Prologue

Twenty years earlier

They were the beginning of this city's downfall, gathered as pre-damaged students, bound together by tragedy. At least that's what they thought.

"Why exactly are we here again?" the dark-blond young man asked from the end of the dark mahogany table. He was no longer comfortable sitting with the Quatura . And then, too, in the Senseque estate.

All the furniture was in that gloomy hunting style. In addition, there were floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the lush main grounds, and above the fireplace were the old antlers - hunting trophies from times gone by.

He never thought he would end up here. Everything had changed within a year and he himself didn't even know to what extent he had anything to do with it.

Like many times before, the young man felt a strange shadow on the back of his neck, but he resisted the urge to look out of one of the windows because he knew there was nothing there.

"You're still asking that?" Amanda snapped at him, upset.

He winced, though he wasn't even startled. It was a habit to react humanly.

"I'm afraid his question is justified, Amanda!" Alarik, the curly- brown-haired young man, growled, visibly upset.

He had just as little desire to be with these people in his family's home as they did. But their usual meeting place would not work this time.

"I'd also like to know why I have to waste my precious time with you!" he continued as if he hated the others, which he didn't...

The dark blond man, still sitting relatively unconcerned at the other end of the table, almost narrowed his brows but managed to restrain himself, just as he had learned.

He would never forget his training. The training that he had otherwise so despised and now appreciated more than the other students sitting opposite him.

How much he despised them these days. Every single one of them. Yesterday, friends; today, strangers. That had not been her intention, not at all. If she saw this, she would be bitterly disappointed. He had known that this would go wrong at some point, but she had been so determined that she had managed to convince even him .

"Because of you idiots, one of us lost her life!"

Amanda's anger was unmistakable.

The blond bit his tongue. Only it wasn't his tongue that hurt the most.

Of course, he hadn't forgotten. He never would. And yet, it hit him like a punch to have to think about her again.

A whole damn year had already passed since that day, but to him, it felt like it was only yesterday. Some of them had already started a family…

He looked up at Diana, but she immediately avoided his probing gaze. As always, when it came to her. Ever since that damned day when everything had changed.

"Anyway..." Amanda continued disapprovingly, and for a moment, the blond man recognized her mother in her. "I drew up these documents here."

She slid a stack of folders across the large dining room table.

If anyone made any documents, it was her.

"And what do we need these for?" Alarik asked, confused.

"Reading!" Amanda ordered harshly.

The blond man didn't have to grin to himself this time because the fact of how much she resembled her mother destroyed all doubts about what they really were.

They were each their parents' children, members of feuding families. And each one of them had the task of fitting into the gap created for them. It was precisely this thought that bothered him so much. Because that was exactly what would never happen. That was exactly why he had believed her . But she was the only one, almost the only one, who was not present today.

"You've got to be kidding me," Graham, who had taken a seat next to Alarik, snapped.

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

Amanda's voice sounded even more threatening than before. Almost as if she had some fears gnawing at her so much that she had to get all this paperwork over with.

In fact, it was like that. As soon as they had all signed, they would go their separate ways, like the old treaties of their ancestors had been intended to do.

But what was she afraid of now ?

This time Amara Blair , sitting next to her younger sister, Margot, also looked irritated, owing to the sheet of paper in her hands.

"Aren't you overdoing it a little, Amanda?"

Amanda looked down at her coolly. Her ice-blue eyes emphasized the whole spectacle.

"Believe me, when I'm done with this, I want to be able to forget all about it as soon as possible. And the only way I can do that is if no one present here ever says a single word about it again."

She looked at each of them as if they were all slow on the uptake. She paused briefly at Alarik and became more insistent.

"Not a single word! Not to our parents, children, or anyone else!" she finally continued, pushing black pens at each of them. The clatter ran through them all, cutting the dangerous silence. "Because anything that ever gets out in the public could endanger everyone here, don't forget that..."

"We shouldn't even be sitting here together!" Amara Blair hissed, dutiful as she had always been. Ever since her younger sister had died, in fact. Not like the one sitting next to her. Young and innocent, not even sixteen yet, and only here by an unfortunate coincidence.

"So what? This will be the last time anyway!" Amanda blubbered as if her patience would snap at any moment.

"Besides, this is clear proof that our families just don't belong together," Diana remarked.

Actually, she was rather reticent on this subject. But at that moment, she was voicing precisely what had been hanging over every room they had entered together for months. And she was undoubtedly one of the last from whom he would have expected such a statement.

"Our species...?" Alarik echoed, flicking through the document as if it were his death sentence.

"You haven't misread, mutt!"

The blond young man had almost forgotten about his blood brother, who was not only sitting next to him, bored and apparently twiddling his thumbs the whole time, but also had the looser mouth of the two of them. His brother shouldn't be here, but unfortunately, he had found out too much. Him , of all people!

"What did you just say?"

Alarik immediately jumped up and glared menacingly at the boy. His yellow-bright eyes and prominent veins were hard to miss. They had been coming out more and more in the last few months.

"I said you idiots were incapable of getting a grip on anything."

His brother hadn't, but it was enough to infuriate Alarik even more.

"Look at yourselves. You're wasting away out there in your fairytale castle making shady deals with some mass murderers!"

For the first time, Alarik uttered a word about the brothers' family. Something negative. And then about him , his former best friend.

He , still sitting relatively uninvolved at the other end of the table, became aware of so much at that moment. Countless days, weeks, even years he had spent with these people. And he realized that he still didn't know them.

Out of nowhere, his brother jumped up angrily, as always, not in control of his emotions. Just as they had not learned to do.

"Watch your tongue!"

"That's what separates us from you!" Amanda interjected again, her tone condescending.

"Oh, shut your loose mouth, Westcode witch. You're no better yourself!" his brother growled.

Amanda's jaw dropped. However, she quickly regained her composure. Faster than the boy, whom the blond now pulled back into the chair. But he jerkily snatched his arm away.

"The Senseque have destroyed everything. Every possibility of conducting business and managing this city decently!" he continued angrily, and a reddish flicker flitted through his irises.

The blond has had enough. Of his own family.

"I don't like your tone!" he pressed out.

"You come between me and them now, brother?!"

"Guys! Stop it!" Amara admonished loudly. "You sign those damn contracts now, and then we'll get out of here!"

The brothers didn't like being ordered around, but that wasn't the matter now. His little brother understood that, too, as he remained quiet.

"If you leave this building today, new rules will apply. You must realize that."

Amanda looked at each of them. They all nodded silently.

He was still sitting there watching them all, listening to Amanda but not really able to concentrate on her voice.

His thoughts were all about her - only about her. They would always revolve around her . For a moment, he wished he hadn't met her because then he wouldn't be sitting here now. But he had met her, and she had opened up a whole new world to him.

When Amanda finished, each of them picked up the pen, including him.

He watched as the black ink stretched across the page.

It had all started with a signature and now it would end with one.

At least that's what they thought…

?Family, they said. A time bomb, they created."