Each step carried me closer to the cottage.
Closer to the flower.
Closer to her.
The night air was crisp, coiling around me like an omen.Above, the stars watched, indifferent to the sins unfolding beneath them.
The cottage stood ahead, bathed in pale moonlight, its edges softened by shadows.The damp earth swallowed the sound of my approach, my movements as silent as the secrets that lingered in the air.
Through the window, I saw her.
Elizabeth.
She moved with a fluid grace, her hands gliding over vials and beakers with effortless meticulousness.
A siren among potions.
And for a fleeting moment, I was merely a man ensnared by her beauty.
But time was a unyielding master.
And I was no fool.
Without hesitation, I burst through the door.
The impact shattered the stillness, sending a jolt of surprise through her slender frame.A gasp escaped her lips, and a vial slipped from her fingers, shattering against the wood floor in a cascade of glittering fragments.
She whipped around, wide-eyed, her chest rising and falling in quick succession.
“Oh, Lord Hassan, you frightened me.”
Her voice trembled, betraying the force of her surprise.
“How did you find this place?”
I stepped forward, with quiet dominance.
“Your father told me,” I said smoothly, my gaze flicking over the room, searching—hunting.
Where was it?
The Noctyss.
I let my eyes linger on her, feigning curiosity as my hands grazed over the cluttered wooden worktables.
“So, I see you’re still going to join the society,” I mused, tilting my head slightly as if amused by her reckless ambition.“Still determined to become an alchemist.”
Her chin lifted in a silent challenge—defiance woven into elegance.
But I was already moving, prowling through the space like a hunter in a gilded cage.The room was a maze of glass and shadow, the air thick with the scent of herbs and something darker—something more potent.
And then?—
There it was.
The Noctyss.
Sealed in a glass container, resting among an array of innocuous flora.Untouched from the last time I’d seen it.Unassuming.Deadly.
