Blood Oath the Cursebound Bride

“Traitor's whelp." Leia Lockwood didn't flinch. The slur echoed off the stone walls of Frostvale Keep as shackles clinked with every step she took across the icy courtyard. Snowflakes melted on her lashes, but her gaze stayed steady ahead. She had walked worse paths. Mine shafts. Whipping posts. But never this path—as a bride. She halted at the foot of the raised platform where Cassian Revian, Alpha of the North, stood like a shadow carved from obsidian. His black cloak snapped in the wind, lined with the sigil of the Black Claws. The last time Leia stood in this courtyard, her father's blood had painted the stones. Now hers would seal a vow. “Leia Lockwood." His voice was deep, cold, formal. “Daughter of Kalen Lockwood, formerly Alpha Red Claw. You have been summoned under decree 17.8 of the Frost Accord to enter a ceremonial blood-oath union for the sake of tribal peace. Do you understand?" Leia's mother whimpered beside her, knees buckling in chains. “Please—she's just a girl." “I am not," Leia said. Her voice didn't shake. Cassian's expression didn't change. “You stand here to pay for your father's crimes." “I stand here because you need a scapegoat dressed in silk." She tilted her chin. “Let's not pretend it's anything more." A flicker in his dark eyes—amusement? Or calculation? “The crowd needs blood," he said. “Yours... or ours." Gasps rippled through the gathered onlookers. Leia looked past them, toward the Keep towers. She remembered the screams from that day ten winters ago. She remembered the sword cleaving her father's head. She remembered the cloaked figure watching from the battlements. And she remembered silence. “Proceed," Cassian ordered. A stone basin was brought forth. Cassian unsheathed a ceremonial dagger and sliced his palm, letting blood drip onto the pact stone. The ancient runes carved into its surface began to pulse faintly, awakening with heat. “Your turn," he said. Leia hesitated. Her mother cried out, “No, Leia—don't—" She stepped forward and took the dagger. “I won't run from chains that were never mine." She sliced. Her blood met the stone. The moment it did, heat surged up her arm, igniting a pattern of sigils beneath her skin—ones she didn't recognize, ones that didn't belong to any tribe's lore. Cassian's gaze flicked to the runes glowing on her wrist. His voice dropped, nearly inaudible. “Interesting." Leia felt her knees weaken but kept upright. The stone pulsed once, sealing the oath. “It is done," said the elder officiant. The crowd murmured uneasily. No cheers. Only the crackle of frost under boots and the distant howl of a wolf far beyond the Keep's walls. Cassian turned to the people. “Today, peace is bound by blood. Let none say Frostvale does not honor redemption." “Redemption?" someone spat. “This is shame!" “Traitor's w***e!" Leia turned. Her voice sliced through the air. “Then why do you tremble when I speak?" Silence fell. The speaker shrank back. Cassian watched her, unreadable. He stepped down from the platform, stopping in front of her. “You speak boldly." “I've been silent too long." “You'll find silence... is sometimes survival." “I didn't survive to be silent." For a moment, they stood eye to eye, both wrapped in the storm of a past neither could erase. Then Cassian said, “Escort the new Lady of Frostvale to the queen's chambers. And put her mother in the infirmary. Chain-light, not tight." Leia blinked. “You..." “I'm not my brother," he said flatly, turning away. “And you're not your father. Yet." He disappeared into the hall. The guards moved in. One touched Leia's shoulder; she slapped his hand away. “I can walk." “Suit yourself," he muttered. As they passed through the arched doors into the Keep, Leia whispered without looking back, “You better not be your brother, Cassian. Because I came here to dig him up."