The Scarlet Oath

Chapter Two: The Crimson Dawn

The world was unraveling before my eyes.

Screams echoed through the grand hall, a discordant symphony of terror and steel. Nobles pushed past one another in their desperate bid for escape, their silken robes tangling like ensnared birds. Wine spilled from overturned goblets, bleeding into the marble floors like fresh blood.

And in the center of it all, Damien Vale stood still.

Unmoved.

Unbothered.

He watched the panic unfold with an expression so eerily calm it made my stomach turn.

I took a step forward, my pulse hammering against my ribs. “What did you do?”

Damien tilted his head, eyes gleaming with something I couldn’t name. “You wound me, Celeste.” His voice was silk stretched over steel. “Do you think so little of me?”

My fingers curled into fists. The weight of the oath I had just taken still pulsed beneath my skin, the cut on my palm throbbing like a second heartbeat. “The city is under attack,” I bit out. “And you’re standing here like you knew it was coming.”

He stepped closer. Slow. Measured.

A predator sizing up its prey.

The candlelight flickered against his sharp features, casting shadows that danced like devils. “Maybe I did,” he mused. “Or maybe the gods have simply decided to collect their debt sooner than expected.”

A chill raced down my spine.

Because deep down, I knew—

He wasn’t talking about the city.

He was talking about me.

The scent of smoke was thickening in the air, curling into the high-vaulted ceilings like spectral fingers. Somewhere beyond the doors, the clash of steel rang out, the unmistakable sound of battle breaking through the walls of the palace.

I could taste fear—bitter and metallic on my tongue.

Yet my gaze remained locked onto Damien, my breathing uneven, my skin too tight around my bones.

“I should run.”

The thought pulsed through me, frantic and desperate.

But I couldn’t.

Because something deeper, something darker, whispered:

“You need to know the truth.”

The pieces were falling into place.

The priest’s hesitation before the oath. The unnatural wind that had curled around me the moment my blood had touched the altar.

Damien’s knowing smile.

“What did I just swear myself to?”

The great doors slammed open, and a soldier staggered inside, his armor smeared with blood. His breathing was ragged, his face pale with exhaustion.

“My lord,” he choked out, barely able to stand. “The— the wards—”

A crossbow bolt buried itself in his throat before he could finish.

The hall erupted into chaos once more.

Gasps. Screams.

Damien barely blinked.

And then I knew.

This wasn’t just an attack.

This was a coup.

Horror slithered through me like ink spilling across parchment, staining everything in its wake.

Damien turned to face me fully now, his expression unreadable. “You should leave, Celeste,” he said, almost bored. “Before the real monsters arrive.”

I swallowed against the dryness in my throat. “And what does that make you?”

His lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “A necessary evil.”

There was no more time for questions.

The guards that had sworn their allegiance to my family were dead or dying. The ones that remained were not allies.

I had to get out.

I turned on my heel, sprinting toward the servant’s corridor at the back of the hall. My slippers were slick against the bloodied marble, my breath coming in sharp, uneven gasps.

I barely made it three steps before I felt it—

A pulse.

A foreign energy rippling through the air, sinking into my bones like frostbite.

Magic.

The lights overhead flickered violently, shadows lengthening along the walls. The whispers came next. Low. Inhuman.

I skidded to a stop, heart hammering.

Damien exhaled a soft, almost amused sigh behind me. “I warned you.”

I spun back around—

Just in time to see the darkness rise.

It was alive.

Thick tendrils of shadow twisted from the floor, curling toward me with slow, deliberate hunger. The temperature in the room plummeted, my breath turning visible in the air.

The nobles who hadn’t yet escaped began to scream anew.

But there was no running from this.

The shadows lunged.

I barely had time to brace myself before they wrapped around my arms, my legs, my throat—

Cold.

So cold.

I gasped, but no air came.

The world blurred at the edges, my vision darkening.

And the last thing I saw was Damien—

Watching.

Waiting.

And smiling.