Chapter 2

My father said Lila was too weak for the blood exchange ritual that turned a mortal into a vampire, so I had to marry Shawn in her place.

I used to think it was a coincidence, something fate had set up. But it wasn't. It never was.

"You knew from the start?" I could barely get the words out. Blood was bubbling at the corner of my mouth.

Shawn finally looked down at me on the altar. "Knew what?"

"From the very beginning, you knew I took Lila's place."

He didn't deny it. "Lila is mortal. If I tried to turn her with the blood exchange right away, she wouldn't survive.

"I needed a pure-blooded vessel to carry the child of the first bloodline. Then I could use that child's heart blood to turn her. It was the only way."

A vessel, and that was what I was to him.

"Eight hundred years of marriage was time I had to spend waiting," he said in a flat tone.

After finishing that sentence, he bent down and leaned close to my ear. "Selena, don't move. For Lila's sake, I couldn't leave anything that might go wrong. Didn't you always tell me you loved me?"

His voice was soft and gentle, the same as every night for eight hundred years.

He stood up straight. "Then you and this unwanted bastard can be the price of my love."

The elder's dagger sank into the root of my Bloodcore. The pain was much worse than when they had pulled the child's heart blood out of me.

My mind started to fade, and everything in front of me went blurry. Through the haze, I saw the side door to the hall swing open.

A woman in a white dress walked in. It was Lila, my sister.

She stood in the doorway and looked at me lying on the altar, covered in blood.

And she was smiling. Her eyes were crinkled and her lips curled up like she had finally gotten something she had been waiting for her whole life.

She walked over to Shawn and looped her arm through his. The hem of her white dress dragged across the blood I had spilled on the floor.

"Shawn, did you get the heart blood?" she asked.

"Yes." When Shawn answered her, his voice changed. It was gentle, truly gentle.

It wasn't the fake warmth he had always put on for me. This was something real, something that came from deep inside him.

Lila took the crystal vial and swirled it in the candlelight.

The golden liquid moved inside, and that was my baby's entire life right there.

She pressed the bottle to her cheek, closed her eyes, and said, "It's so warm."

Shawn's voice came from above, cold and certain. "Keep going."

The dagger went deeper, cutting through the vessels that connected my Bloodcore to my body one by one. Each time one broke, I felt something inside me disappear forever.

My strength was slipping away, my senses were going numb, and even the pain started to fade.

Cain had stopped struggling, but that wasn't him giving up.

I saw something else in his eyes.

He was biting his own tongue.

For vampires, the blood from their tongue could trigger something called Blood Rage. It made their strength explode to three times the normal level for a few seconds, but the price was falling into a sleep that could last a hundred years.

Before I could say "don't," Cain exploded into motion.

Four guards went flying at the same time. In an instant, Cain was at the altar, grabbing the elder and slamming him to the ground.

The dagger clattered away. Blood poured from the wound in my belly, but at least my Bloodcore hadn't been fully torn out yet.

Shawn called out, his tone casual, "Stephen."

Stephen, the captain of the guard, drew the black iron sword from his belt.

The blade was carved with sealing runes, a cursed sword made to take down vampires. One strike could lock away a vampire's bloodline power.

Before Cain could turn around, Stephen's sword went through his shoulder.

The moment the runes lit up, Cain's strength vanished, and he dropped to one knee.

Shawn walked over to Cain and looked down at him. "Interesting," he said. "The heir of the Nosferatu Coven, burning his tongue's blood for Blood Rage, risking a hundred years of sleep to save his sister. That's really touching."

He crouched down, grabbed Cain by the chin, and forced him to look up.

"But did you ever stop to think, Cain?" he went on. "For eight hundred years, your coven lived a comfortable life in Criviston off your sister's title as my Consort.

"You've got the best hunting grounds, the biggest share of blood slaves, and two seats on the Elder Council. While you were taking all that, did you once ask yourself what it would cost you?"

Cain clenched his jaw. "She deserved all of it. She was your Consort."

"She was my tool," Shawn said coldly.

He let go of Cain's chin and stood up. "Once a tool has done its job, you throw it away. Your coven has been living off this deal for eight hundred years. Now it's time to pay up."

Then he gave Stephen a nod.

Stephen drew his sword and kicked Cain into the corner.

"Lock him in the Bloodcage," Shawn ordered coldly. "Once Lila's transformation is finished, his blood will be useful. Pure vampire blood is valuable for the final stage of her transformation."

Lila strode forward, treading across the blood scattered on the ground. She came to a stop beside the altar and cast her gaze down toward me.

What truly shattered me was not the hatred or mockery in her eyes. It was the calm, unbothered look on her face, like nothing about this was wrong.

"Thank you, Selena," Lila whispered as she bent down. "Back when Father asked if I wanted to marry Shawn, I said no. I knew the blood exchange would kill me if I went through it myself."

She paused for a moment, and then continued, "I was the one who begged Father to have you take my place and marry him instead.

"I told him that once you had a child, I could use the child's heart blood to turn safely. Then I would marry Shawn for real, and nobody could say a word against it."

My mind went completely blank. "Father knew about this?" I choked out.

Lila smiled and nodded. "Of course he knew. Why do you think he agreed to the swap so easily? You're his real daughter and I'm the adopted one. By rights, he should have protected you more than me."

She straightened up and tilted her head as she looked at me. "But Selena, Father was more afraid of dying than anything else. Shawn promised him that if he played along, the Nosferatu Coven would have three thousand years of peace."

My eight hundred years of marriage, my child's life, and my Bloodcore all traded for three thousand years of peace.