Chapter Four
1075 Words
Seraphine POV
The silence was unbearable as me and the entire hall waited.
Or perhaps it was mine.
The High Priest stood between us, still expectant.
“General Kael Draven,” he repeated once more.
“Do you take Seraphine Vale as your wife, to bind her blood to yours under the sacred laws of the Empire?”
Every noble house watched, waiting for his decision.
Kael did not look at the priest.
He looked at me.
His dark green eyes were unreadable, carved from something harder than stone.
The silence stretched so long that I felt it press against my ribs.
Then—
“Yes.”
His tone was firm, not loud, but form.
A ripple tore through the hall.
Gasps, wild whispers all flared up like a match lit.
He did not break eye contact as he added more.
“I do.”
The words settled like iron chains around my shoulders.
The priest turned to me then.
“Seraphine Vale of House Vale.”
The irony nearly made me laugh.
House Vale.
The house that had cast me aside.
The house that had handed me to death without blinking.
“Do you take General Kael Draven as your husband? To bind your blood to his, to stand at his side under Empire law, and to submit to the sacred union decreed before us?”
Yet again another irony…
A choice had never been offered to me.
Maybe a rope around my neck, maybe a threat of death or marriage…
But choice?
Never.
Still, I lifted my chin.
If this was my fate, I would not crawl into it.
“Yes,” I said, my voice clear enough to carry through the hall. “I do.”
A hiss of outrage rippled outward.
The priest nodded solemnly and motioned to the ceremonial table beside us.
A blade laid there.
“The union shall be sealed in blood,” the priest declared. “As was done by the first wolves, so it shall be done today.”
Kael stretched out his hand first.
The priest sliced across his palm.
The cut was sharp and clean, his blood poured soon after, dripping down from his hand.
Then the blade turned toward me.
For half a second, I considered pulling away.
Instead, I held still.
I felt it's sharp edge kiss my skin, as pain flared.
My blood poured too, and then our hands were pressed together.
Blood to blood.
The priest wrapped the white cloth tightly around our joined hands.
“By blood,” he intoned, “you are bound.”
The cloth darkened quickly as our blood soaked through.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the priest announced loudly, turning to the assembly, “bear witness. General Kael Draven and his wife… Seraphine of House Vale.”
The hall did not erupt in applause.
It exploded in jeers and boos and then the sharp insults followed.
“Traitor!”
“Shame!”
“Curse this union!”
“She's a w***e!!”
The first object struck near my feet.
Rotten fruit and then another.
A goblet clattered across the marble.
I felt something heavy hit my shoulder.
Then—
A sharp c***k against my forehead.
Pain burst like lightning.
I staggered and fell to my feet.
I felt my blood roll down my forehead, down into my eye.
The crowd roared louder.
Another object flew.
Then another.
My vision blurred.
My knees buckled and I fell to the marble floor.
The jeers grew deafening.
Slowly, I looked up at him.
At Kael.
He stood tall, but his expression did not shift.
There was no reaction. Maybe pulling out his sword and daring one more person to throw an object or carrying me up and dashing our of this place.
Instead, he looked down at me, his gaze cold.
“Get up,” he said.
That was all.
“We’re leaving.”
Something inside me fractured.
I had not expected tenderness, I knew better than to, but I had expected something, anything… maybe a display of dominance over what's now his.
Instead—
Nothing.
I slapped his offered hand away.
“Forget this,” I muttered.
Gasps rippled through the hall at my defiance.
I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring the blood dripping from my forehead, and turned.
I ran.
“Stop her!” Kael’s voice finally cut through the chaos.
I didn’t look back.
Two guards lunged at the grand doors.
I ducked under the first arm and slipped away from the second, using their own momentum against them.
My boots pounded against marble as I tore through the corridor, servants scrambling out of my way.
I heard shouts and orders echoing behind me and footsteps lagging far behind.
No way were they keeping up with me wearing those metal armors.
I burst through the palace doors and into the courtyard as the sharp air hit my face.
My freedom was ahead.
The main gates stood tall at the far end and there were no guards there.
I sprinted as fast as I could, my lungs burning.
The gates grew closer.
Closer.
I reached them and shoved them with all my strength.
They did not budge.
I pushed again.
Nothing.
My breath came sharp and ragged.
Panic threatened to claw its way up my throat.
Then—
A prickle at the back of my neck.
Every instinct inside me spiked up at once.
Danger!
I turned sharply..
But it was too late.
A blade drove cleanly through my abdomen.
It pierced through me and burst from my back.
For a heartbeat, I did not understand.
Then the pain arrived.
It was massive and heavy and it stole the air from my lungs.
My mouth opened but no sound came.
My legs gave out and I collapsed to my knees, blood pouring down my stomach.
The blade withdrew with a sickening slide.
I fell forward onto the stone.
The world around me tilted and then began to blur.
I heard footsteps moving around me and then a figure stood over me.
It was a male, I was sure of that, but I couldn't see his face clearly enough, my vision was already dimming.
The threat note flashed in my mind.
Tomorrow night, you die.
I should have run sooner or at least stayed with Kael.
Soon, I heard footsteps approaching and loud screams, but it all felt distant.
Then…
Nothing.
And the world went black.
- Writer
