Chapter 35 Blood Price
"We cannot hold!" A guard shouted. "They are breaking through!"
"Then we make them regret it!" I threw shadows. Ripped soldiers off walls. Sent them screaming to the ground.
The child stirred. Restless. Wanting to help. Its magic flared.
Pain shot through me. Sharp. Agonizing. I gasped.
"Sera!" Kael was there. "What is wrong?"
"The baby. It wants to fight. But it is hurting me." I gripped his arm. "I cannot stop it. It is too strong."
"Then let it help. Channel it. Use it."
"I do not know how!"
"Figure it out fast. Because they are about to breach the gates."
The gates exploded inward. Soldiers poured through. Hundreds. Thousands.
We were being overwhelmed.
The child's magic exploded from me. Wild. Uncontrolled. Shadows darker than night. They swept through the enemy. Killed dozens. Hundreds.
But the effort cost me. Blood ran from my nose. My vision blurred.
"Too much," I gasped. "It is taking too much."
Kael caught me as I fell. "Healers! Now!"
"No time for healers." I looked at the breach. At the endless army. "We are going to lose. There are too many."
"Then we die fighting."
"No. You do not die." I grabbed his face. "Promise me. If I fall. If the baby kills me using its power. Promise me you will survive. Raise our child. Teach it to be better than us."
"I am not promising that. We both survive or neither of us does."
"Kael—"
"No. We do this together. Like everything else." He kissed me hard. "Now get up. We have a war to win."
He helped me stand. We walked back to the fight. Side by side.
The eastern kingdoms' armies arrived. Ten thousand soldiers slamming into the rebels' flank.
The tide turned. Barely. Enough.
We fought for hours. Bled. Killed. Survived.
When the sun set, both sides retreated. Exhausted. Broken. Alive.
Day one of the siege was done. But it was just beginning.
Serina's voice echoed across the field. "Tomorrow we finish this. Tomorrow you die, Sera Blackwood. You and your cursed child."
I did not answer. Just stood on the wall. Bloodied. Defiant.
Let them come. Let them all come.
We would still be standing when the dust settled.
Or we would die trying.
Either way, we would not break. And I had no idea how we would escape.
Day two started with fire.
The rebels launched burning projectiles over the walls. Oil. Pitch. Magic flames that would not die with water.
The palace grounds became an inferno.
"Fall back to the inner keep!" Kael shouted through smoke and chaos. "Abandon the outer courtyards!"
We retreated. Lost ground we could not afford to lose. But staying meant burning alive.
I helped drag wounded soldiers. My magic flickered. Weak. The child had drained too much yesterday.
"Your Majesty!" A guard stumbled toward me. Arrow in his chest. "They are using blood magic. Cursed weapons. Our healers cannot fix—"
He collapsed. Dead. The arrow had been poisoned with something dark.
"They are cheating," Rowan appeared beside me. Blood on his face. "Using forbidden magic. War crimes."
"War has no crimes. Only winners and losers." I looked at the burning courtyards. "Where is Kael?"
"North wall. Fighting Serina's elite guard." Rowan grabbed my arm. "You should not be out here. Not pregnant. Not drained."
"I am not hiding while people die for me."
"Noble. Stupid. But noble." He pulled me toward the inner keep. "Come on. Before you get killed and I have to explain to Kael how I let his pregnant queen—"
An explosion cut him off. The north wall. Where Kael was.
Horror flooded through me. The bond screamed. Pain. His pain.
"Kael!" I ran. Rowan shouted behind me but I did not care.
Reached the north wall. Saw devastation. Stone blown apart. Bodies everywhere. And in the center, Kael on his knees. Surrounded by Serina's soldiers.
"No!" I threw shadows. Weak but enough. Distracted them. Gave Kael seconds to recover.
He moved. Fast. Brutal. Killed three before they realized what happened.
But more came. Always more.
Serina appeared. Floating. Glowing with dark power. "You are persistent. I will give you that."
"Where did you get that magic?" Kael demanded. "Blood magic is forbidden. Even you would not—"
"I would do anything to end your reign. Including this." She raised her hands. Dark energy gathered. "Say goodbye to your queen, Kael. And your abomination."
She unleashed it. A wave of death magic. Coming straight at me.
I had nothing. No power. No defense. Just exhaustion and fear.
The child moved.
Not just power this time. Something else. Communication. Direct. Clear.
Mother. Let me help. Let me through.
A voice. My child's voice. In my mind.
I will hurt you, I sent back.
Better hurt than dead. Trust me.
I did. Dropped every defense. Let the child's magic flow freely.
Power exploded from me. Not shadows. Something else. Light. Pure white light that should not exist in a vampire's magic.
It met Serina's death wave. Cancelled it. Pushed back.
Serina screamed. The light hit her. Burned her. She fell from the sky.
I collapsed. Blood pouring from my nose. My ears. My eyes.
"Sera!" Kael caught me. "What did you do?"
"The baby. It talked to me. It—" I coughed blood. "It saved us. But it cost too much."
"Healers!" He was carrying me. Running. "Do not die. Do not you dare die."
"Not planning on it." But I could feel it. Something was wrong. The child had pushed too hard. Used too much.
My vision went dark.