Chapter 2

"Seraphina! What exactly did you do to the Sacred Vein?"

Alaric's eyes were bloodshot. He grabbed me by the collar, hauling me half off the floor.

"Hand over the counter-rune! Cassianne started violently coughing up black blood the moment she absorbed your Sacred Vein! You dared to curse it? If she dies, I'll bury you with her."

Eamon stood beside him, radiating murderous intent.

"And to think Cassianne always treated you like a sister!" His eyes were filled with disgust. "You venomous bitch. If she doesn't make it, I swear I will flay the flesh from your bones inch by inch."

"Stop wasting breath on her. Make her give up the rune," Kael looked at me with pure revulsion.

The fourth brother looked down at me, his furrowed brow screaming of self-righteous heartbreak. "Seraphina, you have truly disappointed us."

Blood still poured from the gaping hole in my chest where my Sacred Vein used to be. I forced myself to speak.

"I didn't curse her. A mortal trying to swallow a pure divine Sacred Vein is bound to be rejected. It isn't poison."

I looked at them, finding the whole thing laughable.

Ever since the Lords brought Cassianne back to the Enclave, this exact farce had played out over a hundred times.

If she scraped her knee, my vines must have tripped her. If her skin flared up, I must have released toxic pollen. Even if she had a nightmare, it was because I whispered dark curses in her sleep.

They didn't care about logic. Blind favoritism was the only verdict in this court.

"Still lying?" Alaric's face twisted in fury. "Drag her to the Healing Grove! Let's see how long that black heart of hers holds out!"

He hauled me by my dress like a corpse, dragging me out of the sanctuary.

The harsh midday sun slammed into me without mercy.

Without my Sacred Vein to sustain me, my natural defenses were entirely gone. The moment the light hit my skin, black, spider-web cracks bloomed across my flesh, oozing beads of scalding blood.

My whole body spasmed in agony. I bit down hard on my tongue to swallow my scream.

Alaric tossed me onto the stone path without an ounce of pity.

I pushed myself up on trembling arms, my breath hitching at the sight.

This used to be my Healing Grove. They had spent a century painstakingly planting Moon-glimmer trees to shield me from the sun.

And now? Nothing remained but flattened, dead stumps.

"Cassianne runs cold, she hates gloomy forests." That was the bullshit excuse they had fed me when the axes first fell.

Now, the area was littered with gaudy human parasols and lounge chairs. Every trace of me had been completely erased.

A hand violently grabbed my hair, forcing my face toward the pool nearby.

"You like playing dirty, don't you? Let's see how you handle this," Kael sneered into my ear.

I stared down into the basin.

It used to be the Sacred Spring, built brick by brick just for me. Now, the crystal water was gone, replaced by a churning, black-green swamp of high-tier acid. The putrid stench burned my nostrils.

"Hand over the counter-rune." Alaric loomed over me, looking at me like I was rotting garbage. "Or you go in."

Staring at the bubbling, toxic sludge, sheer terror finally broke through my numbness.

Panicking, I reached out and desperately grabbed Alaric, my body trembling uncontrollably.

"I didn't curse her... please, let me go! Banish me to the Obsidian Court! I swear it, I will never go near Cassianne again as long as I live!"

I shook my head frantically, my eyes wide with visceral fear of the pool. "I don't even have my Sacred Vein anymore! If I touch that acid, it will kill me! Please..."

"Dream on!" Eamon roared. "Walk into the Rot-Pool yourself! Then we'll believe you didn't curse her!"

Alaric scoffed coldly. "Ever since Cassianne got here, you've targeted her at every turn. You've been driven mad by jealousy, and you expect us to believe you?"

My voice splintered wildly, begging in absolute desperation. "Alaric, I swear it wasn't me! A mortal shell can't handle a pure-blood Sacred Vein. It's mana-burn! Please, just believe me this once..."

Alaric violently shook my hand off.

"Still making excuses!" he snapped. "Cassianne is human. Her life is short. Offering your Sacred Vein to her was your duty to this family! And you resorted to poisoning her out of jealousy? You animal!"

I couldn't hold my broken body up any longer. Gravity pulled me down hard against the stone slabs.

The micro-vessels around my eyes ruptured from the strain. I felt two streams of warm, thick liquid slide from the corners of my eyes.

Tears of darkest red blood.

It was always like this.

My explanations meant nothing. They would always buy whatever lies Cassianne sold them.

The gruesome sight made the Lords freeze for a brief moment. But a second later, the contempt in Alaric's eyes only deepened.

"Always the victim."

He seized the scruff of my dress and hurled me ruthlessly toward the pool.

I crashed dead center into the toxic rot.

The impact was like diving into a vat of boiling sulfuric acid.

The extreme corrosion felt like millions of red-hot needles plunging through my cracked skin directly into my nervous system. My soul was being forcibly dissolved.

I thrashed, breaking the black-green surface, violently hacking up toxic sludge. Pure survival instinct dragged me forward. My blistered fingers clawed frantically at the stone rim, trying to pull myself out.

But before I could heave myself up, Eamon's boot slammed down on my hand.

With a brutal kick, he sent me tumbling backward into the deepest, most lethal part of the acid bath. The poison flooded my nose and throat, setting off explosions of agony beneath my skin.

"Give us the rune! Confess to trying to murder Cassianne," Alaric commanded from the shore, his voice utterly devoid of emotion. "Or you stay under."

Just then, the manic sound of footsteps echoed across the stone.

Cassianne—the girl who was supposed to be in a life-threatening coma—came stumbling into view.