From His Shield to His Nightmare

My calm submission seemed to unnerve Cedric more than any violent protest.

I had just packed the last ancient spellbook into my trunk when the door to my hideout was blasted open by a surge of dark magic.

Cedric stood in the doorway, his crimson eyes were bloodshot, burning with a desperate rage.

“What game are you playing?” he growled, his voice low and dangerous.

His eyes raked over me, scrutinizing me from head to toe, as if trying to find a single crack in my facade.

“I am simply fulfilling my duty as a guardian, my Lord,” I answered calmly, even giving a slight curtsy.

“Duty?” he snarled. “Designing a better token for my fiancée than the one you made for me? Supervising its creation and calling it duty? Alaina, do you really think I can't see you're trying to provoke me?"

“I am not provoking you,” I met his eyes, my tone innocent. “I merely wish to offer my final, most perfect contribution to the Thorne clan.”

“Final?” He seized on the word.

A vicious glint flashed in his eyes as he grabbed my wrist.

“Where do you think you’re going? Alaina, have you forgotten who you are?!”

I didn’t answer. I just stared at him in silence.

My silence was, in his eyes, the clearest sign of betrayal.

“Where could you possibly run?” he roared, his hot breath on my face. “You are mine, Alaina! My mark has been in your blood for a hundred years! You can’t go anywhere without my permission!”

“Is that so?” I finally spoke, no longer willing to endure it.

My question ignited his fury.

He flung me against the stone wall, his hand clamping around my throat like a white-hot poker.

SLAP.

His other hand struck my face.

The force was so great I tasted blood.

“You dare question me?” he raged, his voice a guttural snarl.

He pulled an ancient, heavy insignia carved from human bone from his coat and slammed it against the wall next to my head.

The “First Blood Vow” sigil of the guardian family.

"Your ancestors begged mine for the gift of long life," he hissed, his voice pure venom. "They swore a blood oath. Your life, your loyalty, everything about you… belongs to the Thorne clan! It belongs to me!”

I stared at the sigil, my blood turning to ice.

“You’re using my ancestors’ oath against me?” I asked hoarsely.

“If it’s the only way to make you obey!” He picked up the sigil, his eyes turning cold again. “Alaina, don’t forget, your family’s near-immortal life is a gift from my ancestors. If you dare break your vow, if you defy your lord…”

He leaned close to my ear, hissing the vilest threat.

“I will invoke the Vow's price. You will lose your long life. Your body will rapidly age and decay, turning to dust. Your entire family’s longevity will be crippled. Do you dare gamble your family’s fate?”

I just looked at him. The man I was once willing to die for, now stooping to such vile threats to keep me.

My eyes held no fear, only a deep, bottomless pity.

He didn’t know. Everything he was relying on was already an expired contract.

Soon, he would learn. No pact is eternal.

My silence was his victory.

He released me, his sense of control restored.

“Good.” He adjusted his collar, as if he wasn’t the one who had just lost control. “The day after tomorrow. The ‘Eternal Vow’ ceremony. You will be there.”

He paused, then delivered the final, cruel blow.

“And you will personally present the chalice you so ‘diligently’ crafted to Elsie. You will kneel. And you will show every clan in attendance what a guardian's absolute loyalty looks like.”

I looked at him and answered in a hollow voice, “I understand.”

He thought he had won. Satisfied, he turned to leave. “Remember your place, Alaina. You are my property. Not my enemy.”

He and his blood thralls vanished into the night.

I stood alone in the trashed room, gently touching my swollen cheek.

The blood-red moon cast long shadows on the floor.

He had no idea his insane command was the final piece of my plan.

What could be a more perfect curtain call than leaving him, completely and forever, at his grandest celebration, in front of everyone?