What I never told Cedric was that the Guardian’s Pact wasn't eternal.

Once a guardian protects their lord 9,999 times, the pact for that generation is automatically fulfilled.

The guardian is free to leave whenever they wish.

I could have left ten years ago. But I craved the pleasure of being by his side, yearned for our own eternal bond. I ignored my family’s call to return.

Now, I shut down all my magical communications.

If I was leaving, I was going to be thorough.

At two in the afternoon, the main gate of my ancestral home was blasted open by a powerful surge of magic.

Cedric’s right-hand, a blood thrall named Marcus, stormed in with four guards.

“Lady Alaina,” Marcus’s voice was polite, but his hand was already on the hilt of his sword. “The Lord wishes to see you.”

I didn’t look up, continuing to mend the tattered ancient spellbook before me. “Tell your lord I’m busy.”

“I’m afraid this isn’t a request.”

I set down my tools and stood up. “So you’re going to drag me back by force?”

Marcus didn’t deny it.

“The Lord’s orders. He needs you present to show Princess Valerius and the elders the unbreakable bond between the Thorne clan and its guardians. Don’t make this ugly.”

Twenty minutes later, the magical carriage stopped in front of the Thorne clan’s castle.

This place was once my sanctuary.

Now, it was just a gilded cage.

I was “escorted” to my old magic laboratory.

The moment the door opened, I froze.

The room was empty.

All my magic scrolls, my alchemy station, the night-blooming cereus I cultivated, our one and only magical photograph…

Every trace of my existence had vanished, wiped clean.

In its place was delicate, elven-style decor.

In the center of the wall hung a massive magical portrait.

It was Elsie, dressed in white, smiling like a moon goddess untouched by the world.

“Like it? Elsie picked it out herself.”

Cedric’s voice came from behind me.

He wore a custom-made black robe with magical embroidery. Flawless.

Elsie was on his arm, blonde and blue-eyed, like an angel.

“Elsie,” Cedric’s tone was flat. “This is Alaina. Our clan's most… capable asset.”

Elsie’s green eyes sparkled with innocence. Her voice was sweet.

"A pleasure to meet you. Cedric always says you're his most capable helper. I’m so grateful you handle all the clan’s tedious affairs. The dangerous ones, too. But don't worry. You'll be able to rest soon."

She was telling me that once she married Cedric, I would be cast out.

“It is my honor to serve the clan,” I replied, my voice laced with bitterness.

Cedric nodded, satisfied. He turned to Elsie. “My love, let me introduce you to the elders.”

He put his arm around her and led her toward the main hall. I followed like a shadow.

The clan elders were already waiting.

One of them, Elder Alaric, looked from me to Cedric and chuckled. “Cedric, Alaina has been by your side for so many years. We all thought…”

Cedric cut him off, his voice ice-cold.

“Elder Alaric.” His face darkened. “Do not say things that could be misunderstood.”

His gaze cut to me like a knife, his voice low but carrying through the silent room.

“I would sooner walk into the sun than enter an eternal bond with a human and tarnish my bloodline.”

I lowered my eyes to hide my pain. I forced a smile. “Elder Alaric, you misunderstand. The lord and I have always had a purely professional relationship.”

For a moment, Cedric’s expression froze.

He didn’t seem to expect me to play along so obediently, so decisively.

But then, a flicker of approval crossed his eyes, as if admiring a perfectly tamed tool.

The tension in the hall dissipated.

Elsie tightened her grip on Cedric’s arm and gave me a triumphant smile.

Cedric walked past me. He raised his hand. For a second, I thought he would pat my head like he always did.

But he stopped. And adjusted Elsie’s hair instead.

He leaned in, hissing in a low growl only I could hear.

“Well done. Remember what you said tonight. Don’t disappoint me.”

The banquet began.

I sat alone at the far end of the long table, watching Cedric and Elsie receive everyone’s blessings from the seats of honor.

Cedric felt my gaze. He turned and met my eyes.

He raised his goblet of blood to me. His gaze was cold, approving. The look a master gives his well-trained hound.

I raised my glass in return, a perfect smile on my lips.

Let’s see if you’re still smiling in seven days, Cedric, when I’m gone for good.

#

The banquet ended.

“Alaina, you’re coming too,” Cedric’s voice echoed from the top of the stairs.

He clearly had no intention of letting me breathe, determined to see this humiliation through to the end.

He looked at me, his eyes like ice.

“You are my best guardian. It’s time you got acquainted with your new mistress.”

The magical carriage was waiting outside.

On instinct, I moved toward the guard’s seat.

A single look from Cedric stopped me.

“Sit in the back,” he commanded.

Elsie, clinging to his arm, slid into the spacious main seat.

I was shoved into the cramped attendant’s corner in the back.

An extra.

During the dinner, I’d had a few bloody marys to maintain my perfect, forced smile.

The alcohol hadn’t worn off, making my thoughts sluggish and my sacred blood sluggish in my veins.

I leaned into the corner and closed my eyes, just wanting this long, humiliating night to be over.

The carriage entered the shadows of the Gloomwood.

The first Shadow Hound’s claws ripped through the roof without warning.

“Get down!” Marcus roared, yanking the carriage into a sharp turn.

The hounds’ snarls filled the air, their shadow arrows hailing down on the carriage.

“Dammit!” Cedric’s eyes glowed red. “Rival clan mutts!”

I immediately tried to summon my guardian power, but the strength in my blood felt shrouded in a thick fog, slow and heavy.

Dammit, the alcohol!

I could only draw my silver dagger and fight back through the rear window, the old-fashioned way.

Elsie screamed and burrowed into Cedric’s arms.

He shielded her with his body while firing back with blood curses.

“Don’t be afraid, my love. I’m here.”

The carriage’s magical core took a direct hit.

It spun out of control, crashing into a giant, dead tree.

Then I saw it.

A massive, mutated alpha hound. It was gathering a ball of pure shadow energy. Devastating.

“Energy sphere!” I screamed.

Time slowed down.

The shadow sphere flew toward us, trailing a plume of black and purple light.

In that split second, Cedric made his choice.

He grabbed Elsie, pulling her underneath him, using his unbreakable back as a shield.

Then, he lifted his foot.

With all his strength, he kicked the car door next to me.

The immense force threw me from the carriage.

I understood his intent. He was using me to absorb part of the blast, to create a safer space for himself and Elsie.

Just another way he was used to “using” me.

He never considered it. He never thought that the woman who drank just to survive his dinner party wouldn't be able to summon her full power.

BOOM!

A cloud of violet-black energy swallowed everything.

The shockwave, mixed with the Shadow Hounds’ vile magic, slammed me into a distant rock wall.

My guardian power, suppressed by the alcohol, had only managed a faint barrier that shattered instantly.

Shards of dark energy fell like superheated blades, cutting deep into my skin.

I felt the sharp pain of broken ribs as a mouthful of warm blood erupted from my lips, blurring my vision.

I saw him climb from the wreckage. Elsie was safe in his arms.

His suit was torn, but his eyes were sharp.

He gently stroked her hair, whispering reassurances, then teleported with her to safety.

He didn't even look back.

I lay on the cold ground, listening to the sizzle of residual shadow energy eating away at the trees, and the sound of my own fading breath.

Then darkness took me.

When I opened my eyes, I was in the clan’s secret healing chamber.

“You’re awake,” said the elderly physician, Elias, checking my pupils. “You’re lucky. Marcus pulled you from the site just before the main explosion.”

“Where’s Cedric?” my voice was a rasp.

“The Lord is with Princess Elsie,” the physician said, pausing. “She was quite frightened.”

My real wounds, her phantom fright. So precious.

I closed my eyes, swallowing the bitterness.

But a small voice in the corner of my heart screamed.

I needed to see it. After using me as a shield, after leaving me to die... did he feel even a sliver of guilt?

It was probably the last, foolish fantasy of the girl who had loved him for a century.

“Physician,” I opened my eyes again, my voice terrifyingly calm. “Turn on the scrying crystal.”

The crystal ball on the wall lit up, showing magical images from around the castle.

I switched it to Elsie’s room.

She was in a white silk nightgown, leaning weakly against a pillow.

Cedric sat on the edge of the bed, feeding her something from a silver spoon.

It was… his own heart’s blood. A vampire’s most precious life essence.

His movements were so gentle, as if he were tending to a priceless treasure.

“I almost lost you,” his voice trembled with fear. “I can’t live without you, Elsie.”

“I know. You saved me,” she whispered, touching his face. “You’re my hero.”

Then, Cedric pulled a crystal-clear rose from his pocket.

My heart stopped.

It was an Eternal Ice Rose, carved from everlasting frost, with a single drop of his heart’s blood sealed within its core.

The highest symbol of a marriage proposal in the Thorne clan.

He knelt on one knee. He held up the rose.

“Marry me,” he said, looking up at her, his eyes full of love. “Not for the clan. Not for an alliance. Just because… I love you.”

Elsie burst into tears of joy. “Yes! Of course, I will!”

He placed the Ice Rose in her palm and kissed the back of her hand.

I stared at the scrying crystal until my own magic shattered it into dust.

So he knew how to love.

He just never loved me.

Three days later, my door opened.

Cedric walked in with Elsie on his arm.

The bloodstone ring on her left ring finger, a symbol of her clan's alliance, flashed a blinding red.

The Eternal Ice Rose I had dreamed of for a century was now a brooch pinned to her chest, a declaration of her victory.

“Alaina,” Cedric’s voice was flat. “How are you feeling?”

“Alive,” I said hoarsely. “Disappointed?”

Cedric’s brow twitched, as if surprised by my calm.

Elsie walked to my bedside, her face a mask of false concern. “I’ve been wanting to see you. I heard you were badly injured protecting us. You’re so brave.”

Protecting them.

What a fucking joke.

“Just doing my duty,” I replied, my face blank.

“Your loyalty is truly touching,” Elsie said, a flash of unconcealed triumph in her eyes.

Just then, a black shadow flew in through the window and landed on my shoulder.

It was a raven. His feathers were ink-black, shimmering with a strange, blood-red light.

His name was Nyx.

He was a magical familiar, born from our mixed blood and magic when we first sealed our Guardian’s Pact.

He was our deepest secret.

And my only family in this cold castle.

A flicker of jealousy and disgust crossed Elsie’s face. She turned to Cedric, her voice sickly sweet. “Darling, Alaina’s familiar is so special. But… your darkness is all over him. It reminds me of a past I don’t share. It makes me… uneasy.”

Cedric froze.

He was silent for a few seconds.

Then, he issued a command to the castle’s dark magic deacon.

“Have Malachi bring his ‘Purification Altar’ to the healing chamber. Now.”

My blood ran cold.

Malachi was the deacon in charge of dealing with corrupted beasts and purifying bloodlines.

What he was about to do… would it be crueler than simply killing Nyx?

No.

He wouldn’t…

Twenty minutes later, Malachi walked in carrying an ancient obsidian chest.

He looked at me on the bed, then at Cedric in confusion. “My Lord, are you certain… you want to perform the ‘Blood Purification’ ritual here?”

I thought he was going to kill Nyx, to erase the last secret between us.

I was wrong.

The truth was a thousand times crueler.

“Right here,” Cedric said, magically pulling the panicked Nyx from my shoulder and suspending him in mid-air.

That blood-red raven, a life I co-created with his own heart’s blood and my family’s sacred blood after I took a fatal curse for him the 100th time.

One of a kind.

“Purify him,” he ordered Malachi, pointing at Nyx. “Use the princess's pure blood. Wash every trace of that human filth off of him.”

“My Lord!” Malachi’s voice was tight. “Are you sure? Forcibly purifying a familiar… it will suffer immense pain, its spirit might even collapse!”

“Do as I say,” Cedric’s tone was absolute.

I didn’t struggle or beg as he expected.

I just slowly sat up in bed and stared at him with a gaze as cold as ice.

“This is the last thing that binds us,” I said, my voice dangerously calm. “Are you sure you want to destroy it with your own hands?”

My calmness unnerved him, sparking a flicker of panic.

He looked away, refusing to meet my eyes, his tone even colder and more forceful. “Shut up. This has nothing to do with you.”

Nothing to do with me.

I said nothing more. I just watched.

Watched as he, for another woman, personally tortured our last shred of history to death.

The purification incantation echoed in the quiet room, a soul-tearing screech.

Nyx let out a piercing shriek, not like a bird, but like an infant being dismembered alive.

I saw the beautiful blood-red light being forcibly stripped from him, dissipating into black smoke.

His black feathers fell out in clumps, revealing raw, bloody skin beneath.

My heart felt like it was being torn apart by the same spell, the pain was unbearable.

But my face remained expressionless.

I simply carved this pain, this hatred, into the very marrow of my bones.

I watched the life I created, the symbol of our past, being tormented, devoured, and consumed by the “pure blood” that represented his new alliance, his new mate.

Cedric stood by, watching with a blank face.

His eyes never left Elsie.

“Will it hurt?” Elsie asked, dabbing at Cedric’s non-existent sweat with a handkerchief, her voice full of feigned concern.

“Old things must be cleansed,” Cedric’s voice was devoid of warmth, but his eyes never left her. “A little pain is necessary to welcome a new, pure beginning.”

An hour later, the ritual was over.

Nyx was no longer Nyx.

His once night-black feathers were now a startling, lifeless white.

The blood-red light was gone forever.

He lay on the altar, barely breathing, looking at me with the eyes of a stranger filled with fear.

“Perfect,” Elsie whispered, holding out her hand. The white raven hesitated, then flew to her arm. She gave him a new name. “From now on, you’ll be called Lumi.”

Cedric looked at the strange white raven, at how it affectionately nuzzled Elsie’s cheek.

He gave Elsie a weak but satisfied smile.

“Yes,” he said, but his gaze sliced into mine.

“Now, he belongs only to you.”