Chapter 34 · A Name in Blood

The iron blade was three inches from my throat when Dorian slammed into Seraphine from the side.

They went down hard. The blade skittered across the marble and I scrambled back, one hand on my belly, the other braced against the floor. The crown's ash was still warm under my palm. Still glowing faintly with that gold-red light.

Seraphine twisted under Dorian and laughed. Actually laughed. Her hair was half out of its pins and there was blood on her mouth—not hers. "You broke it. You actually broke it."

"Get out." Dorian's voice was raw. His chest was still bleeding through his shirt, the wound from the crown's breaking splitting wider as he pinned her wrists. "Now."

"Why?" She looked past him at me. Her eyes were bright, feverish. "So she can finish what her bloodline started? So that half-breed thing inside her can—"

Dorian's hand closed around her throat. Not hard enough to crush. Just enough to stop the words.

I pushed to my feet. My legs were shaking. The baby kicked once, sharp against my ribs, and for a second I felt it again—that double vision. Gold and red overlapping. The throne room and something else. Somewhere darker.