Chapter 2

Night had just fallen when I changed into a deep crimson velvet wedding robe.

Silas pushed the door open, carrying warm blood wine and silver burn salve.

"Why are your hands still so cold?"

Frowning, he sat beside me, took my hand, and smoothed the salve over the burn a little at a time.

I flinched from the sting, and he immediately eased his touch.

"Hold still. Nothing can go wrong tonight."

A bitter ache rose in my chest.

The year I first arrived in Ravenmist, I didn't know the local dangers and stepped into a silver pit left by hunters.

Silas carried me back to the manor, scolding me for my recklessness as he hitched me higher on his back.

"Hold on. I'll treat it when we get back."

Later, when the pain kept me awake, he sat with me night after night, pressing his cold palm near the wound, drawing the burning sting away bit by bit.

Back then, whenever he told me to hold on, he stayed and endured every moment with me.

Silas bent his head and tied the sleeve sash for me, his movements still careful.

For a fleeting moment, I had the shameful thought:

If Vera didn't come tonight, and if I had never overheard the truth about the sash, would I still go through with the wedding?

But someone called from outside the door.

"Vera's here."

Before Silas had finished tying the last sash at my wrist, he stood and left.

I looked down at the loose sash, my eyes stinging.

Vera Whitmore entered in a wheelchair.

She wore a white mink shawl, her smile soft and fragile.

She was a vampire from Ravenmist who had grown up with Silas.

Four years ago, she had fallen on the stone steps of an underground passage and injured her legs. When she woke, she tearfully claimed I'd shoved her during a fight over Silas.

I hadn't.

I tried to explain. Silas listened, but his only response was this.

"She'll never stand to greet the dawn again. What more do you want from her?"

From that day on, I became the one who owed a debt.

"I tried on this wedding robe once."

Vera gazed at the deep crimson velvet on me, a hint of wistfulness in her eyes.

"His mother said I looked more like the lady of this manor in it."

The room went quiet.

I looked up at Silas.

"She tried on this robe?"

He avoided my gaze.

"That was a long time ago."

"So because it happened years ago, it doesn't count?" I asked.

Vera's eyes welled instantly.

"Evelyn, I didn't mean it like that. I just wanted to wish you both well."

Silas frowned at me.

"Tonight is our Blood Oath Ceremony. Don't make this awkward for everyone."

My chest went cold.

I was the one being humiliated.

One sentence from me, and somehow she became the victim.

Silas glanced at me with a frown, then bent down to adjust Vera's shawl.

"Are you cold?"

"My legs are cold."

Vera murmured the words, and Silas slid the foot warmer from beside me over to her.

I froze.

The salve on the back of my hand was only half applied. The sleeve sash was still untied.

"Silas, you haven't finished with my salve."

Silas's hand stilled, and his voice dropped.

"Her legs are in bad shape. Don't be petty."

Sensing the tension, the manor's elderly housekeeper hurried to smooth things over.

"Silas has always been softhearted. He makes sure both of you are well cared for."

She had said both of us.

I was the bride, yet in their eyes, I was only one more object of Silas's pity.

"Silas, I want to sit over there."

Vera tugged at Silas's sleeve.

She fixed pleading eyes on my seat.

It was the bride's place beside the fireplace, where she waited to take the oath.

"Evelyn, get up."

Silas looked at me, but his eyes held nothing but tenderness for Vera.

"Let Vera sit there for a bit."

Just moments ago, he had worried about me catching cold. Now he had no problem with me standing in a drafty corridor.

I slowly stepped aside. My phone buzzed inside my sleeve.

I turned my back and stole a glance.

"The convoy has passed Blackpine Woods. Mr. Blackthorn says you don't have to bear this alone."

I stared at the message and darkened the screen before the tears could spill.

When I looked up, Silas was standing beside Vera, shielding her from the draft.

The vampire guests gathered around them, laughing and talking as if Vera and Silas were the bride and groom.

He used to shield me like that.

The night had not changed. I simply wasn't the woman he protected anymore.

I stood in the cold corridor, the sleeve sash unraveling in the wind.