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.”

The next morning, my spare communication stone vibrated.

It was Cedric.

“Go to Viktor’s Soul Forge,” he commanded, his voice devoid of emotion. “Be there in an hour. Elsie needs a new token. You will design it.”

“I refuse.”

“This is not a request, Alaina. Don’t make me have my blood thralls ‘invite’ you again.”

He cut the link.

An hour later, I stood in the underground forge of an abandoned monastery.

Cedric and Elsie were already there.

“Viktor,” Cedric said to the forge master, an ancient vampire renowned for crafting soul-bound artifacts. “This is Alaina. Our clan’s best guardian and foremost expert on ancient magical items. I need her to create a one-of-a-kind Blood Chalice for Elsie.”

"Ah..." Viktor's ancient eyes lit up. "A guardian's sacred blood, woven into a vampire's soul-bond. A rare and... potent vintage. I would be honored."

He led us to a black velvet-lined workbench laden with rare materials—shadow crystals, dragon’s blood resin, and an obsidian stone freshly pulled from a hellhound’s heart.

Cedric came to my side. His voice was a low whisper, meant only for me. “I want you to forge the most perfect chalice for her. To the same specifications as my own. The one you tailored to my soul a hundred years ago.”

My breath hitched.

“I know you remember every resonant frequency,” he continued, his voice cold. “The seven runes on the wall that absorb lunar energy, the thirteen ancient sigils that amplify blood magic, and the base, quenched in your sacred blood, that instantly resonates with my soul. Replicate all of it. For her.”

I understood.

He wanted me to dissect our past. To take the very soul of our bond, and gift-wrap it for another woman.

This was a hundred times crueler than purifying my familiar.

“Alaina?” Elsie came over, her voice sweet and innocent. “Can you help me? I’ve always wanted a chalice engraved with mine and Cedric’s initials. Isn’t that the most romantic token of eternity?”

I looked at her innocent smile, at Cedric’s unyielding gaze.

Slowly, I broke into a gentle smile.

“Of course, my future mistress.”

I picked up the enchanted quill, my hand as steady as a rock.

I drew the elegant curves of the chalice, the perfect runic structure, every secret detail that was once ours alone.

My hand drew. My heart counted down the seconds until I was free. Every stroke was a gravestone for our past.

Not only that, I even added several more complex ancient runes to the original design, runes that would enhance the soul resonance by thirty percent.

A secret I had recently discovered and never told him.

“Magnificent!” Viktor exclaimed, looking at the blueprint. “No, this is more than a work of art! Alaina, you are a genius! This is even more perfect than the Lord’s current chalice!”

Cedric’s expression became complicated.

He had wanted to see me suffer, but instead, I was so “dedicated” that I had surpassed my past work.

An uncontrollable flicker of unease crossed his face.

“How long?” Cedric asked, his voice a little dry.

“Three weeks,” Viktor replied. “If Lady Alaina is willing to personally supervise the forging process.”

Supervise it. Watch another woman hold the ‘eternal token’ made from my past with him, and drink his blood from it.

"Of course," I said, my voice smooth as glass. I even volunteered. "It is my duty to ensure the happiness of my lord and future mistress. I will personally oversee every step. It will be flawless."

Everyone stared at me, including Cedric. His eyes were filled with shock and confusion, completely unable to comprehend my reaction.

I gave them a flawless curtsy, then turned and calmly walked away.

No screams. No tears. Just a dead calm that sent a chill down his spine.

Back at my hideout, an invitation sealed with blood was at my door.

“You are cordially invited to the ‘Eternal Vow’ ceremony of Lord Cedric and Princess Elsie.”

I picked it up and smiled.

The stage was set. It was time for the actors to prepare.

I opened the secure line to my father.

“Father.”

“Is it time?”

I looked at the piercing names on the invitation, my voice cold as ice.

“It’s time. The night of the ceremony is the night we leave.”