Chapter 2

"Izzy, what are you doing here?" A voice came from behind me—soft, but it made my blood run cold.

I spun around in terror. Edward stood there in white, tall and imposing, his eyes like ice.

He moved like a shadow, closing the distance between us in seconds. His hand wrapped around my throat. "You heard everything Lydia and I said that day, didn't you?"

His fingers didn't actually tighten, but I felt like I couldn't breathe anyway.

"For ten years, I've just been Seraphina's replacement to you, haven't I?"

He laughed, and the sound was cruel. "Replacement? Don't flatter yourself, Izzy. You're just a pawn I'm using to bring her back."

My eyes went wide. I wasn't even good enough to be a replacement.

He said, "You shouldn't have come here. If you'd stayed away, I could've pretended you didn't know anything, and we could've kept playing our little game."

So he'd known all along that I'd overheard him and Lydia. He'd just watched me suffer and fall apart.

I was such a fool.

Edward locked me away after that. The only people I saw were him and Lydia.

The medicine Lydia brought for the baby still had his blood in it. The smell made me sick.

In this world, I was just a powerless human. No matter how much I hated Edward, there was nothing I could do.

The stress and pain ate away at me. I got thinner every day, but my stomach kept growing bigger and bigger.

Edward saw what I'd done, and rage flashed across his face. "Isabelle Hart, drop the act. If you ruin Seraphina's resurrection, you'll regret it."

The mask was off now. He didn't bother pretending to care anymore.

When Edward extracted my soul essence, he didn't hide what he was doing.

Pain tore through every nerve in my body, and I couldn't stop myself from convulsing. My voice came out raw and broken as I begged him to stop, but he just stood there looking down at me like I was nothing. His eyes were cold and merciless.

The pain dragged me under.

Through the haze, I felt warm hands lifting me up. Someone gently wiped the blood from my lips where I'd bitten down too hard.

"My lord, you've been giving her your heart's blood every day for the mistress' medicine, and now you're transferring massive amounts of your spiritual energy to her. Your body can't take much more of this."

So that explained the warmth. Edward was channeling his energy into me.

He was just making sure I didn't die and ruin his plans to bring his precious saint back.

I started blacking out more and more after that, but my memories from the modern world became sharper.

I could hear my parents calling me "sweetheart" in their gentle voices, and my friends laughing as they called out "Bella."

But when I woke up, there was nothing. Just Edward, cold as ice.

Lydia stood beside him, and when she looked at me, something complicated flickered in her expression, almost like pity.

Dread coiled in my stomach.

"Grandmaster of Highpeak said May 27th is a blessed day when heaven and earth align in perfect harmony," Edward explained. "If Seraphina is resurrected on that day, it'll help her restore her divine essence."

I didn't understand why he was telling me this.

"But right now, we're not extracting your soul fast enough to bring Seraphina back by then, so Izzy, this is going to hurt a lot more." He brushed the hair from my forehead, his touch gentle.

Cold dread shot through me.

Lydia looked pained. "My lady, my lord brought back Soulbind Spike from Highpeak. They'll speed up the extraction, but—"

"But they'll cause you more pain." Edward held up the Soulbind Spike.

Seven of them. Each one gleamed with a cruel, sharp edge.

I stumbled back two steps and pressed myself against the wall, terror flooding through me. "No, Edward, please don't. I'm still carrying our baby."

I couldn't imagine how much it would hurt when those seven spikes pierced my body.

"I'll die. I'll really die." I dropped to my knees at his feet and begged him.

He wiped away my tears. "I'm here. You'll be fine."

The moment he finished speaking, one Soulbind Spike drove into my spine.

"Ahhh—" I screamed.

Instantly, agonizing pain tore through every part of my body.

I thrashed and struggled, desperate to escape this torture, but Edward used his divine power to hold me in place.

"Please, let me go. It hurts so much, Edward, please, let me go."

I kept begging, hoping for even a shred of mercy from him, but his expression never changed. He drove all seven soul-binding spikes deep into my meridians with steady hands.

The pain was so intense that I bit down on his hand until blood ran between my teeth.

By the end, my clothes were soaked through with sweat, and I lay in his arms like a lifeless piece of flesh, barely breathing.

"My lord, why are you doing this?" Lydia's voice trembled. "Seraphina will revive eventually, even if it's not by May 27th. Her spirit just needs more time to heal. But Madam has a Soulbind Spike driven through her body. One wrong move and she could end up paralyzed for life!"

"Seraphina is a Divine Maiden." Edward's words cut through the air like ice. "She deserves the best of everything. As for Izzy, if she ends up paralyzed, I'll take care of her for the rest of her life."

His voice was ruthless, but I felt his hands shaking as he held me. His eyes stared at nothing, lost in thoughts I couldn't reach.

I couldn't tell anymore which hurt more—my body or my heart.

The Soulbind Spike had been driven through me, and every second since then had been pure agony. Day after day, night after night, the pain never stopped.

I lost count of how many times I thought I'd die. How many times I wanted to.

But Edward stayed right beside me the entire time. He kept pouring his spiritual energy into me, kept feeding me his blood. He wouldn't let me go.

I couldn't even die. He wouldn't allow it.