chapter2

"Please, don't touch my brother!" I pleaded, dropping to my knees on the floor.

"Then eat it!"

A chunk of raw meat, dripping with dark red blood, was slammed violently right next to my hand. Seraphina crossed her arms over her chest, staring down at me with absolute condescension.

Not only did the raw meat reek of rotting decay, but its surface was also evenly coated in a layer of dark gray powder.

It was iron sand. To the Fae, it was a lethal poison that could instantly burn through the esophagus and corrode internal organs.

"What? Not fresh enough for you?" Seraphina took a step forward, grinding the sharp heel of her stiletto directly into my ankle, right over my pure iron shackle.

"Don't you love acting so high and mighty? The noble Fae princess, who only consumes morning dew and magic?" Seraphina’s red lips curled into a vicious smirk. She leaned down and whispered in my ear, "But right now, you're nothing more than the bloodbag Caleb keeps in his basement. Eat this piece of meat like a dog, or else I'm going to rip the Life Core right out of that blind little brother of yours."

Elian. My ten-year-old, totally blind younger brother. When our entire clan was slaughtered, I had risked my life to drag him out, only for Caleb to lock him up in the back mountain.

I had no way out.

With a trembling hand, I reached out and grabbed the rotting meat covered in iron sand.

"Chew loudly. I want to hear it." Seraphina backed up half a step with a cold sneer.

I closed my eyes and bit down hard on the rotting flesh. Swallowing it felt like swallowing burning coals. I tried desperately to force it down my throat into my stomach.

Gag.

I lurched forward, collapsing onto the ground as golden vomit spewed from my mouth, splashing directly onto Seraphina’s high heels.

"Ah!" Seraphina let out a piercing shriek and viciously kicked me in the shoulder.

The door was pushed open. Even without looking up, I could smell that it was Caleb.

Caleb’s face was terrifyingly dark. Beside him stalked his massive, black hellhound.

"Caleb!" Seraphina's eyes turned red instantly. She threw herself into his arms, playing the victim. "I felt bad that she hadn't eaten in days, so I kindly brought her some food. Not only did she refuse to eat, but she purposely threw up on my shoes... Hubby, our baby just kicked so hard. I’m so scared."

Caleb's gaze fell on me.

I slumped against a metal safe, the corners of my mouth covered in scorched, blackened blisters, my chin and neck coated in my own vomit. I looked at him, struggling to push myself up.

Bound by the magical "Silencing Spell" regarding what truly happened to his parents, I couldn't utter a single word of the truth. I could only stare at him, silently begging him to remember the bond we once shared.

Yet, in this moment, he didn't possess even a fraction of a second of sympathy for me. Even though, three years ago, I had fed my own golden blood into his dying mouth, drop by drop, just to save his life.

"Bite her," Caleb spat coldly.

The vicious hound lunged at me. Its razor-sharp claws dug into my thigh, and its fangs sank deeply into my arm. With just one look from Caleb, it would snap my neck.

Caleb kept his head down, his expression focused and incredibly gentle as he wiped the vomit off the tip of Seraphina's shoe with a pocket square.

"Did she scare the baby?" he murmured soothingly, his tone full of absolute indulgence.

After wiping the shoe clean, he casually tossed the soiled silk fabric at me. It landed dead center on my still-bleeding chest cavity.

Caleb stood up and looked down at me.

"You can't even be a proper dog. Your entire clan deserved to be wiped out." His voice wasn't loud, but it pierced every single one of my nerves with pinpoint accuracy.

Leaning against Caleb's chest, Seraphina shot me a provocative smirk.

Just then, two bodyguards strode into the room. "Boss." They were dragging a tiny body across the concrete floor like a sack of garbage.

"We brought the person you asked for!"

The blood in my veins turned to ice in that instant.

"Sister..." The boy curled up on the freezing floor. The visceral terror of his blindness made his voice tremble violently. "Sister Aurelia... where are you... Elian is in so much pain..."

A bodyguard kicked him brutally in the stomach. "Shut up, you little bastard!"

Elian convulsed in pain and coughed up a mouthful of gold-tinged blood.

"No!" I ruthlessly squeezed out the last dregs of my remaining magic, prying open the hellhound's jaws like a madwoman. Dragging my corrupted ankles, I threw myself toward Elian. The cold iron shackles scraped against the concrete, emitting a nerve-grating screech.

Caleb's eyes darkened instantly. His hand reached slowly toward the small of his back. Pinned there was a pure iron tactical spike, kept specifically for combat.