Chapter 4 The Crimson Rain Wedding
882 Words
As the midnight ceremony began, crimson rain poured down outside BlackRose Palace. The Nightblood nobles called it EternalNight City's blessing of the new queen.
I stood beneath the second-floor stained glass, draped in the former queen's black veil, my chest hollow, with nothing inside me.
Carlyle led Leah across the blood-red carpet. Her snow-white gown swept the floor behind her, and beneath its hem, a single drop of my blood was hidden, silent, coiled like a sleeping serpent.
The front row was packed with enforcers of the Holy Sanctum. They sat with bowed heads and clasped hands, like pious guests. Yet a faint chill of silver drifted from their sleeves, unsettling every Nightblood noble in the hall.
The nobles feared them. Carlyle made use of them. Leah believed they were her invited witnesses.
Only I knew the truth. Years ago, the 13 Enforcers of the Holy Sanctum had agreed to acknowledge the new ruler of the Nightblood Clan because I had once saved their lives in the Black Tower of the Holy Sanctum.
They had also seen me extinguish half the White Tower's sacred flames with a single drop of source blood. They backed Carlyle only because of my name.
And tonight, they entered the city to repay that debt to me.
Holden raised a golden chalice. Inside, the Crownmark of Blood floated in dark red wine.
"The new queen drinks the royal blood and joins the EternalNight royal family." The officiant passed the chalice to me.
Every eye in the hall was on me.
Carlyle's gaze was cold as steel. He wanted me, the former queen, to personally hand over everything I had built to his new queen.
I took the chalice and stepped behind Leah.
Leah smiled faintly. "Isabella, don't shake."
I lowered my gaze to the Crownmark of Blood in the cup. "Relax. I have it under control."
Carlyle leaned down and kissed Leah on the forehead. "Don't be afraid."
For a split second, I saw fragments from years ago: the execution racks of the Holy Sanctum, blood-soaked ground. Every night he needed me to take the blow for him, he had kissed me like that too.
Leah lifted the chalice to her lips. At that exact moment, the ancient clock above the chapel froze.
Not finishing chiming. It was as if an unseen hand had seized its throat.
All Blood Lanterns went out at once. The next second, deep inside their wicks, purple-black flames ignited.
The clock hadn't stopped. EternalNight City itself had stopped breathing.
The chapel doors were violently thrown open, and a guard crawled in, drenched in blood.
"Your Majesty, four blood gates are sealed shut! Something from the Northern Frontier has awakened! It's knocking!"
Boom! As his words landed, a distant impact echoed, like a coffin lid forced open from within.
Boom! The second strike came closer.
Leah's face drained of color, the chalice trembling in her hands. I stepped out from the shadows, BlackRose Palace insignia in my grasp.
Carlyle finally saw me. "Isabella, what have you done?"
I crushed the insignia in front of him. The moment it broke, every blood mark on the ground flared to life at once.
The handprint I left on the doorframe last night, the blood that fell into the wedding dress this morning, the scar burned into the BlackRose Gate by holy water, the darkened rune at the base of the golden chalice stained by backlash blood, and the 108 Blood Lanterns of EternalNight City that had once drunk my blood all fused into a massive dark-purple blood web.
It rose from the cracks in the floor, climbed the altar, bound the oath platform, and tightened around the hem of Leah's dress.
Leah let out a piercing scream as she staggered backward. Blackened blood seeped through the inner layers of her wedding gown, one drop, then another. The pure white skirt looked like the first decayed rose blooming beneath a sacred idol.
She threw herself toward Carlyle. "Your Majesty, help!"
But a silver chain slid from her sleeve, its end marked with the BloodSlaughter Curse of the Holy Sanctum.
Carlyle's expression finally shifted. He turned toward the front row. The 13 Enforcers no longer bothered with concealment. They drew their swords together, silver light washing across the entire chapel.
A flicker of frantic relief sparked in Leah's eyes, then vanished.
The lead enforcer raised his blade, yet the tip passed her without hesitation and pointed straight at Carlyle's crown. He removed his mask and dropped to one knee. The other 12 followed in unison.
"Thirteen Enforcers, under command of BlackRose Sealbearer, have entered the city. Ten years ago, we aided Carlyle's ascent to the throne out of respect for the former queen Isabella. Today's deposition also comes under her will."
The hall sank into dead silence. Carlyle stood motionless. The blood drained from Leah's face piece by piece.
I raised my hand. The pain in my chest felt like it would split me apart, yet my hand never wavered. The blood net unfurled behind me like a newly forged black crown.
I looked at Carlyle, at Leah, at the nobles who finally understood they stood beneath a tribunal's gaze, and smiled.
"Whoever moves first dies first. The wedding continues. The new queen should drink the next cup."
- Writer
