.”
My gaze flicked back to Balthazar, who now clutched the severed head—Tristan’s—his tears mixing with bloodstains.
“Why did you behead Tristan?” I asked, trying to keep my voice level, not to let it tremble with fury and fear.
“You and Emily were in danger,” Mathias replied, speaking as if explaining something trivial, like why the sky was blue. “He wouldn’t listen. He put you through hell. I wanted to protect you and your unborn child.”
His words were meant to be comforting, but they felt like daggers, each stabbing deeper than the last.
I rolled my eyes, unable to hold back my contempt.Can this moment get any weirder?A carousel of doubts and truths spun wildly inside my mind, each more grotesque and nightmarish than the last.
The metallic tang of blood and poison sat heavy on my tongue. Alina’s entrance was like a match struck in a room doused in gasoline. She sauntered in, her eyes alight with the fire of triumph, her stride confident and mocking.
Still reeling from the venom that pulsed through his veins, Balthazar fixed her with a glare that could have melted steel.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the serpent herself,” he said, his voice laced with contempt and pain.
“In the end, you lost; I won,” Alina said with a sneer as she took in Balthazar’s haggard form, trapped behind bars. “You’re caged like an animal.”
His bitter and hoarse laughter filled the space between us. The sound was jarring, a symphony of agony as the belladonna seeped into every crevice of his cell, into his very pores.
“Everyone in this room, especially your daughter and Malik, should know who you are,” he spat the words, disgust curling through his voice.
“Let’s start with the fake journal you created, painting a picture of our toxic relationship. Claiming I killed your family. But everyone should know it was you. You threw yourself at me.”
He leaned in closer, his eyes blazing with anger. “And then there’s the night of the incident. You started to play with yourself in front of your dead sister, fingering yourself and begging me to fuck you like an animal.”
Alina’s face contorted with rage.
“You never wrote about how you poisoned my mind against Malik, weaving lies until I was convinced he was plotting against me. You craved all the power and sought to eliminate anyone who stood in your way.” His voice shook with anger and sorrow. “And what of Layla? You disfigured her and crushed her soul without a second thought. Then you ran to Raul with your whoring?—”
“It was you who fucking killed Layla?” The words erupted from Malik like a volcano, raw and destructive. He was upon Alina in two strides, hands closing around her delicate neck with the strength of unleashed fury.
“Malik, stop!” I cried out, frozen in horror.
Roman threw himself at Malik, desperately trying to unfurl his fingers from Alina’s throat.
“Get your filthy fucking hands off my daughter!” Mathias bellowed, shoving Roman aside. He slammed Malik against the glass wall with enough force to shudder through the room. My mother staggered to the side, clutching her neck, while Malik’s chest heaved with suppressed violence.
“Enough!” Mathias’ command cut through the chaos, but Malik was already storming away, and the echo of his footfalls was a thunderous reminder of the dangerous undercurrents swirling among us.
Mathias turned his cold gaze back to Balthazar, his voice icy with finality. “Enough with your lies, Balthazar, about Alina. Game over. You lost. You’ll be gone once Olivia and Roman find the moon dagger.”
He swiveled toward me, his expression softening into a fatherly concern that didn’t reach his eyes. “Come, Olivia. Roman and Alina, let’s go. There’s nothing to see here.”
I squared my shoulders, defiance blooming within me. “I’m not a child, Mathias. If I want to stay, I will.”
This was my stand, my moment to assert my right to seek the truth amidst the web of deceit.
My mother stepped forward, her face a mask of maternal worry, yet it did little to hide the steel in her voice.
