Novel & Cerita The Blood Trials

1. The Red Moon Rises The sky above the Spire burned crimson. Ava stood at the edge of the northern terrace, Kael at her side, his breath slow but heavy, like the world was pressing down on him. The Blood Moon pulsed above them, each beat echoing in her bones. Below, the packs gathered. Not as competitors, but as witnesses. The Final Trial was no longer a game. It was a reckoning. “You feel that?” Kael asked.

"I'll open that at lunch, okay?" "Sure! We're going to be late for the first lesson anyway." On cue, the bell rang, and they made their way to English class. Sapphira was far more concerned about males sniffing her out as someone with royal blood. Since family smelled the same, she hoped that no one at the Mating Ball had met King Iri. Or her insane brother. The morning classes went quickly, and as Sapphira and El headed out onto the Common for lunch, the twins, Cressa and Lucas, caught up with them.

The flimsy, papery hospital gown was the last remnant of the delicate girl I’d pretended to be. I shed it, along with the lingering scent of antiseptic and the vile, sweet perfume of betrayal that clung to my silk cocktail dress. Seven days. The timer was set. Elena Moretti, the fragile civilian attachment, was dead, and Elena Luciano, the cold, calculating counterweight to two dynasties, was about to be born.

“Get some rest, Healer. Tomorrow, the games begin.” “Games?” I repeated. He looked back over his shoulder. “Every hundred years, the packs test their heirs in the Trials of Blood. This time, the prize isn’t land or glory.” My stomach dropped. “It’s me, isn’t it?” His smile was cruel and tired all at once. “Now you understand.” Then he was gone. That night, the fortress roared with noise — preparations for the Trials echoing through the halls. Wolves trained in the courtyards, dragons screeched above the towers, and servants whispered about omens.

The trial didn’t feel like a victory; it felt like an autopsy. For six months, the world peered into the jagged, hollowed-out remains of the Laredo empire, picking through the bones of Ares Holdings and the “Contingency Fund” with a voyeuristic hunger. Every headline was a fresh bruise: The Incestuous Titan, The Silent Mother, The Girl in the Glass Cage.

"A palace full of snakes. A court that forces you to lock your own bloodline in a cage to keep them from being slaughtered before breakfast. You traded a fated bond for a crown of rot." Zarek closed his eyes, his fists curling so tightly at his sides that the leather of his gloves creaked. When he opened them, the anger had been replaced by a grim, desperate pragmatism. "The blood trial is at dawn," he said, his voice dropping into a register that was completely clinical. "Cressida has already secured three council votes. They are going to use the traditional silver needles to test her essence for rogue contamination. If the silver turns black, the high laws dictate that she must be cleansed

He said, his voice was trembling. I was getting tired. So tired. I closed my eyes finally. Everything faded and went black. After what felt like a few minutes, I heard voices again. But it was distant and muffled. Like they were coming from under the water. "...blood loss was severe..." "...lucky the blade missed the major artery..." "...another centimeter and she would be dead..." I tried to open my eyes but they felt so heavy. Then I managed to open it a little wider. All I could see was white. Everything was in white, the ceiling, the lights.

However, with the third trial still going on, the three of them were the only ones nearby. “You’re a disgrace. After everything I’ve done for you, child, you still manage to mess it up.” The voice wasn’t familiar but even Cassy winced at its scold. “You were supposed to win the Trials, not lose to some outsider bitch.” That made Cassy wince harder because now she knew who was on the receiving end. “Our family is one of the oldest of this pack and you have made a mockery of us. How dare you shame your father and I by showing the weakness of your filthy blood. Did you forget all your training?”

In a twisted way, he really was a perfect match for Celina. I even smiled at him, just a little. “You, Celina, and John—each of you claims to be innocent. “My own brother, a woman I once loved, and my nephew. I’m not sure who to believe. “So here’s what I’ll do. I’ll lock the three of you together and let you decide among yourselves who deserves my trust. “I promise—I’ll let one person walk free. You have my word.” To make it more meaningful for them, I locked the three of them in the Stormbringers’ villa—in the same basement room where Bran once lived.

The doctor ran her eyes around the lab looking for someone to help her, and huffed. -When I don't need help, there's a lot of people around me, bothering me, and now, when I really need there's no one -she grumbled as she stood up and went to the 'cooler'-a kind of refrigerator specific to store blood- and took a vial of human blood, another one with vampire blood, another one with wolf blood and another one with blood altered by the drug DroPaCem and took them with her to the microscope.