Chapter 12 Trial of Blood
I waited exactly three minutes after Kael left.
Then I grabbed a cloak and went after him.
He said stay. Lock the door. Hide like a good little prisoner. But Marcus died protecting me. I was done hiding while people I cared about bled.
The servants' passages were dark. Cold. The kind of cold that sank into bones and stayed there. I had learned these tunnels over twelve years of servitude. Every twist. Every hidden door. Every place where stone met shadow and you could disappear.
Now I used them to get closer to the throne room without being seen.
The passage behind the eastern wall had gaps. Cracks in the stone where you could see through without being noticed. I pressed myself against freezing rock and looked.
The throne room was packed. Every noble in Nocterra crowded in to watch their king fight for his right to rule. The air tasted like old blood and anticipation. Vampires did not breathe but somehow the room felt breathless anyway.
Kael stood in the center. Armed. Dangerous. His eyes were black and his face was the mask of a king who had forgotten how to feel.
Across from him stood Cassian. Golden hair perfect. Smile sharp. He looked like an angel. Fought like a demon. I had heard the stories. He was fast. Cruel. Had killed dozens in duels and never lost.
"The challenged may speak," Elder Voss said from his place beside the throne. His voice crackled with age. With power that predated the kingdom itself.
Cassian bowed mockingly. "I speak for Lord Lucian Ashford, who acted to protect Nocterra from a king corrupted by dark magic. The half-blood carries a curse. She will destroy us all if allowed to live."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Hungry. Eager.
"The bond is fate," Kael said. His voice was ice. "Not corruption. Not curse. Fate."
"Fate?" Cassian laughed. It echoed wrong off the stone walls. "Or prophecy twisted? The Shadowborn were seers, Your Majesty. What if the girl planned this? Used blood magic to force the bond? To trap you?"
"Impossible. The bond cannot be forced."
"Can it not? How convenient that the last Shadowborn heir just happened to be in your palace. Just happened to be pushed forward at exactly the right moment. Just happened to bond with you when no one else could." Cassian's smile widened. "She is playing you. And you are too blind to see it."
Rage burned through me. Lies. All lies. But the crowd was listening. Believing.
Kael's hands flexed. "Enough talk. You want trial by combat? Then fight me and die."
"As you wish, Your Majesty." Cassian drew his sword. The blade gleamed red in the candlelight. "But know this. When I kill you, I will hunt down your half-blood whore and make her death last days. She will beg me for mercy. And I will laugh."
Kael moved.
Faster than my eyes could track. His sword met Cassian's with a sound like thunder. They broke apart. Circled. The room went silent.
Then they collided again.
It was brutal. Vicious. No mercy. No hesitation. Just centuries of vampire strength and speed unleashed in a space too small to contain it.
Kael was better. Stronger. His blade found openings that should not exist. But Cassian was fast and cheated. Used magic. Threw power at Kael that should not be allowed in honorable combat.
No one stopped him.
Blood hit the floor. Kael's blood. A gash across his ribs that would have killed a human. He barely slowed.
They fought across the throne room. Destroyed furniture. Cracked stone. The other vampires pressed back to give them space or maybe to avoid being killed accidentally.
Cassian's blade caught Kael's shoulder. Bone showed through torn flesh before it started healing.
"You are weakening, Draeven," Cassian taunted. "The curse is still there. Buried. Waiting. Kill the half-blood and it will release you."
"Never."
"Then die bound to your weakness."
Cassian moved wrong. Too fast. His blade was suddenly at Kael's throat and I did not see how he got there.
Magic. Dark magic that tasted rotten even from here.
Kael froze. One wrong move and Cassian would take his head.
"Yield," Cassian said. "Yield and I will make it quick."
"Go to hell."
"You first."
The blade moved.
I did not think. Did not plan. Just reacted.
Power exploded out of me. Shadow and blood and something ancient I did not understand. It ripped through the wall. Through stone. Slammed into Cassian and threw him across the throne room into the far wall hard enough to crack it.
Silence.
Every vampire turned to look at the wall. At the hole I had torn in it. At me standing there with power crackling around my hands like lightning made of darkness.
"Sera," Kael breathed.
Cassian pulled himself from the rubble. His perfect face was ruined. Bleeding. Furious. "You dare interfere? This is sacred combat!"
"You cheated first." My voice did not sound like mine. Deeper. Colder. "Dark magic. Blood curses. You broke the rules before I did."
"She is right." Elder Voss stood. His ancient eyes studied me with something like recognition. "Lord Morweth used forbidden magic. The trial is void."
"No!" Cassian screamed. "She is the corruption! She is—"
Kael was on him. His blade through Cassian's chest before he could finish. Not killing. Not yet. Just pinning him to the wall like an insect.
"You threatened what is mine," Kael said quietly. Dangerously. "You broke sacred law. You allied with traitors." He twisted the blade. Cassian screamed. "Give me one reason I should not tear your head off right now."
"Because killing me starts a war," Cassian gasped. Blood poured from his mouth. "House Morweth will not accept this insult. Neither will the others who stand with me."
"Then let them come. I will kill them all." Kael's eyes were solid black. No red left. Just void. "But you. You die today."
"Wait." I stepped through the hole in the wall. Walked across the throne room while every vampire watched. "Let him live."
Kael's head snapped toward me. "What?"
"Let him live. Exile him. Strip his titles. Destroy his house's power." I stopped beside Kael. Met his eyes. "But let him live. Show mercy. Show the realm you are more than just cruelty."
"He tried to kill me. Tried to kill you."
"I know. But mercy is stronger than murder right now. They are watching. They are waiting to see what kind of king you are." I touched his arm. "Be the king you were before grief broke you."
Something flickered in his expression. Surprise. Maybe pain. Maybe hope.
He pulled the blade out of Cassian. Let him drop.
"Exile," Kael announced. "House Morweth is stripped of lands, titles, and rights. Cassian Morweth is banished to the Shadowlands. If he returns, he dies. This is my mercy. Do not make me regret it."
Guards grabbed Cassian. Dragged him away bleeding and spitting curses.
Kael turned to the assembled nobles. "Anyone else want to question my right to rule? Question my bond? Question my queen?"
Queen. He called me queen.
No one spoke. They just stared at me with fear and hunger and calculation.
"Good." Kael's hand found mine. "Court is dismissed. Get out."
They left. Fast. Like escaping a predator's den.