Chapter 1 To Be Stripped Away
"Strip it." Carlyle Sinclair remained seated on the obsidian throne, Leah Stone in his arms, not once meeting my eyes. "Crownmark of Blood, Blood Moonstone Necklace, BlackRose Palace, and Bloodwood Coffin, everything. Before tomorrow's coronation, they all go to Leah."
Silver candles in the banquet hall bowed under the wind. 13 Enforcers stiffened in unison.
Leah rested against his chest. Her white gown spilled across the throne, while the silver cross at her collar caught the light like a blade.
That wasn't jewelry. It was an enforcer's execution tool, forged to pierce a vampire's heart.
And yet Carlyle, blind to everything, lowered his head and clasped my Blood Moonstone Necklace around her throat.
He had once fastened it on me with his own hands 10 years ago. He had once said, "Isabella, the EternalNight royal family will have no queen but you."
Now he was stripping me of authority, chambers, and coffin, along with the Crownmark of Blood in my chest, handing them over piece by piece to another woman.
Leah lifted her gaze at me, the corners of her eyes reddening at once.
"Isabella, don't be upset. His Majesty only fears I won't survive tomorrow's coronation night, so he wants to borrow your Crownmark of Blood."
‘Borrow? They'll borrow my Crownmark of Blood bound to my Heart of EternalNight? The foundation I built for Carlyle in EternalNight City over 10 years?'
The grand elder, Holden Ravenwood, suddenly fell to his knees.
"Your Majesty, Crownmark of Blood is tied to the queen's lifeblood. Forcible removal will make her bloodline wither and die!"
Carlyle finally looked at me. No remorse in his golden eyes, only irritation. "She is pureblood of the royal family. She is not that fragile."
Leah lightly pulled at his sleeve. "Your Majesty, let it go. I don't want Isabella to resent me. Even if I'm not crowned tomorrow, even if I can't share eternity with you, it's alright."
She said it didn't matter, yet her fingers clutched the Blood Moonstone Necklace so tightly her knuckles blanched.
Carlyle's face darkened. "Isabella, don't force my hand."
10 years earlier, the Holy Sanctum had hung him upon a rose cross, his ribs driven through one after another with silver lances. I had stood in a pool of blood, split open my wrist bones, and forced one-third of the royal family's source blood into his mouth.
I had also brought the BlackRose Seal into the Court of Judgement of the Holy Sanctum, compelling all 13 Enforcers to personally sign the Oath of Kingmaking.
At the time, everyone believed the Holy Sanctum feared Carlyle's royal blood. Only I knew their true reverence had always been for the BlackRose Seal in my hand, the one able to judge both bloodlines.
Later, when he took the throne, the same line was repeated everywhere. Carlyle's crown had been raised by Isabella's blood.
He had once loved me. And from that moment on, he had come to despise that sentence.
I looked at Carlyle and gave a low, sudden laugh. "Not necessary."
The banquet hall went completely still.
I lifted an empty golden cup from the table and ripped open the black veil over my chest. When my fingernails sank into the old scar, my flesh let out a faint tearing sound.
Leah screamed and covered her eyes, though her fingers stayed parted.
I did not bend. I did not even flinch.
I stood directly before Carlyle, drove my fingers into my chest, and grasped the burning crown-shaped blood crystal.
Pain shattered through me like a cathedral collapsing inside my body. The elders inhaled sharply.
Carlyle sprang to his feet. "What are you doing?"
"So you wouldn't have to dirty your hands."
I tore the Crownmark of Blood free from the outer layer of the Heart of EternalNight.
Blood filled the bottom of the cup, its shade darkening from crimson to near black. Before Carlyle could move, I pressed my fingertip deeper into the wound and drew out a single drop of backlash blood, thick, ink-dark, smearing it across the hidden runes at the base of the blood crystal.
The crystal shuddered faintly, then settled back into its compliant red glow. I dropped it into the cup. "Take it."
Greed flashed across Leah's eyes. Carlyle looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time. "Isabella, don't come to regret this."
I clutched my chest, blood threading through my fingers and falling onto the obsidian floor. "Save it."
I turned and left.
Behind me, Leah's voice turned soft and sweet, "Your Majesty, after tomorrow's coronation, can I move into BlackRose Palace? I want to sleep in the Bloodwood Coffin."
Carlyle replied, "Take whatever you want."
I paused at the doorway and glanced back.
"Yes." I pressed my palm onto the frame, leaving a half-smudged bloodprint. "If it can take you."
