Chapter 2

Mira pounded on the door for a full five minutes.

The door finally opened with a ripple of magic. My mother came out, her face livid. "Mira, why are you shouting? Can't you see we're treating someone in there?"

Mira pointed to where I lay in the pool of blood, her voice frantic. "Lady Howard, Aria's been poisoned by pure silver! It's almost reached her heart!"

My mother gave me a cold glance, then carelessly flicked the torn fabric on my back with the tip of her staff. "It's just a flesh wound and some surface silver burns. It only looks bad!"

She drew back her staff, impatient. "How did you become a sanctum attendant? Don't you know how quickly a pureblood heals?"

Mira was close to tears. "But there's a silver arrowhead in her back..."

"Enough!"

My mother cut her off. "The blood vessels in the back are complicated. An attendant like you could easily mistake a bone for a foreign object. Interrupt us again, and I'll send you to the blood dungeon!"

In the corner, a few vampires whispered. "Poor Aria. Her bloodline gift is stronger than most people's in the family. I heard the Underground Council of the Night once offered her a fortune to become their head alchemist..."

"Shh, don't. Lady Howard hates it more than anything when people bring up Aria's pureblood talent."

My mother didn't hear them. She grabbed my collar and hauled me up. "Why are you sprawled on the floor? Stop embarrassing the Howard family!"

The jolt drove the silver fragments deeper into my flesh. I clenched my teeth until I tasted blood and clutched my mother's robe.

"Mom... save me... it hurts..."

My mother slapped my hand away, her voice like ice. "Julian told me you were in the back, the safest seat, when the hunters attacked!

"Vivian got hurt in the front shielding you, and now you're going to fight her for the antidote?"

Mira suddenly cried out, as if she'd remembered something. "But the medic at the scene already reported that Aria's condition is critical and she needs treatment right away!"

My mother hesitated, but disgust quickly flashed in her eyes. "He was a low-ranking medic. He saw a pureblood noble bleeding and panicked. That's all."

She sneered. "Besides, Aria, you're a high-ranking alchemist. You know how to fake an injury well enough to fool a medic, don't you? All so you can be treated before Vivian?

"Aria Howard, is this how I raised you?"

My mother's icy voice rang down the corridor as she casually pinned all the blame on me. "If I treat you first because you faked an injury, what will the people who really bled for this family think of me?"

The clan members lining the corridor joined in at once. "It's not fair! We bleed for this family too. Why should the pureblood heiress get treated first?!"

"That's Lady Howard for you. She saw through the act at once. She never lets her personal feelings interfere with her work!"

My mother basked in their admiration and looked down at me. "Hear that, Aria? To keep things fair, you're last in line today!"

Just then, Julian came out of the alchemy chamber. He stopped short when he saw me lying in the pool of blood. "Aria? Why are you still here..."

"She's just throwing a tantrum!" my mother snapped.

She turned to him before he could say more. "How's Vivian?"

Julian looked away from me. "Her wound is still oozing. Without our best potion, it might leave a tiny scar..."

"We can't have that!"

My mother looked horrified. "My poor Vivian. A blemish on her skin? How awful!"

She grabbed Julian's hand and pulled him back inside. "I'll treat her myself, and you'll assist me!"

Julian glanced back at me, hesitating.

From the alchemy chamber came Vivian's weak, tearful voice. "Julian... I'm so cold. Will you stay with me..."

His hesitation vanished, and he hurried inside without looking back.

When the door shut, I heard my mother's soothing voice. "Don't be scared, Vivian. Mom's right here..."

I lay on the floor as the poison spread to my heart. Whatever warmth I'd felt for them went cold.