Chapter 4

Cecilia's POV

I looked at my family kneeling on the ground, their foreheads bloody, and felt absolutely nothing.

I let the God Bone settle into my body, savoring the wholeness and power I hadn't felt in a hundred years, and let out a cold laugh.

"Kneeling now? A little late for that."

Lacey lay in Martha's arms, her breathing so faint it was barely there. Without the God Bone, she looked like a broken puppet with the soul drained out of it.

Bourne and Brandon's foreheads were already split open and bloody, but I didn't feel a thing.

"Commander." My adjutant Reno stepped forward and asked quietly, "Should the trials continue, as scheduled?"

"Of course." I turned and walked back toward the platform. "The rules of the Royal Guard don't get thrown out for a few pieces of trash."

I sat on the throne, looking down at the plaza below.

The Royal Guard had one ironclad rule. The sword planted in the center of the plaza stood for absolute power and purity, and any candidate who could pull it from its place earned their spot, requirements or not.

That sword had been planted there for three hundred years. No one had ever managed to move it an inch.

The second Bourne heard the trials would continue, something feverish sparked in his eyes. He whipped his head around to stare at the Holy Sword, glowing gold in the middle of the plaza.

"There's still a chance... Lacey still has a chance!" Bourne grabbed Brandon by the shoulders. "If she can pull that sword, she gets into the Royal Guard. Even without the God Bone, the royal healing magic can save her!"

Brandon looked at his dying sister, jaw clenched. "But dad, Lacey can't even stand right now. How's she supposed to pull a sword?"

"The forbidden rite!" Something vicious flickered in Bourne's eyes. "We sacrifice our own life force for her. If she can just hold on long enough to pull that sword, it'll all be worth it!"

At the words "forbidden rite," the Silver Moon wolves around them sucked in a breath and stumbled back in fear.

Sacrificing your life force meant burning your own years and power to fill someone else's void. One wrong move, and the person doing the sacrificing would end up a husk.

I sat on the platform, watching the chaos unfold with cold eyes.

The memories came back again.

Back then, I'd fought off a monster swarm alone to protect our territory. When I dragged myself home covered in wounds, bleeding everywhere, all I asked for was a single healing potion.

And what did my loving parents do?

They gave the last of our high-grade healing potions to Lacey, who had nothing worse than a cold from standing in the wind too long.

"Cecilia, you're tough. You'll shake it off. Your sister's always been fragile. What if the fever fries her brain?"

I remembered biting down so hard that night my teeth nearly cracked, shaking from the pain down to my bones.

And now, for a thief, they were willing to sacrifice their own life force without a second thought.

"Do it!" Bourne shouted.

He, Martha, and Brandon circled around Lacey and slit their wrists at the same time.

Dark red blood twisted into strange runes and poured steadily into Lacey's body.

Grant, kneeling nearby with his shattered knees, gritted his teeth and forced what little magic he had left through his body. "Count me in! I'll do anything for Lacey!"

The power of all four of them, everything they had left in them, poured into that broken body.

Bourne's hair turned gray in an instant. Wrinkles spread across Martha's face. Brandon and Grant coughed up blood from burning through their magic too fast.

But somehow, it worked.

Color came back into Lacey's pale face. The wound on her back sealed itself under the force of the forbidden rite. And more than that, having absorbed the power from all four of them, the magic radiating off her felt even stronger than when she'd had the God Bone.

Her eyes opened slowly, and she rose to her feet.

Feeling that surge of power running through her, something wild and thrilled crossed Lacey's face. She sucked in a deep breath, then turned to look up at me on the platform.

She didn't spare a glance at the parents and fiancé collapsed on the ground, barely alive, who'd just given everything to save her.

She only looked at me, smug, the corner of her mouth curling into a taunting smile.

"Cecilia." Lacey walked toward the Holy Sword step by step, her voice dripping with reckless confidence. "You think taking the God Bone is enough to destroy me?"

She pointed at the four people on the ground who'd given up everything for her.

"Look at them. Even with nothing left, they'd still throw their lives away for me. Everyone loves me. Not you, you cold-blooded freak."

She stood in front of the Holy Sword, chin lifted, eyes burning with fever and confidence.

"The second I pull this sword, I'm still Royal Guard material. And then not even you, Commander, will have any say over what happens to me."

The plaza held its breath, every eye locked on Lacey's hand.

I sat on the throne, watching her ugly little display of confidence, and let out a short laugh.

"Is that right?" I leaned back into a more comfortable position, looking at her the way you'd look at something already dead.

"Then go ahead. Pull it."