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Chapter 3

Author: Golden Tide
The instant the amulet touched the moonsilver dish, Ellie's expression shifted.

Louis had given me that amulet at my coming-of-age ceremony.

He had fastened it around my neck himself and told me with a smile that the Vane bloodline made me a target, but the amulet would spare me trouble.

In my last life, I treasured it.

Only as I was dying did I learn that it was the weapon meant to kill me.

After coming back, I had no time to destroy it. In the rush, I had no choice but to wear it to the altar and think on my feet.

The Grand Elder immersed the amulet in spring water. A dark red curse mark rose from the bone chain.

The mark was shaped like a closed eye: the veiling curse, forbidden among the Nightborn.

A sharp challenge rang out from the Elders' bench.

"Isela, what do you have to say now?"

Still prostrate on the floor, Owen finally found his nerve.

"I saw it with my own eyes. Lady Isela wore this into the old tower several times over the past few days."

"The vault keeper reported it too. A strange blood scent masked by a forbidden curse had appeared near the Sacred Blood Vault!"

The witch maid at Ellie's side dropped to her knees and began to cry.

"I saw it too."

"Three nights ago, Lady Isela went alone to the sacred tombs, and she looked awful when she came out."

"I thought she was praying for the Bloodline Rite. I never imagined..."

She let the sentence hang, all the more damning for it.

Every gaze in the hall settled on me, mingling doubt, suspicion, and disgust.

Louis stepped slowly to my side and lowered his voice.

"Isela, if there's something you can't say out loud, tell me now, while there's still time."

I tilted my head toward him. "And after I tell you?"

His expression stiffened.

I gave a quiet smile.

"You'll plead for me. You'll say you believe me. You'll beg the Council to show mercy."

"And then, with the whole clan's gratitude, you'll bind me to a master-servant blood pact that puts you in command and leaves me unable to defy you for the rest of my life. Isn't that right?"

Silence fell all around.

Displeasure crossed Louis's face. "Why would you think that of me?"

"Because you're in too much of a hurry."

I raised my eyes to the Council of Elders.

"From the moment Owen entered, Count Ashford never asked how the Sacred Blood Vault was breached. Never asked whether the vault keeper had done his duty. Never asked why the shards were dusted with sungrass ash."

"The very first thing he said was, 'Tell me it isn't true.'"

Ellie shot to her feet, her voice shrill.

"Isela, Count Ashford is only worried about you! How can you turn around and blame him for not protecting you?"

"Has he protected me?"

I looked at her.

"Or has he been waiting for the whole clan to find me guilty, so he could become my master with everyone's blessing?"

Ellie's eyes reddened as though she were the one who had been wronged.

Grand Elder Blackwood raised a hand and cut the argument short.

"The Vane bloodline is unusual. To test her blood, we would have to open the First Ancestor's blood mirror."

"Once opened, the mirror will weaken the bloodline at best and damage its legacy at worst. Isela, are you willing?"

Before I could answer, Louis spoke first.

"Grand Elder, the blood mirror is too dangerous. Even if Isela has done wrong, she shouldn't pay that price."

"Let me seal a master-servant blood pact with her instead. I will stake my own bloodline on her causing no more trouble, and we can decide her case once the truth is known."

He sounded utterly sincere.

In my last life, I had believed every word and wept with gratitude.

This time, I only felt cold to the bone.

Once a master-servant blood pact is sealed, the master can draw on the slave's power at will, and peer into her memories through the pact mark.

That isn't protection. It's the harsh restraint reserved for the worst of criminals.

In the clan's thousands of years of history, marriages had always been sealed with equal, eternal blood pacts. No one had ever entered a predatory master-servant pact like this one.

Grand Elder Blackwood frowned. Clearly he found it improper too.

I pressed my hand over the amulet, my voice carrying through the whole sanctum.

"You have all seen the forbidden curse. But not one of you has asked whose scent this curse is actually hiding."
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  • Nailed to the Wall, Reborn for Vengeance   Chapter 11

    Ellie sat crumpled on the ground, staring at him blankly.Louis held out a hand to her, his voice pleading."Ellie, save me!"Ellie stared at the hand that had shoved her toward the array without a second's pause, and slowly shook her head."I've hurt too many people for you already."The next instant, the core crystal's outer golden shell cracked away, baring the light inside.Louis was swallowed by the white flame he had summoned. His screams turned shrill as the backlash burned him down to a handful of black ash.A single gust of wind scattered him without a trace.After Louis's death, the night closed back over Nighthaven.The First Ancestor's core, badly damaged, steadied again, fed by the blood of the whole clan.The tear of daylight was sealed beneath the barrier once more.With the plot exposed, the Dawn Society radicals withdrew from Nighthaven.Grand Elder Blackwood came to the Sunless Graveyard with the Council of Elders.He looked at the rescued vampires all around, at the

  • Nailed to the Wall, Reborn for Vengeance   Chapter 10

    As the Blood Echo swept across the city, both the sanctum and the streets beyond erupted.The vampires who had cursed me as a traitor watched with their own eyes as Louis staged the frame-up, used low-born vampires as experimental subjects, and pursued the Crown of Day at the cost of their lives.Some of his guards began to waver.Ellie knelt on the ground, understanding at last how she had been used.She lifted her head. There was no scheming left in her eyes, only terror."Isela, I know where the array's anchor is."Her voice was raw."Destroy the anchor and Louis can't keep absorbing power. I can take you there."I didn't answer right away.Cassian shifted in front of me, his voice low."She may be lying to you.""I know."I looked at Ellie."You can live and testify, or you can keep doing his dirty work.""But whatever you do, don't do it to earn my forgiveness.""You owe a life to every person you sent into that laboratory. Give them the truth first."Ellie's tears spilled over.L

  • Nailed to the Wall, Reborn for Vengeance   Chapter 9

    Louis's words plunged the underground laboratory into silence.Cassian's hand closed on his sword hilt and the Enforcers formed ranks, but I didn't look away.So in my last life, at the moment I burned to ash, it was not only the power of the Vane bloodline protecting me.By devouring my bloodline, Louis had glimpsed part of the echo of time as well.But I quickly realized that he had not brought back the full memory of our past life.He was nothing but a vile thief, able to glimpse only scattered fragments of my last life.Otherwise he would have killed me with a single stroke long ago, instead of staging that long, elaborate frame-up at the rite!That was why, in this life, he was more impatient and more vicious than in the last.He had arranged Owen's frame-up in advance, had Ellie plant the curse in my amulet, and had already moved the core crystal to the Sunless Graveyard.He believed that if he seized control before I could, I would still be forced to my knees at his feet."I do

  • Nailed to the Wall, Reborn for Vengeance   Chapter 8

    The Sunless Graveyard lay at the northern edge of Nighthaven, where the old nobles who died in the wars were buried.Louis had ordered it sealed, claiming the place was steeped in death and dangerous to approach.Now I understood. He wasn't afraid of restless spirits troubling us. He was afraid someone would find the ancient waterway beneath it, leading out of the city.Cassian led the Enforcers, following the trail of blood-dust.The shard grew hotter and hotter in my palm, and finally went still before a black stone grave.Blood brambles grew thick over it. Beneath their roots lay a shipping seal used only in Louis's private territory.Cassian had his men dig open the grave.Beneath the soil there was no coffin, only an iron door bound in chains. Behind it lay an abandoned underground laboratory.Blood bags were nailed to the walls, filled with thin blood drawn from low-born vampires.The walls held not only the thin-bloods' name tags but also Louis's forged ledgers, which recast lar

  • Nailed to the Wall, Reborn for Vengeance   Chapter 7

    The crystal shards were only bait.What had truly been stolen was the First Ancestor's core crystal from the deepest vault, the anchor of the Night Veil.Once the core crystal left the vault, night would slowly drain away, and daylight would pour through the barrier into the city.What Louis wanted was never a single crystal.He meant to take every life in Nighthaven.Grand Elder Blackwood ordered the gates sealed at once. No one was to leave.Louis was the first to speak, his voice cold."The core crystal goes missing right after Isela produces her pact. Why is that?""If she could prepare the Dawn bargain in advance, who's to say she didn't hide the core crystal herself to sow panic?"It was a last, desperate attempt to save himself."Save your breath, Count Ashford! For three years, you have used the northern war as an excuse to redeploy the vault guards and patrols elsewhere, again and again.""Every time the core crystal's power waned, you reported the loss as damage from enemy ra

  • Nailed to the Wall, Reborn for Vengeance   Chapter 6

    Cassian threw Owen down before the altar, drew a short blade, and flicked back his sleeve.The golden brand curled across his skin, the flesh around it festering beneath a suppressive spell."This is the Daylight Church's sun brand."Cassian's voice was grave."Only someone with long exposure to sungrass oil, holy water, and Church talismans carries a mark like this."Owen went deathly pale and struggled to speak."It wasn't me! Lady Isela framed me. She must have done it without my knowing—""Enough!"Grand Elder Blackwood brought his palm down on the armrest, and the sanctum shook."Take him away. Hand him to the Enforcers for questioning.""Question everyone who had access to the Sacred Blood Vault, Lady Isela's chambers, or the amulet. Do not miss a single person."Louis stood where he was, his face dark.He let out a short laugh."One blood seal and the word of a bribed attendant. Is that enough to convict me?""On the winter solstice three years ago, I was putting down the rebell

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