Balam: Virgo the Pure (Trials of the Zodiac Book 2)

DEBTS GONE UNPAID

ZAKHAR

The way Balam looked down at me stopped me in my tracks. He was as beautiful as the first time we had met. His brown eyes were now a vibrant golden hue. He squinted those tawny eyes at me as I raised my hands and swam backward to show Balam that I wouldn't harm him. He only gave me a few moments of contemplation before he looked disappointed as he did a backflip out of sight. Balam looked angelic under the sunlight. I wanted to run my fingers through his curls that had grown since I had last seen him.

Beyond his captivating exterior, an undeniable air of danger surrounded him. He wielded his scythe with remarkable expertise, the weapon tracing blinding arcs through the air as he moved it with fluid precision around his body. Balam was not just aesthetically pleasing; he was a formidable warrior, a quality I admired.

I wanted to take him on a date and show him I was more than just an enforcer for a goblin. Sadly, there was little that I could do at the moment. Sebastian had given me an order, and I was compelled to follow it. I had a debt with him that I was close to working off.

Sebastian, my employer, had dispatched me alongside my two fellow guards on this mission. I was sitting outside his office when someone sent a request through a messenger bird. It was odd to see such an archaic method of communication, but it protected their anonymity. Within hours, we were sent to kill the Zodiac. We were given a compass that locked onto Balam's essence. The compass led us to South Africa, where a Cyclops was waiting.

The goblin had a fantastic ability to influence others to get what he needed. Even compared to other goblins, his skill was almost supernatural. His cunning allowed him to develop a network of individuals indebted to him. The Cyclops was on the lower end of odd creatures who owed him.

I swam to the side of the yacht and noticed people with colorful skin, scales, and gills watching. Their appearance entranced me. Atlanteans were so rare that most people called them myths. Sebastian had a few of their tail hides in his mansion off the coast of Panama. They looked scared. That was a reaction I had grown used to receiving. Most didn't see me when I was at my best.

My connection with Sebastian had been forged through lies, slowly turning me into a monster. I met him decades ago when I was at my lowest. At that time, he had resided in Russia, my place of birth. I had entered this world without a mother or father, deposited at an orphanage where I spent my formative years. I was raised under the unloving gaze of Ms. Pervak, the orphanage's keeper.

I grew quickly and would need new shoes or clothes every month, and her hate for me would grow. She accused me of doing some drugs to make me grow when, in reality, I was just a giant living among humans. Neither knew that, but I doubted the knowledge would have made me more popular with her. After I grew past the hand-me-downs, she all but explicitly evicted me from the home.

Frankly, I prefer to be okay with being on the streets. She had a sadistic streak that was well-known in the community. Her charges all had bruises and scars on our knuckles from where she would hit us with a switch. I left after I found myself unable to endure the abuse. Our last interaction ended with me punching her in the jaw after she hit me in the back with her shoe. I remembered her being furious at me for grabbing the few belongings I had bought from my job shoveling snow. She raised a belt at me and was knocked out cold before she hit the floor.

I was a naive twelve-year-old back then, grappling with the daunting prospect of surviving the impending winter. My upbringing was rooted in a small village beyond Arkhangelsk's outskirts. There were very few places to sleep, just a few abandoned farms left by men who had yet to return from the war and were unlikely to.

I had left for the city and fared worse. Many people were starving, so there was little charity given out by strangers. I didn't look like a boy then, so some accused me of shirking conscription. I was starving and close to death when I crossed paths with Sebastian.