As I looked at Derrick—hunched over in shame and vulnerable—, the tiny ember in my heart sparked again. I placed my small hand on his back as I leaned closer and tried to peer beneath the shield of his dark hair. My eyes danced along the small red cuts that marred his face, but I caught a peek of his curled eyelashes and smiled. “I could never hateyou, Midnight.”
Derrick’s head rose and he looked at me with watery eyes. He took a breath and his despair hardened into determination. “I promised to take care of you, Serafina, and I will not go back onthat promise.”
“What do you mean?”I asked.
He turned his shoulders toward me. “I did not come here to sulk. I made another plan, but I need you totrust me.”
My stomach knotted, but I had nothing elseto lose.
“All right,” I said in an exhale. “Tell me. Itrust you.”
Derrick’s eyes shone as he spoke. “Fraleigh developed the blood bond centuries ago under the first Duke of Lycaster. Since then, each Duke and heir of Lycaster has memorized every rule, loophole, and requirement of this veryold magic.”
He took my hand in his. “You can still end your marriage with Bloodstone and go through SelectionNight again.”
I furrowed my brow. Fraleigh made clear she could perform a blood bond only once. How could any loopholes exist whenshewas in control of herown magic?
Derrick leaned in closer. “Brietta’s brother will have his Selection Night next year. I will offer him a fortune large enough to even tempt an Elvar if hemarries you…”
He looked to the side and swallowed. “…and since he is not in line for any titles…the House of Hyton will also make him the Governor of Ravenwood after your Father dies. You will not be Baroness of Ravenwood like your mother, but the House of Hyton will support you for the rest ofyour life.”
Governess of Ravenwood. Derrick would let me marry againandinvent a title for me? It was too good to be true. “How? I thought…I thought you could onlymarry once?”
Derrick kept his voice low as if he were afraid of being overheard. “The Dukes and heirs of the House of Hyton all know the way out of a less-than-desirable match without an annulment, but we only consider it in a situation like yours. Bloodstone hasto die.”
My hand flew to my chest and pressed on my heart. “Die? Would…would that notkill me?”
“Not if you do not consummate the marriage.” Derrick’s voice was serious, but he still attempted to be comforting. “Consummating seals the blood bond, attaching your hearts together forever. If you are not…intimateand one of the partners is killed before the next full moon, the bond does not fail, but is merely severed. Fraleigh can then re-attach the bond to another person at the nextSelection Night.”
I blinked. I was taught my whole life brides only had two options after marriage: consummation or the shame of an annulment. There was never athird option.
“How does no one know about this…this third option?”I asked.
Darkness flashed across Derrick’s eyes. “The House of Hyton has kept it a secret for the last four hundred years. Alastar the Terrible killed seven of his wives, one after the other, trying to find the perfect one. My ancestors were so disgusted that they never wanted anyone to use the abhorrent practice again…unless wewere desperate.”
I swallowed. That was not the Alastar the Terrible we had learned about in history lessons at Ashmore. He was named “the Terrible” because he was a great war lord…not that he murdered seveninnocent women.
Murder. Was Derrick actually suggesting that someone murder Riyan? A chill ran upmy arms.
“Would he really have to die for the plan to work?” I cringed as my question left my lips likea plea.
Derrick nodded and the darkness did not leave his eyes. He reached over to the black rectangular case that he brought with him and placed it inhis lap.
“Tomorrow, you and that beast leave the palace to travel to Bloodstone Fortress.” Derrick flipped the latches of the case with twin clicks. “The Bloodstones are secretive, calculating, and cold-hearted, so very few have been inside that fortress. I could not send a man inside to kill him myself, much less without being detected by the rest of the Bloodstones. That is where youcome in.”
Derrick opened the lid of the case. Inside was a dagger the size of my forearm sitting on blue velvet.
He carefully removed the dagger from the case and presented it to me. The steel of the blade gleamed in the moonlight. The hilt was made of bronze and was forged into the shape of a bull’s head with horns that pointed down tothe blade.
“You have to kill him, Serafina,”Derrick said.
I caught my scream before it could escape my throat. I was stuck between the dagger and my desperation as my pounding heart echoed inmy ears.
How could he expect me to kill Riyan? I could not…Iwouldnot, kill him. I had manipulated, I had lied, but I wasno murderer.
I pressed my palms into the mattress and leaned back, putting as much distance between me and the dagger as possible. “No…no! I cannotdo it.”
Derrick’s voice hardened. “There is no other way. Baron Bloodstone has not allowed anyone from the outside into his fortress for decades. You are the only one who canend him.”
