Chapter 1

My five-year-old son and my husband’s mistress were both trapped inside the vampire hunters’ Sun fire Array.

As the most powerful Shadow Wielder in the vampire realm, I was certain I could save them both.

But my husband, the revered vampire Prince Arthur, had my mother dragged before me in silver chains, stopping just inches from the blazing sunlight.

“Give Ella the Shadow Shield first, or I’ll turn your mother to ash.”

He gave the order without a trace of emotion, all to protect the human woman he loved.

I had no choice but to shield Ella first.

Seconds later, the Sun fire Array detonated ahead of schedule.

I could only watch as Noah crumbled to ash, still screaming for me.

I lunged toward where he had disappeared and scooped up his scorching ashes with my bare hands, even as the white light burned my fingers bloody and raw.

Ella nestled against Arthur’s chest.

“Noah may be dead, but at least you saved me, Serena. Why are you so determined to blame Arthur? Shouldn’t you be grateful that two people didn’t die today?”

“Exactly,” Arthur said coldly. “Serena, if you hadn’t deliberately stalled, someone with your power could have saved them both.”

I stared at Arthur, and every last trace of love I had carried for him over the past century turned to hatred.

Arthur had forgotten one thing.

I was more than his wife and the clan’s High Priestess. I was the sole master of the Shadow Barrier.

The barrier that had protected his territory for a century had never belonged to him.

When I appeared before Arthur again on the arm of Lucas Kane, the First King of the North, the once-untouchable vampire prince finally broke.

Arthur fell to his knees in the tundra snow and begged me to come back.

But this time, his territory, his throne, and his life were all mine to decide.

Chapter 1

My five-year-old son, Noah Blackwood, and Ella Hart, the human woman my husband had just turned, were trapped inside the vampire hunters' Sunfire Array. Fifteen minutes remained before it detonated.

My husband, Prince Arthur Blackwood, stepped in front of Ella without a moment's hesitation and barked an order at me.

"Give Ella the Shadow Shield! Now!"

I froze.

The Sunfire Array blazed before us, its ultraviolet beams weaving a lethal net through the air.

An amethyst countdown burned above it: 15:00.

On the left side, Noah huddled into a tiny ball.

His small hands clutched the hem of his shirt, tears pooling in his eyes.

"Mommy, it hurts," Noah whimpered, his voice so faint it could dissolve in the wind.

To his right, Ella was clutching her chest.

"Arthur, I can't breathe. Am I dying?"

Arthur whipped his head toward me.

"What are you waiting for?" Arthur jabbed a finger toward Ella.

"Serena, Noah is pureblood. He can last a little longer. Ella has only been a vampire for two months. She won't survive this."

I stared at the man I had shared a blood bond with for a century.

"Arthur, Noah is your own flesh and blood!"

He stared down at me without a trace of warmth.

"He's my son. He should be strong enough to endure this."

"And you're my wife. You will obey me."

With that, he raised his hand.

Two low-ranking ghouls shuffled forward, dragging rusted silver chains.

At the other end was my mother, Helen Warren.

Blood stained the corners of her mouth. The two fangs that marked her as pureblood nobility had been ripped out.

Rage washed my vision red.

"Arthur! Have you lost your mind? That's Helen, my mother! Noah is your son!"

"Noah is a pureblood. He can hold on a little longer."

"Serena, do you think I'm asking?" Arthur stepped closer and lowered his voice.

"You're the strongest Shadow Wielder in this territory. Shielding Ella should be easy for you."

"Why are you turning this into a fight? Let Ella have the shield. She's newly turned and defenseless."

"If you don't save Ella first, I'll tell the clan your mother is lowborn filth masquerading as a noble."

He held up a memory crystal.

"This crystal proves it. The High Priestess's mother is a fangless fraud. The entire clan will call her a disgrace."

I was shaking all over.

"You're insane." I stared at the man who had once been my blood-bound mate.

"Mommy," Noah called again. Angry red burns were already spreading across his skin.

My mother struggled against the silver chains.

"Serena, forget about me. Save Noah," my mother rasped.

"I'm counting to three." Arthur's voice was cold and flat.

"One."

I closed my eyes. Tears splashed onto the back of my hand.

"Two."

"I'll do it." My eyes opened, but the voice that answered did not sound like mine.

I turned and locked my hands into the casting sign. Shadow poured from my palms.

A dark shield slowly unfurled.

"Arthur, it's so dark. I'm scared," Ella whined.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here," Arthur said, his voice instantly turning gentle.

Calling the Shadow Shield demanded enormous mental strength. It felt as though my soul were being torn in two.

Five minutes.

It took five full minutes to force the shield through the Sunfire Array and wrap it around Ella.

"It's done. Let my mother go." I lowered my hands, deathly pale.

I turned toward the left side of the array.

"Noah, Mommy's coming." I staggered toward him.

Then the array flared.

The blast was not due for another ten minutes. It detonated anyway.

White fire swallowed Noah.

"Noah!" His name tore out of me.

In the white light, Noah didn't even have time to cry out.

His little body broke apart in the light and collapsed into ash.

I collapsed to the ground, fingers clawing into the dirt.

Grief ripped through me. Blood burst from my mouth.

My vision blurred. The sounds around me grew distant.

"Arthur, why did it go off early? That was terrifying!" Ella stepped out from behind the shield, pressing a hand to her chest.

"It's over now." Arthur pulled her into his arms.

"Noah is dead. You don't think she'll blame you, do you?"

"So what if she does?" Arthur's voice held no emotion.

"You're the only one I care about. I married Serena for her pure blood and the barrier protecting her territory."

"Once I have the barrier, she'll be useless."

"If she had been powerful enough, she could have shielded them both. She hesitated. Noah's death is on her."

I lay face down as consciousness dragged me into darkness.

"You'd better pray I never wake up, Arthur."

When I opened my eyes inside my coffin, cold, dead silence surrounded me.

I wiped the tear tracks from my face, pricked my fingertip, and activated a communication spell.

The glowing screen revealed Lucas Kane, the First King of the North, resting deep beneath the frozen tundra.

"I accept the alliance you offered me five years ago.

"But I have two conditions.

"First, find out why the Sunfire Array detonated ahead of schedule.

"Second, I want Arthur and his entire territory to pay for Noah's death."

Lucas's low chuckle carried through the rune.

"Agreed.

"In thirty days, I'll collect you from the castle myself in my black carriage."

After ending the call, I retrieved an ancient sorcery scroll from a hidden compartment in my chamber.

I cut open my palm and wrote a Blood Bond Severance Pact in my own pure blood, one deliberate stroke at a time.

For the next thirty days, I would endure the torment of my soul burning day and night.

Until the bond shattered completely, leaving neither of us bound to the other.

Chapter 2

I had barely rolled up the scroll when the heavy iron door to my chamber was kicked open.

"Serena, stop with that dead look on your face. Noah's death was an accident. What matters now is protecting Ella's reputation."

I raised my eyes to him, my gaze glacial.

"An accident? You cut off his only chance at survival."

Ella trailed behind Arthur and cut in, her voice trembling with feigned hurt.

"How can you blame the Prince?"

"The array was unstable. If the Prince hadn't acted decisively, we all would have died."

She paused. A cruel glint sharpened her gaze.

"Speaking of which, where is Helen Warren? She never missed a chance to flaunt her bloodline at a banquet."

"Always preaching, 'Pureblood nobles are worlds above lowborn fledglings.'"

"Funny. She's the one who should be ashamed."

Her sugary little act turned my stomach.

"You don't get to speak here, you lowborn stray."

Arthur's expression darkened instantly.

"Serena! Watch your tone!"

"The Elders are in an uproar. They think Ella brought the hunters here and got the pureblood heir killed."

"In one hour, you will stand before the Elder Council and admit your mistake destabilized the array."

I stared at him, my nails digging into my palms until they drew blood.

"Arthur, Noah was your son too! And now you want me to stand in front of the entire clan and take the blame for the people who murdered him?"

"Not a chance. I will never confess to that."

"Is that so?" Arthur smiled without warmth, then tossed an image crystal onto the floor.

The projection showed my mother, Helen Warren, chained to a pillar in the square.

"Refuse, and I'll accuse Helen of harboring hunter spies and exile her into the midday sun."

"You wouldn't dare!" I shot to my feet, trembling all over.

"Try me." Arthur closed the distance and seized my chin in a bruising grip.

"Serena, just do as you're told. Stop fighting me at every turn."

"You're my wife. You're supposed to obey me."

"No matter how powerful you are, you're still my woman. Why do you insist on making things difficult?"

I closed my eyes and forced down the urge to kill him.

Not yet.

I had to trick him into signing the Blood Bond Severance Pact first. Turning on him now would only get my mother killed.

When I opened my eyes again, my expression was perfectly calm.

I pulled out the heavy scroll bound with ancient gold thread.

"I'll confess, but I have one condition."

"Sign this scroll. Consider it my penance."

Arthur frowned at the faint dark glow rippling across the scroll.

"What is it?"

"It's the deed transferring control of the territory's Shadow Barrier."

My voice was flat and lifeless.

"The whole clan knows the barrier is tied to my life force. If I've failed them, handing over the barrier to the Prince is the only way to win back the Elders' trust."

Ella's eyes lit up, and she tugged eagerly at Arthur's sleeve.

"Your Highness, if Serena is willing to surrender the barrier, that proves she knows she was wrong."

Arthur stared at the scroll as greed flickered in his eyes.

He had always resented that I held the territory's lifeline.

"At least you've finally come to your senses."

Without the slightest suspicion, he pricked his finger and pressed his princely seal to the bottom of the scroll.

As the blood sigil sank into the parchment, I smiled inwardly.

It was not a barrier deed.

It was the Blood Bond Severance Pact I had just written, its true purpose hidden beneath ancient script.

With one signature, Arthur had started the final countdown on our marriage and our fate.

An hour later, I stood inside the Elder Council Hall.

Hundreds of high-ranking vampires sat in the circular gallery, their gazes cutting into me like blades.

I stood in the judgment circle at the center, dressed in plain black robes.

"High Priestess, do you have anything to say for yourself regarding Noah's death?"

Grand Elder Benedict Crowe's stern voice echoed beneath the domed ceiling.

Arthur sat on the prince's throne, watching me as he rolled a communication rune between his fingers.

Before all those eyes, I slowly bowed my head.

"I... take responsibility." I dragged the words through clenched teeth, one by one.

"My spellwork failed. It killed Noah."

Gasps rippled through the hall.

Then came a torrent of curses.

"The clan's only High Priestess made such a basic mistake?"

"She couldn't even save her own child! What right does she have to control the barrier?"

"Kill her! Avenge the boy!"

A bucket of rancid blood was hurled from the gallery, drenching me from head to toe.

The stench of rot flooded my nostrils. I closed my eyes.

I let the filth and the insults wash over me.

Arthur.

Enjoy that throne while you can.

Soon, you will not even deserve the chance to beg at my feet.

Chapter 3

I walked out of the Elder Council Hall. A full moon hung high in the night sky.

Before I could make it through the castle corridor, my handmaid came stumbling toward me in a panic.

"High Priestess! Something terrible has happened!"

"The Prince never destroyed the images!"

My eyes widened.

"What do you mean?"

The handmaid was sobbing so hard her whole body shook.

"The images of ghouls tearing out Lady Helen's fangs were copied onto hundreds of memory crystals and spread across the territory!"

"Everyone out there is saying she's a fraud, a lowborn impostor pretending to be noble..."

Something inside me snapped. My last thread of reason burned to ash.

I shoved past the handmaid and transformed into a streak of black mist, shooting toward the rooftop terrace.

Below the terrace, over a hundred lower-ranking vampires and guards had gathered, oblivious to the truth.

Ella stood at the front with a memory crystal in hand, doubled over with laughter.

"Everyone, come look! This is our High Priestess's mother, Lady Helen!"

"She used to be so high and mighty at banquets. She'd look down her nose at lower-ranking vampires and never shut up about 'the sanctity of pureblood honor.'"

She widened her eyes in a show of innocence.

"I heard one of her ancestors mingled with lowborn bat blood!"

"The woman who sneered at everyone else is the real mongrel. Isn't that hilarious?"

The crowd roared with laughter.

They pointed and jeered at my mother, who was chained to a stone pillar.

"Disgusting. And she called herself pureblood nobility."

"Look, she doesn't even have her fangs anymore. She's worse than a lowborn bat!"

My mother Helen sat slumped in the cold wind, dried blood covering her body.

She heard every vicious word. The proud back that had never bowed was trembling.

Ella pressed on relentlessly. "Oh, Lady Helen, don't tremble like that. You used to stand so tall when you said 'lowborn blood has no place in a pureblood banquet hall.' What happened? Can't stand straight anymore?"

"Shut your mouth!"

I shouted. Shadow power erupted around me and hurled the loudest hecklers several yards backward.

Arthur stepped out of the shadows and strolled toward Helen, barely sparing her a glance.

He turned to me as if his judgment were self-evident. "Serena, there are real questions about your mother's bloodline. Ella isn't wrong. If Helen is impure, why should a few taunts matter?"

My blood ran cold.

His handsome face showed nothing but weary contempt, as if this were an ordinary domestic nuisance.

"Your mother has offended plenty of people over the years. A few words from the crowd is hardly unreasonable. Go back to your room. Don't make a scene."

"Arthur, how could you?" My voice shook.

Helen shook her head. "Serena, don't waste your strength."

"Mother..."

My eyes burned as I reached for her, but she turned sharply away from my hand.

"I am pureblood. I have lived eight centuries. I will not let filth humiliate me."

"And I will not be the leash Arthur uses to control you."

Cold seized me. I lunged forward and caught her shoulders.

"No! I can get you out of here!"

My mother looked at me. Through her clouded eyes, a final trace of pride and resolve shone through.

"My child, purebloods do not survive by crawling."

At that moment, the first sliver of golden dawn split the eastern horizon.

The sun rose swiftly.

Before I could react, my mother let out a piercing, keening cry.

"Mother, what are you doing? Stop!" My eyes went wide with horror.

It was the sign of a blood core igniting.

Her blood core was burning.

The thick silver chains shattered, link by link.

My mother broke free and stood tall.

Ella shrieked dramatically from the crowd. "Oh my! What does she think she's doing? Afraid of more truths coming out? Trying to run? Where's your dignity, Lady Helen!"

The surrounding vampires cried out and stumbled back.

Helen ignored them. She held my gaze for one last moment.

"Live. Then kill him."

Before the words had faded, she turned without hesitation.

She stepped into the sunlight.

"No!" A scream tore from my throat.

Sunlight swallowed her whole.

No screams. No struggle.

Her pureblood pride held her silent as the sun burned her to ash.

The ash drifted onto the scorching stone.

I threw myself into the deadly light.

"Mother... Mother..."

I knelt on the ground, desperately gathering the small pile of pale gray powder.

The sunlight carved into my skin like a thousand blades.

My arms blackened instantly, skin peeling and curling, the smell of burnt flesh filling the air.

I barely felt it. I curled around the ashes cradled against my chest.

"Serena! Are you insane? Do you want to burn to death?"

Arthur streaked toward me and used telekinesis to wrench me back into the shadows.

My hands were covered in ash. My crimson eyes locked onto him.

"Arthur... you promised to destroy those images."

He watched me unravel, frowned, and answered in the same sanctimonious tone.

"The images leaked by accident. A servant must have released them."

"How was I supposed to know her pride would make her kill herself?"

"If your mother had nothing to feel guilty about, why would a few words drive her to her death?"

An accident?

How convenient.

My son died. An accident.

My mother died. Also an accident.

I looked at this man I had loved for a hundred years and let out a quiet, hollow laugh.

"Arthur, one day I will flay the skin from your bones and let you know what it feels like to turn to ash under the sun!"

Chapter 4

Seven days had passed since Noah and my mother died.

I stayed quietly in the side hall beside the castle dungeons.

Today, I planned to bury my son's and my mother's ashes together in the sacred tomb behind the mountain.

But when I entered the cellar storeroom, the sight before me made something inside me snap.

Ella stood at my storage table with two low-ranking ghouls she had taken as pets.

She had poured the ashes from my black crystal urn into an iron basin.

The basin was filled with bloody chunks of raw pork.

"Come on, eat up. These are the High Priestess's family's ashes. Who knows, they might give your powers a boost."

The ghouls snorted and slobbered as they devoured it.

"Ella! I'll rip you limb from limb!"

Blood-red light erupted from my eyes. A shadow spear materialized in my palm and I hurled it straight at her heart.

"Arthur, save me!"

Ella screamed.

Before the spear could reach her, pain struck deep in my soul like a sledgehammer.

Arthur had invoked absolute control through our mate bond.

I crashed to the floor and coughed up a mouthful of black blood.

Arthur walked in from the doorway and planted his foot on my hand.

"Serena, you vicious monster! Ella was feeding her pets, and you tried to kill her?"

Cold sweat drenched me from the pain. I glared up at him.

"Those are my son's and my mother's ashes!"

Arthur glanced at the iron basin and scoffed dismissively.

"They're dead. It's ash. You would hurt Ella over that? You always turn everything into a crisis."

He waved over two armored guards.

"The High Priestess has become unstable. Take her to Silver Thorn Hall and make her kneel until dawn."

The guards dragged me away and slammed my knees onto tiles studded with razor-sharp silver thorns.

The stench of silver searing into flesh spread through the air.

I clenched my teeth and didn't make a sound.

At midnight, Ella approached with the half of the ashes she had not yet dumped out.

"Want the rest back?"

She smiled down at me.

"Tonight marks one month since my turning. Light the Sacred Flame Array for my celebration, and I'll return the ashes."

To reclaim the last remnants of my mother and my son, I forced myself to my feet despite the blood covering my body.

I walked to the center of the cellar and channeled my power into the array's core.

The instant the array lit, its gentle flames twisted into two pressurized jets of concentrated holy water.

Boom!

The holy water hit me square in the eyes.

Pure holy energy seared my eyes white.

A scream tore out of me.

The agony sent me crumpling to the floor.

My world vanished into endless black and red. I could no longer sense the magical patterns around me.

For a High Priestess, losing the ability to read magic was the same as being crippled.

Ella stood nearby, holding the empty bottle, giggling.

"Oh, dear. Can't even work a simple array anymore?"

At dawn, they tossed me back into the side hall like a rag.

Less than two hours later, chaos erupted outside the castle.

Ella burst into the council chamber wailing, her arm slashed to the bone by a silver dagger.

"It was her... she hired hunters from outside to kill me!"

Arthur refused to hear a word in my defense.

He had me chained to the punishment frame in the square.

"Whip her with silver soaked in wolfsbane."

The first lash split my skin.

By the tenth, bone gleamed beneath torn flesh.

All one hundred and nine lashes landed on my ruined back.

Every vampire in the square watched the disgraced lady of the castle suffer.

I never gave them a single scream.

As the one hundred and ninth lash landed, a faint crack sounded inside my mind.

Crack.

It was the sound of my soul-shackles breaking at last.

Thirty days. The Blood Bond Severance Pact had taken effect.

The power our mate bond had kept buried roared back through me.

My eyes remained sightless white, but my power surged tenfold.

I flexed my arms once.

The silver shackles exploded into shards.

The force hurled the guards nearly a hundred feet.

Arthur shot to his feet on the platform and shouted, "Serena! What do you think you're doing?"

I wiped the blood from the corner of my lips and raised my hand, expressionless.

"I'm taking back everything that belongs to me."

I clenched my fingers into claws and drove them into the air above the territory's core, then ripped them back.

The earth convulsed.

I ripped the Shadow Barrier free from the castle, crushed it into a sphere of darkness, and drew it into my palm.

Without the barrier's support, the castle's protective dome cracked open with countless gaping holes.

"My barrier! Serena, stop!"

Arthur's eyes blazed red as he lunged toward me.

The castle gates exploded inward beneath a wave of power from the frozen North.

The First King's carriage waited beyond them, drawn by eight nightmare stallions.

Bleeding from head to toe, I crossed the rubble and climbed into the carriage one step at a time.

I turned my blind, white eyes toward Arthur.

"Arthur, my revenge is coming."

The carriage lifted into the air and shot northward.