Chapter 3

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.