Page 19 of Sweet Venom Of Time (Blade of Shadows #6)

I rolled my hips into her again, and she whimpered, a sound so soft yet so utterly undone that it nearly drove me to madness. She pressed against me, her body arching, her breath coming in ragged little gasps that shattered what little control I had left.

She was ruining me.

I was losing myself.

The world beyond these walls no longer existed—only her lips, her body, the way she melted into me, offering herself completely.

With every desperate kiss and touch, I felt the last remnants of my restraint slipping away.

It became harder to remember why we shouldn’t be doing this—why I should push her away and return to the shadows where I belonged.

My senses reeled as I tore myself from her, gasping, burning; the intoxicating swirl of her scent and the softness of her lips seared into my memory like a brand.

The room was suddenly too small, the air too thick with desire, with longing, with something I could not afford to name.

I couldn’t yield to this.

Not when so much was at stake.

“Why did you stop?”

Her voice cracked, a fragile whisper that threatened to break me completely.

I squeezed my eyes shut, fists clenched, fighting the aching need to take her back into my arms.

“Because I am a monster,” I said, the words like ash on my tongue. “Just like Winston. Just like your father and the men who serve him. You should stay away from me.”

It was a plea. A command. A desperate, final attempt to save her from the darkness that clung to my very bones.

“No, no, no!” Her voice rose, trembling, frantic. “You can’t be like them. Please, you’re just saying that!”

Tears streaked down her cheeks, hot and unchecked, and her pain slashed through me—a knife twisting deep into a wound I had long since stopped feeling.

“You don’t know me, Elizabeth.” My voice was frayed—callous and cracked. “You don’t know what I’m capable of.”

I turned away, fists flexing, muscles coiled so tight they might snap.

“Leave now. Before it’s too late.”

The beast within me howled, clawing, fighting, screaming to take her back, claim her, lose myself in her warmth, touch, and undeniable need for me.

But I knew the truth.

I knew the darkness that lurked beneath my skin.

I had seen what men like me could do—what I had done. What I could become.

A maggot-infested man.

A devourer of souls.

“I don’t care what you’ve done, Amir.”

Her voice trembled as she came in front of me, but her gaze held mine—raw, unwavering.

“I don’t believe you’re a monster.”

Her words stung, cutting deeper than any blade, cracking something inside me that I had long thought dead.

I clenched my fists, forcing my breath to steady, forcing my heart to turn to stone.

“Go… Elizabeth… leave this place now before I corrupt your soul.”

The rejection tore me apart, a death sentence to my own heart—but it was for her good.

A muscle ticked in her jaw, her lips parting as if to fight back, challenge me, and force me to see what she saw. But then, something shifted.

The fire ignited in her eyes, the kind that could forge a new path or burn everything to the ground.

“Fine! I’ll figure this out on my own.”

Without another word, she spun on her heel, the skirts of her dress whipping around her as she vanished through the door. Her footsteps echoed down the corridor, a slow, devastating unraveling of my world. And I let her go.

The moment the door slammed behind her, the weight of my choice crushed me.

I sank against the wall, my chest heaving, my hands shaking as if the ghost of her touch still lingered on my skin.

I had done the right thing.

I had to believe that.

But every instinct inside me howled to chase after her, to beg for her forgiveness, to fall to my knees and tell her that I needed her more than I needed my next breath.

A sudden knock at the door jarred me from my despair.

My pulse lurched.

Elizabeth?

Had she come back? Had she seen through my desperate attempt to push her away? Had she returned to fight for me and plead for my aid again?

I rushed forward, heart hammering, hands already reaching for the handle, ready to cast aside everything if it meant I could have her back, if I could claim the sliver of hope that she might still want me.

But as the door swung open?—

It wasn’t Elizabeth standing before me.

It was Balthazar.

I froze, shock locking me in place.

The last time I had seen him was amid flames and screams—when Mathias’ school was reduced to ashes.

And now, standing in my doorway, he was a storm brewing on the horizon, dark and unrelenting.

“Amir,” he said, his voice carrying an ominous weight that filled the threshold, suffocating in intensity.

I was utterly unprepared for this ghost from my past to appear at such a moment.

Before I could react, Balthazar shoved past me, his hulking form moving into the dimly lit foyer with the confidence of a man who feared nothing—not consequences, not me.

His sneer was a familiar poison, twisting his lips into something cruel, something vile.

“Well, well, well,” he taunted, his voice thick with mockery, his eyes gleaming with something far more dangerous than amusement. “Is it possible you’ve stumbled upon love at last?”

My jaw clenched.

“That woman who just fled your home… she’s alluring in a way that stirs a craving for mischief.” He smirked, his words slithering like a serpent coiling around my throat. “She resembles an apple, ripe for the picking. Tempting me to take a bite as well.”

The disgust that filled me was instant, raw, and all-consuming. My fists curled, rage thrumming through my veins like an untamed beast ready to strike.

“Stay away from Elizabeth. Leave her alone!”

The words roared from my throat, bouncing off the high ceilings and shaking the house’s very walls.

Balthazar only laughed, a jagged, grating sound that clawed at the edges of my sanity.

But then, as quickly as it had come, his mirth vanished, his gaze locking onto mine with a cold, devastating intensity.

“I should kill the bitch the same way you took the school from me,” he sneered, his voice laced with venom.

I felt something snap inside me.

“I had intricate intentions for that school—dreams etched into every stone, every corridor!” His voice rose, filled with a force just as dangerous as rage—obsession.

“You were well aware of my vision! And yet, you burned it to the ground with flames of betrayal. I found not even a whisper in the ashes of what was once mine. My aspirations, my legacy, reduced to cinders!”

The fury in his voice was absolute, a force that vibrated through the air.

I stepped closer, the heat of my rage matching his, threatening to consume me whole.

“Balthazar shut the fuck up!” I snarled, my breath coming in ragged bursts. “How could you want that school?”

My control was fraying, the beast inside me rattling its cage.

“Mathias was despicable,” I spat, my hands trembling as I fought to hold myself back. “Transforming his school to suit your purposes wouldn’t have given you the satisfaction you wanted.”

His smirk twisted into a snarl, lips curling back to reveal too-white teeth, sharp with malice. His eyes simmered with something feral, something sick.

“Oh, but it would have!” he hissed, each word dripping venom. “You took that from me. You think you won, don’t you? But guess what?”

He leaned in, his breath hot with cruelty.

“I found Mathias’ daughter, Alina.”

A slow, deliberate pause.

“And I didn’t just fuck her once.”

My stomach turned, but he wasn’t finished.

“I took her over and over again until she was nothing but a mindless shell.”

The sickening glee in his voice sent ice through my veins. He relished it, drank in his own horror, and made like a man starving for wickedness.

A hollow, humorless laugh tore from my throat, dripping with bitter disbelief.

“You are beyond foolish, Balthazar.” My voice was honed to a lethal edge, slicing through the thick, rotting air between us.

“How can you betray everything we stand for by crawling into bed with the enemy’s daughter?

You claim to be different from Mathias, but your actions scream otherwise.

You were supposed to destroy his legacy, and instead, you fucked his daughter, and what—thought that would make her yours forever? ”

His nostrils flared, a muscle jumping in his jaw, but I wasn’t done.

“Are you so deluded to think that fucking her would make him suffer? Mathias wouldn’t have cared. Not one fucking bit. You didn’t ruin him, Balthazar—you became him.”

The air between us crackled.

In a blink, his hand shot out, slamming into my chest, shoving me back hard against the cold marble of the fireplace.

The impact sent pain ricocheting down my spine, but I barely felt it—because his next words detonated like a bomb between us.

“I’m going to kill your beautiful Elizabeth.”

And just like that—humanity shattered.

We became monsters.

A snarl ripped from my throat, deep and guttural, as my body shifted, bones elongating, skin stretching as darkness consumed me.

Balthazar mirrored the change, his form warping, his frame growing broader, more monstrous, eyes flaming red like a beast starved for blood.

We circled each other, muscles coiled, jaws clenched, the room shrinking under the weight of our rage.

“You dare put a hand on her,” I growled, voice now a low, guttural warning—a death sentence hanging between us.

I felt the poison surge beneath my skin, black and deadly, itching to be unleashed.

“And I will send you to a place worse than hell.”

I stepped closer, slow, restrained, the air thick with the scent of war.

“I will use poison so dark your skin will melt from your bones.”

Balthazar lunged first, and I met him with equal fury.

We collided, claws and wrath entwined, our monstrous forms tearing into each other with a force that shook the foundation beneath us. Teeth bared, talons slicing through flesh, the room became a blur of snarls and shadows, of unrelenting violence born from centuries of hate.

His roar shook the air, a sound laced with unbridled rage—one that threatened to consume everything.

“You dare threaten me, Amir?” His voice was a growl, his breath hot with venom.

His claws raked across my ribs, but I barely felt it.

The raw power surging through me made me stronger, made me faster.

I forced him back, slamming him into the wall with a thunderous crack, but he only laughed—that cruel, jagged sound of a man who relished the fight.

His eyes burned into mine, an inferno of unholy hatred.

“If you ever cross me again, I will make sure Elizabeth suffers a slow and agonizing death at my hands!”

The words hit me in the chest—swift, merciless, and unrelenting.

A snarl ripped from my throat, my claws tightening around his neck, ready to end him?—

But in an instant, he was gone.

Vanishing in a thick, sulfurous cloud of smoke.

I stood there for a single heartbeat, my breath ragged, my pulse hammering, the room still vibrating with the violence we had unleashed.

But then—Elizabeth.

A new kind of terror seized me that had nothing to do with Balthazar or the monster I had just battled.

I spun, bolting for the door, my body shifting back as I ran into the descending twilight.

She was out there, alone, unprotected.

And men like us—monsters like him—were always waiting in the dark.

I had to find her.

Before he did.