Chapter 3

Dorothea's POV

Arabella passed out in Edward's arms, faint black markings spreading across her forehead. No one dared to speak.

At last, the high priest forced himself to pipe up. "Your Majesty, Lady Arabella is the true phoenix's reincarnation. Though she did not take part in today's sacrifice, she has still suffered backlash from the divine beast's malevolent energy.

"Without the protection of the phoenix's bone, I fear she will not make it through the night."

Edward held Arabella, his eyes suddenly turning toward me.

A golden needle was still pierced in my chest, drawing out my blood. The iron spikes driven through my collarbones rendered me immobile. The places on my body scorched by the fire had already gone numb.

I understood the look in his eyes. He had already made his choice. Once again, he had decided who I was supposed to suffer for.

I smiled. "Don't tell me you want my bone, too, Edward."

Edward didn't answer me. In cases like this, silence was even more hurtful.

Arabella weakly opened her eyes and grabbed the front of his robe. "Your Majesty, don't… Dorothea has already suffered too much for me. I cannot take anything else from her."

She said all the right things, but her hand remained pressed against her heart, as though she might die in his arms at any moment.

Edward lowered his voice and soothed her. "You're okay."

Those two words were what he used to say to me all the time.

I was afraid of thunder, so he would have his papers brought to my bedside and stay with me through the night. I was afraid of bitter medicine, so he would hide candied fruit at the back of the bowl.

I was afraid of dying, so he would look at me with reddened eyes and whisper, "Thea, don't leave me."

It wasn't that he was incapable of loving someone. He had simply given that love to someone else instead.

At the same time, he came to believe I had grown accustomed to dying and therefore should know better than to make a fuss.

The high priest handed Edward a boning knife. The blade was long and slender, its edge as thin as a piece of paper. When he took it, the veins on the back of his hand stood out.

I stared at him in misery. "Edward, I wasn't lying… Since last night, I've lost all chances of coming back."

Edward's eyes reddened, but his voice remained scarily calm. "That's not true. I've searched the ancient texts. A body that has been remade can grow new flesh and bone."

"Did the ancient texts tell you a soul can perish?"

He fell silent. After a moment, he looked away. "Thea, do not try to deceive me with your lies."

I froze. In his eyes, my struggle to survive was merely an act to force his hand.

Arabella cried so hard that she could barely catch her breath. "Your Majesty, if Dorothea is unwilling, we shall forget it. My life was a gift I was never meant to have in the first place. It is a shame I will never be able to watch the lanterns with you again or recite prayers for you…"

Edward's arms tightened around her. When he looked up again, there was nothing but resolve left in his eyes. "Begin."

The boning knife touched my back, sending a chill down my spine.

Suddenly, I remembered all those years when I had taken blades for him, swallowed poison for him, and walked through the snow-filled nights for him.

In the end, this was what all my love came to—nothing more than a blade pressed to my bones.

I struggled so violently that blood began seeping around the spikes in my collarbones. "Edward, you promised me! You would kill whoever makes me bleed!"

Edward bent closer to me, his voice gratingly hoarse. "I remember, Thea. So, after today, I'll kill everyone who has ever made you suffer."

I stared at him as tears spilled uncontrollably from my eyes. "Do you count?"

His hand stilled.

Below the altar, Arabella suddenly vomited blood. Edward closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he sliced open my back with his own hand.

In that instant, I couldn't even manage a scream. The phoenix's bone was bound to the very root of my soul. Every inch he tore away felt like another inch of my memories being ripped from me.

I saw 18-year-old Edward plucking a flower for me in the gardens. I saw him carrying me back to the palace through the snow, frost covering his shoulders.

I saw the day he ascended the throne. He walked past all the nobles gathered there and looked at me first. "Dorothea Sinclair, from now on, half of the kingdom belongs to you."

Now, he was tearing away my frail life and giving it to another woman.

The moment the phoenix's bone was carved out of my body, a mournful cry rang out across the sky. Birds scattered, and the sacrificial flames suddenly dimmed.

Edward held the bloodstained piece of bone in his hands. For the first time, panic flashed through his eyes.

I lay motionless on the altar, blood trickling from the corner of my lips and pooling in the grooves between the marble stones.

"Edward…"

He immediately bent toward me. "I'm here."

How laughable.

With the last of my strength, I looked at him through my tears. "You must remember today… How you coaxed me into letting you execute me, inch by inch."

Edward's face turned pale, but then Arabella called for him again. "Your Majesty…"

He turned away with the phoenix's bone in his hands and never looked back again.