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Chapter 330
Kaelea’s brows drew together in a sharp frown. She waved a dismissive hand, as if brushing away a pesky fly.“Used to be? That’s nonsense. I see the way you look at each other. ‘Used to be’ doesn’t live here.” She gave them both a knowing, stubborn look before turning to head toward the kitchen, likely to give them space. “I’m going to see about some tea. Something fortifying.”Later, in the deep quiet of the middle of the night, Nathan and Natalia found themselves on the villa’s rooftop terrace. The city below was a tapestry of tiny lights, and the sky above was a vast, velvety black scattered with stars. They sat on a wide lounge chair, a comfortable silence between them, but it was a silence filled with unspoken things.Natalia finally turned her head to look at him, her profile outlined by the ambient glow. “Are there any more secrets you’re keeping from me?” she asked, her voice quiet but direct.He didn’t look away from the horizon. “I’m rich,” he said plainly. “Very. I own the
Chapter 329
Nathan stood in the archway, watching her. And he was smiling. A real, tired-but-genuine smile that lit up his grey-blue eyes.She was on her feet in an instant, the glass forgotten on the table. She crossed the room in a few quick strides and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him fiercely. “You,” she chided into his shoulder, her voice thick with relief and leftover fear. “You didn’t call. You didn’t text. For three days! Do you have any idea how worried I was? How could you be so irresponsible? I thought something terrible had happened, I—”She was rambling, the words tumbling out in a frantic stream until her peripheral vision caught movement. Someone else was there. She let go of Nathan and took a half-step back, her eyes shifting past him.A woman stood a few meters away, near the entrance to the dining room. She was beautiful, with an elegant, serene bearing and kind eyes. And she was smiling softly at them. Natalia looked at her properly, and her breath hitched. The stri
Chapter 328
Taylor lifted her head, tears now spilling over. “I had been so terrible. I completely lost myself because I wanted Nathan. It was so wrong. And now… I’ve lost him. I’ve lost a good friend forever. Because of my own poison.”Natalia stared at her. The confession was shocking, a cold splash of reality. But looking at Taylor’s devastated face, all she felt was a deep, surprising wave of pity. This wasn’t the confident, sharp-tongued woman she’d known. This was a shell.“I am so sorry, Natalia,” Taylor whispered, the words raw. “Truly, from the bottom of whatever’s left of my heart, I am sorry. Can you… when you see him… can you tell Nathan that for me? Tell him I’m sorry for breaking his trust. I don’t expect forgiveness. Just… tell him.”Natalia took a slow breath. “I’ve forgiven you, Taylor. But you should apologize to him yourself.”Taylor shook her head vigorously, fresh tears falling. “I can’t. I’m too embarrassed. I can’t look him in the eye.” She wiped her cheek with the back of
Chapter 327
Nathan didn’t even look at Alaric kneeling in the gravel. He simply walked past him, his focus entirely on the woman struggling to stand. He reached down, his hands gentle but sure, and pulled his mother up to her feet. For a moment, they just looked at each other, his eyes searching her face, hers drinking in the man he had become. Then she let out a choked sob and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him with a strength that belied her long confinement. Over his shoulder, her gaze, filled with a complex mix of sorrow and relief, fell on the desiccated body of Zsiga.“It’s good to have you back, Mother,” Nathan said, his voice muffled against her hair.“Same here, my son,” she whispered, squeezing him tighter, her body trembling. “No one can separate us now. Never again.”“You’re right,” he murmured into her shoulder, holding her as if she might vanish. “No one.”They stood like that for a long time in the quiet courtyard, the hug saying everything words couldn’t—fifteen years of loss
Chapter 326
Just as it seemed Nathan’s calm control would simply smother Zsiga’s frenzy, the old man pulled a fast one. It wasn’t more power, he had none left. It was a trick, a piece of black magic so vile it was less an attack and more a curse. With a final, gasping shriek, he didn’t aim for Nathan’s body, but for the ground beneath his feet.The earth didn’t erupt; it melted. A circle of gravel and dirt turned into a thick, tar-like sludge, snaring Nathan’s boots. Shadowy tendrils, swift as striking snakes, erupted from the muck and wrapped around his legs, his torso, pinning his arms. They were cold, sapping, draining his strength not by force, but by a deep, magical numbness. Nathan grunted, struggling against the binding, but for a crucial second, he was trapped. Zsiga, seizing the moment, gathered the last dregs of his stolen energy and slammed a concussive wave of pure force straight into Nathan’s chest.The blow landed with a sickening thud. It threw Nathan backward, the shadow-bindings
Chapter 325
The air in the hidden room grew colder, thicker. Zsiga stood before the ice coffin, his gnarled hands raised. He chanted words that sounded wrong, guttural, twisting sounds that seemed to snatch the light from the glowing crystals. A dark, inky energy pulsed from his fingertips, crawling over the clear surface of the coffin like searching veins. With a sound like shattering glass, a hairline crack appeared on the seal, and then the entire front of the coffin groaned open, releasing a wave of frost-laden air.Alaric watched, his own breath fogging rapidly. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the woman inside. “Father,” he whispered, his voice hoarse with dread. “Is she… is she really alive?”Zsiga didn’t answer. He was breathing heavily, the use of power visibly draining him. “Stop gawking and get her out,” he commanded, his voice strained. “We leave right away.”Alaric hesitated. He stared at Kaelea’s peaceful, sleeping face. The last time he’d seen her, he’d held a knife. What would
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