CHAPTER 32
WHEN I WAKE, my head pounds with each heartbeat, my mouth cotton-dry. I will my limbs to move, only to find my wrists and ankles bound to the wrought iron chair I’m sitting in. I look around frantically, recognizing the type of underground cavern I’m in, and pure panic consumes me.
“Welcome back, my dearest bride,” a voice, theatrical in its cadence, drawls behind me.
No.
I turn my head, wincing at the effort, to find myself staring into the newest face of my nightmares: Cain, debonair in a high-collared shirt with cascading sleeves fit for a scorned prince. His smile is radiant—a cruel joke in the face of ruin. Behind him stand two figures.
One is Lucien, Cain’s pet witch.
The other is Lexa, Captain Ventura.
My stomach twists with betrayal. “It was you all along.”
Lexa’s face remains impassive, but something like shame flickers in her eyes before she masks it.
Cain laughs, thoroughly delighted by this moment of revelation.
He strokes a hand from the top of my head to the side, tucking strands of hair away before leaning in, murmuring, “No game is worth playing without a wild card.” He circles me then, still grinning from ear to ear.
“How would you rate the surprise factor, Seraph? One being none and ten being completely blindsided?”
Rage, fury, anger, and hatred on levels I didn’t know were possible seethe beneath my skin. If looks could kill, he’d be dead this instant.
“Why?” I croak, directing my attention to Lexa rather than Cain. “Why betray everything you claimed to stand for? Everyone you grew up with?”
Lexa doesn’t respond.
“Blood is thicker than honor, deeper than law, and fiercer than any kingdom’s claim,” Cain responds in her stead, chuckling all the while. “Who do you think gave you that necklace?”
The woman at the market, the elderly vendor with the faded floral headscarf.
Could she be… her mother? My head whips toward Lexa, seeing her in an entirely new light.
Those two are family? I then take a good look at Lucien, who can’t be much older than Lexa if judging by appearance.
There is no obvious resemblance, but the thought strikes me anyway. Are they siblings? Is she a witch, too?
“Is Lucien your brother?” I whisper, hoping she’ll at least give me a hint, any sign that I’m not completely off track.
Something changes in her eyes—a burden finally acknowledged. “Half,” she corrects, answering my prayers. “Same mother, different fathers.”
“That’s enough revelations for now,” Cain says, clapping. “I hope you remember my promise to you, Seraph.” He reaches out to touch my face as I jerk away as much as my restraints allow. “Bring them in.”
I strain against my bonds, the leather cutting into my wrists.
Sweat beads on my forehead and trickles down my temple, mingling with the grime smudged across my skin.
Every second drags on, my mind racing with the dread of what’s to come, the unknown terror tightening its grip around me like these cuffs.
The door behind him opens, two vampires dragging in struggling figures—both bound and gagged. My breath comes in ragged gasps, my heart pounding so loud it drowns out everything else.
“Mom,” I whisper, nausea and shock-induced clarity overwhelming me at the same time.
She is thin, almost gaunt, her white hair hanging limply around her shoulders.
But her eyes burn with the same defiance I feel in my own heart.
She looks up at me, and for a moment, everything else falls away.
Recognition, sorrow, and fierce love all flash across her face.
“Seraph,” she breathes, her voice cracked but strong. “My brave girl.”
I almost cry, tears burning behind my eyes, but there’s no room for weakness. I have to fight.
Saul looks worse, barely conscious, his face bruised and bloody, one eye swollen shut. It’s painfully obvious how fresh his beatings are.
“Sis,” he manages, the word slurred through split lips.
“Family reunion,” Cain announces, spreading his arms wide. “Isn’t this cozy? All of you together again after all these years.”
I look from my mother to my brother, both beaten but unbowed, and feel something hardening inside me. A resolve that burns through the fear and confusion. We may be captives now, but this isn’t over. Not by a long shot.
“Let them go,” I growl, pulling hard against my restraints until the leather cuts deeper into my wrists.
“Oh, but they are such effective motivation.” Cain snaps his fingers, and one of his lackeys yanks my mother’s head back by her hair. She doesn’t make a sound, but I can see the pain flash across her face.
“Stop!” I shout, my voice breaking.
Cain approaches my mother, running one finger along her jawline. “Seena, my love. How the years have changed you. Still a sight for sore eyes, though. A corpse bride.” His eyes flick to me. “She was supposed to be mine, you know? Before your father stole her away.”
I know. And I’m glad he did.
My mother’s eyes blaze with hatred as she stares up at Cain. Even gagged and bound, she radiates temerity.
“You’ve had her prisoner for over a decade,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady. “Isn’t that enough?”
“Hardly.” Cain moves to Saul next, circling him like a toy. “And this one—so much like his father. The same infuriating compassion. The same… breakable body.”
Without warning, he drives his fist into Saul’s stomach. My brother doubles over as far as his bonds allow, a muffled groan burbling from the gag.
“Saul!” I scream, thrashing against my restraints.
Cain continues as if I hadn’t spoken, grabbing his face and forcing it up.
“We’ve been having such interesting conversations, your brother and I.
About loyalty, perseverance, pain thresholds.
” He drives another blow into Saul’s ribs, and I hear something crack.
“About how long he thinks you’ll hold out before you give me what I want. ”
Tears burn in my eyes as I watch my brother’s body convulse with pain, knowing he won’t heal as fast as vampires.
Cain approaches me, his smile widening as he leans down until his face is inches from mine. “You’re so beautiful when you cry.”
“Please stop,” I plead, no longer caring about how pathetic I sound.
Cain sighs dramatically, then turns back to my family. “Round two coming up.”
He nods to one of his vampires, who produces a pocket knife.
“No!” I lunge forward, but it’s useless.
The vampire presses the blade against my mother’s forearm, slicing slowly.
She doesn’t scream, doesn’t even flinch, but her eyes find mine across the room, filled with a silent plea I can’t decipher.
Cain gestures again, and the vampire moves the knife to my mother’s face, pressing the tip just below her eye.
“Stop!” I bellow. “I’ll do it.”
Cain holds up a hand, grinning from ear to ear, and the vampire pauses. “Are you reconsidering my offer?”
I look from my mother to my brother, both watching me with the same intensity despite their pain. They silently urge me to stay strong, to resist. But at what cost? How much of their suffering can I bear to witness?
“I need time,” I blurt out, trying to buy myself a moment to think.
“Time is something your family doesn’t have much of.” Cain nods to the vampire again.
This time, he turns to Saul, pressing the knife against my brother’s throat. A splash of dark ruby explodes into the air, painting the walls with blood.
I try to scream, yell, but all that escapes is a shuddering gasp, choked by the weight in my throat. My voice shatters into sobs I can’t control. My mother’s eyes close in defeat.
Cain moves to crouch in front of me, wiping tears from my face in a mock attempt to console me.
“Would you like a sneak peek into the next few days of your life trying to refuse me? Starting soon, pieces of your family will be removed. One finger at a time. One limb at a time. Until there’s nothing left but their screams for you to remember them by.
” He moves to a nearby table, lifting a crystal decanter. “Wine?”
The casual offer in the midst of his threats and torture is so absurd I almost laugh. “I’ll pass.”
“Suit yourself.” He pours himself a glass of deep red liquid that I doubt is only wine, then takes a sip, savoring it. “Let’s try again,” he says, setting down his glass with deliberate care. “Will you become my bride willingly, or shall we sharpen the motivation?”
My eyes dart to my mother, whose face has gone ashen as she shakes her head minutely, trying to tell me not to give in. I look at Saul, blood still trickling from the shallow cut on his throat, his good eye fixed on me with a plea I can’t answer.
“Just give me some time to think,” I whisper, defeat growing in my chest.
“By all means.” Cain gestures for violence again. “Allow me to help you focus your thoughts.”
The vampire cracks my mother’s fingers until bones break, one by one as instructed. She doesn’t scream, but tears stream down her face, her body rigid with agony.
Cain picks up his glass again and swirls the contents with sickening glee as he watches. When the vampire is done with my mother’s hand, Cain turns to Lexa, his eyes sparkling with inspiration.
“My dear, may I borrow your blade?” he asks. “The special one.”
Something like hesitation crosses Lexa’s face before she reaches to her belt, unsheathing a lumen dagger with garnet inlays that glimmer like embers trapped in stone. Every captain gets an ornamented one like hers upon promotion. She hands it to him, her movements stiff.
Cain tests the edge with his thumb. “Such exquisite craftsmanship. Redmoore’s finest creation, I believe?
Fit for kings, and none more fitting than me.
” He twirls the dagger between his fingers, turning it into a streaking blur of shimmering teal.
“Did you know, Seraph, that we Nobles have special adaptations? Our hearts are protected by hardened tissue that even lumenite cannot penetrate.” He taps his chest proudly. “A divine insurance policy.”
My stomach drops as he walks to Saul, who’s slumped in his bonds, barely conscious.
“You and your brother, however,” Cain continues, pressing the tip of the blade against Saul’s chest, “lack certain advantages. Half-breeds are such fascinating creatures—neither fully one thing nor the other.”
The tip breaks Saul’s skin, drawing a bead of dark blood that wells around the metal. His eyes snap open, suddenly alert with pain.
Flashes of Ace’s hand buried inside my chest tear through my mind, remembering how close I’d come to death back then. Even with Noble blood in our veins, our hearts remain exposed beneath fragile skin.
“Wait!” I cry out.
Cain doesn’t listen, only presses harder, until the blade has sunk a quarter-inch into Saul’s flesh. “Interesting. It seems the dhampir heart isn’t quite as protected as ours.”
Saul starts gagging, a sheen of sweat coating his brow. His breaths come ragged and shallow, each one sounding like a desperate wheeze. The color drains from his lips, leaving them pale and cracked.
His fingers are clawing at something that isn’t there.
A cold, crawling dread coils up my spine as the life inside him begins to slip away.
“I’ll do it,” I say, unable to look anywhere but the floor. “I’ll be your bride.”
Cain pauses, the dagger still embedded in my brother’s chest. “Say it again. With feeling this time.”
My hands tremble uncontrollably at my sides, the only sound in the room my mother’s strained, silent sobs.
There’s no escape. I know it. And Cain knows it, too.
The part of me that once resisted, that fought for something better, has withered away in the face of his power. My body feels like a shell, empty and devoid of will.
I swallow the bile rising in my throat. “I’ll be your bride.” There’s absolutely no feeling in my words at all, and he won’t be getting any from me either.
Cain studies me, searching for deceit.
Finding none, he withdraws the dagger with ostentatious slowness, then wipes it clean on Saul’s shirt before handing it back to Lexa with a flourish.
He raises his glass to Lucien with a satisfied nod. “Excellent choice.”
Relief washes over me as my mother slumps in her restraints, her breathing labored but steady. My brother’s head drops in defeat, blood trickling down his chest where the dagger has left its mark.
“Take them back to their cells, and make sure they’re comfortable,” Cain orders. “After all, they are family now.”
As they drag them away, I catch my mother’s gaze one last time. There’s no judgment there, only a deep, aching sorrow that cuts me to the core. Lexa and Lucien are the last to leave, following everyone out.
Once we’re alone, Cain drains his glass and turns back to me. “Now, let’s discuss the details of our arrangement.”