From His Shield to His Nightmare

Three days later, my door opened.

Cedric walked in with Elsie on his arm.

The bloodstone ring on her left ring finger, a symbol of her clan's alliance, flashed a blinding red.

The Eternal Ice Rose I had dreamed of for a century was now a brooch pinned to her chest, a declaration of her victory.

“Alaina,” Cedric’s voice was flat. “How are you feeling?”

“Alive,” I said hoarsely. “Disappointed?”

Cedric’s brow twitched, as if surprised by my calm.

Elsie walked to my bedside, her face a mask of false concern. “I’ve been wanting to see you. I heard you were badly injured protecting us. You’re so brave.”

Protecting them.

What a fucking joke.

“Just doing my duty,” I replied, my face blank.

“Your loyalty is truly touching,” Elsie said, a flash of unconcealed triumph in her eyes.

Just then, a black shadow flew in through the window and landed on my shoulder.

It was a raven. His feathers were ink-black, shimmering with a strange, blood-red light.

His name was Nyx.

He was a magical familiar, born from our mixed blood and magic when we first sealed our Guardian’s Pact.

He was our deepest secret.

And my only family in this cold castle.

A flicker of jealousy and disgust crossed Elsie’s face. She turned to Cedric, her voice sickly sweet. “Darling, Alaina’s familiar is so special. But… your darkness is all over him. It reminds me of a past I don’t share. It makes me… uneasy.”

Cedric froze.

He was silent for a few seconds.

Then, he issued a command to the castle’s dark magic deacon.

“Have Malachi bring his ‘Purification Altar’ to the healing chamber. Now.”

My blood ran cold.

Malachi was the deacon in charge of dealing with corrupted beasts and purifying bloodlines.

What he was about to do… would it be crueler than simply killing Nyx?

No.

He wouldn’t…

Twenty minutes later, Malachi walked in carrying an ancient obsidian chest.

He looked at me on the bed, then at Cedric in confusion. “My Lord, are you certain… you want to perform the ‘Blood Purification’ ritual here?”

I thought he was going to kill Nyx, to erase the last secret between us.

I was wrong.

The truth was a thousand times crueler.

“Right here,” Cedric said, magically pulling the panicked Nyx from my shoulder and suspending him in mid-air.

That blood-red raven, a life I co-created with his own heart’s blood and my family’s sacred blood after I took a fatal curse for him the 100th time.

One of a kind.

“Purify him,” he ordered Malachi, pointing at Nyx. “Use the princess's pure blood. Wash every trace of that human filth off of him.”

“My Lord!” Malachi’s voice was tight. “Are you sure? Forcibly purifying a familiar… it will suffer immense pain, its spirit might even collapse!”

“Do as I say,” Cedric’s tone was absolute.

I didn’t struggle or beg as he expected.

I just slowly sat up in bed and stared at him with a gaze as cold as ice.

“This is the last thing that binds us,” I said, my voice dangerously calm. “Are you sure you want to destroy it with your own hands?”

My calmness unnerved him, sparking a flicker of panic.

He looked away, refusing to meet my eyes, his tone even colder and more forceful. “Shut up. This has nothing to do with you.”

Nothing to do with me.

I said nothing more. I just watched.

Watched as he, for another woman, personally tortured our last shred of history to death.

The purification incantation echoed in the quiet room, a soul-tearing screech.

Nyx let out a piercing shriek, not like a bird, but like an infant being dismembered alive.

I saw the beautiful blood-red light being forcibly stripped from him, dissipating into black smoke.

His black feathers fell out in clumps, revealing raw, bloody skin beneath.

My heart felt like it was being torn apart by the same spell, the pain was unbearable.

But my face remained expressionless.

I simply carved this pain, this hatred, into the very marrow of my bones.

I watched the life I created, the symbol of our past, being tormented, devoured, and consumed by the “pure blood” that represented his new alliance, his new mate.

Cedric stood by, watching with a blank face.

His eyes never left Elsie.

“Will it hurt?” Elsie asked, dabbing at Cedric’s non-existent sweat with a handkerchief, her voice full of feigned concern.

“Old things must be cleansed,” Cedric’s voice was devoid of warmth, but his eyes never left her. “A little pain is necessary to welcome a new, pure beginning.”

An hour later, the ritual was over.

Nyx was no longer Nyx.

His once night-black feathers were now a startling, lifeless white.

The blood-red light was gone forever.

He lay on the altar, barely breathing, looking at me with the eyes of a stranger filled with fear.

“Perfect,” Elsie whispered, holding out her hand. The white raven hesitated, then flew to her arm. She gave him a new name. “From now on, you’ll be called Lumi.”

Cedric looked at the strange white raven, at how it affectionately nuzzled Elsie’s cheek.

He gave Elsie a weak but satisfied smile.

“Yes,” he said, but his gaze sliced into mine.

“Now, he belongs only to you.”