"Kneel. Now," Silas barked, his voice cutting through the chaos like a blade.
He didn't wait for me to comply. His hand shot out, gripping my upper arm with enough force to bruise, and yanked me down onto the cold stone floor. The impact knocked the breath out of me. I gasped, staring up at him, my chest heaving.
"Get off me!" I snapped, trying to scramble back, but he stepped into my space, his heavy boot pinning the hem of my dress to the floor. He loomed over me, a mountain of shadow and lethal intent.
"You don't get to tell me what to do in my own fortress, Ivy," he sneered. He leaned down, his face inches from mine. I could smell cedar and something metallic—blood. "You think you're a guest? You're a sacrifice. And right now, the only thing keeping you from being tossed into the pits is my whim."
I glared at him, my heart hammering against my ribs. "Then toss me! I'd rather rot in a pit than spend another second under your thumb."
Silas let out a low, dark chuckle. He didn't move away. Instead, he shifted, his knee pressing firmly into the floor between my thighs, forcing me to widen my stance. The heat radiating off him was suffocating.
"Feisty. I like that," he whispered, his voice dropping to a dangerous, gravelly register. "But let's talk about reality. Outside those doors, Klaus's men are already breaching the outer wall. He didn't just sell you to me for peace, Ivy. He sold you to keep me distracted while he builds an army to wipe the Ridge off the map."
I froze. "What?"
"He lied to you. He lied to everyone," Silas said, his eyes narrowing. He reached out, his thumb grazing my jawline with a touch that was almost tender, yet felt like a threat. "You're not a diplomatic offering. You're a ticking bomb. And if the Council finds out you're here without a blood-bond, they won't just execute you. They'll erase you."
"I don't believe you," I spat, though my voice trembled. "You're just trying to scare me into doing whatever you want."
"I don't need to scare you, little bird. The situation is doing that for me." He stood up abruptly, the sudden loss of his heat leaving me shivering. He stepped back and gestured to a jagged, obsidian altar in the center of the room. "The Blood Covenant. Bind your life to mine, or I open the doors and let the Council's executioners have their fun. Your choice. Now."
I looked at the altar, then back at him. "A blood-bond? That's permanent. I'd be tied to you. Everything you feel, everything I feel..."
"Exactly," Silas interrupted. "Shared pain. Shared breath. One heartbeat. If I die, you die. If you betray me, I can feel it in my marrow. It's the only way to mask your scent from the Council's trackers. Without it, you're a beacon for every hunter in the valley."
"And what do you get out of this?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. "You don't seem like the type to want a liability attached to your soul."
Silas stepped closer again, his presence overwhelming. He reached down, grabbing my chin and forcing me to look up into those predatory eyes. "I get a weapon. A Luna who knows how to hate. And maybe, just maybe, a way to make Klaus regret every single breath he's taken since the day he betrayed me."
He let go of my chin and stepped back, arms crossing over his broad chest. "Clock's ticking, Ivy. I can hear the war horns. Do we do this, or do I let you scream for your father while they rip your throat out?"
I looked at the door. In the distance, a muffled explosion rocked the fortress. Dust rained down from the ceiling. He wasn't lying. The attack had started.
"Fine," I whispered, the word tasting like ash. "But I'm not doing this for you."
"Sure you aren't," he murmured. "Now get up here."
I climbed onto the altar, the stone freezing against my skin. Silas joined me, his movements fluid and predatory. He didn't offer a hand; he simply waited for me to position myself.
"Give me your hand," he commanded.
I hesitated, then slid my palm against his. His skin was scorching, a stark contrast to my own cold fingers. I felt a shiver run up my spine as his fingers locked around mine, gripping me with a possessive strength that left no room for doubt.
"On three," he said. "And Ivy? Don't pull away. If the bond breaks halfway, we both lose our minds."
"Just do it!" I yelled.
"One."
He tightened his grip. I could feel his pulse thumping against my palm, fast and aggressive.
"Two."
He leaned in, his breath hot against my ear. "Don't forget this moment. This is the last time you'll ever be free."
"Three!"
He slammed our palms together onto the obsidian blade embedded in the altar.
Pain exploded.
It wasn't just a cut; it was a scream. I felt a searing heat rip through my wrist, but it didn't stop at the skin. It felt like liquid fire was being poured into my veins, racing up my arm and slamming straight into my chest. I gasped, my back arching, my fingers instinctively clawing at his forearm.
Silas groaned, his face contorting in a mixture of agony and ecstasy. He didn't let go. He pressed harder, forcing our blood to mingle on the black stone.
Then, the magic took over.
I watched, horrified and fascinated, as a thin, glowing crimson thread erupted from the wound in his wrist and dove into mine. It didn't just sit on the surface; it sewed us together. The thread pulsed, glowing brighter with every beat of our hearts.
Suddenly, the world shifted.
I felt it. Not my own fear, but his. A crushing weight of old rage, a void of loneliness so deep it made me want to sob. And he felt me—my terror, my defiance, my desperate need to survive. We were no longer two separate people. We were a circuit, and the current was blinding.
"God..." Silas gasped, his forehead dropping against mine. His eyes were blown wide, the pupils swallowing the iris. "You... your blood... it's not..."
"What?" I managed to choke out, my voice trembling. "What is it?"
He didn't answer. He couldn't. The bond was still settling, the red thread tightening around our wrists like a permanent shackle. I could feel his heart hammering in my own chest, a violent, erratic rhythm that mirrored my own.
We stayed like that for a second—pinned together by pain and a forbidden magic—until the heavy oak doors of the chamber didn't just open; they disintegrated.
BOOM.
Wood splinters flew like shrapnel. The blast threw us backward, but the blood-bond held. We hit the floor together, our wrists still locked, the crimson thread glowing a violent, warning red.
Through the smoke and dust, a line of armored soldiers marched in, their spears leveled at our throats. At the center stood Klaus. My father. He looked at me not with relief, but with a cold, calculating disgust.
"Silly girl," Klaus sneered, his voice echoing in the ruined room. "Did you actually think he'd save you? You've just made yourself a permanent part of a dying regime."
Silas snarled, a sound that was more beast than man, and tried to yank me up. But as he moved, the blood-bond on my wrist flared. A surge of white-hot agony ripped through me, and I collapsed, screaming, as the contract began to burn under my skin.
Klaus stepped forward, a cruel smile on his lips. "Bring them both. The King and his new pet. We have a lot to discuss before I execute them both."
As the soldiers grabbed my hair and dragged me across the stone, I looked at Silas. He was fighting them, his eyes glowing with a feral light, but he was staring at my wrist.
"Ivy!" he roared, his voice strained. "Don't let the bond—!"
But the soldiers slammed a heavy iron collar around my neck, and the world tilted as the blood-bond snapped tight, dragging us both into the dark.