Chapter 3

Choking, vision fading, I clawed his wrist.

"Burn... it..."

I forced the words out to the guards.

"Light the pyre! Cremate it!"

Torches hit the oil-soaked kindling.

WHOOSH!

Flames consumed the coffin.

Whispers screamed:

[Demon: The obsidian's heating up! Your skin is blistering!]

[Demon:I'm channeling my power into you!Let the power EXPLODE and shatter this coffin from the inside!]

My heart seized.

"BOOOOM!"

The lid blasted skyward, smashed through the altar.

Through black smoke, a blood-soaked figure sat upright in the shattered coffin.

Dead Man's Blood covered her face. Fingernails ripped off. Two bloody holes in her shoulders from the stakes.

"AHHH! THE CORPSE MOVED!"

"GHOUL!"

Nobles screamed and fled. Arthur stumbled back from the shockwave.

Lilith sat in the ruins, glaring at me with hatred. Then instantly shifted to tears, reaching for Arthur.

"My lord Duke... save me... Lady Chloe tried to burn me alive... it hurts..."

Hoarse voice.

Arthur froze, then charged into the flames.

"Lilith! I'm here!"

He shielded her, his back burning. Carried the blood-soaked woman out.

Whispers turned gleeful:

[Demon: Perfect. Now play the helpless victim.]

[Demon: Make him so enraged that he'll slaughter that bitch and her entire bloodline for you.She's finished.]

Arthur set her down gently.

Lilith trembled in his arms, pointing at me weakly.

"My lord... Lady Chloe called me an abomination... poured Dead Man's Blood on me... drove stakes through my shoulders..."

"I only fainted from shock. Why torture me..."

Arthur looked at her, then at me. His eyes held murder.

"SEIZE HER!"

His servants surrounded me where I lay wounded.

Arthur handed Lilith to the healers, picked up his sword, walked toward me.

"Chloe Nightshade, you witch! Lilith was in a death-like state from the blood curse, yet you tortured her and tried to burn her alive!"

"Today, I'll tear you apart!"

I clutched my bleeding stomach, pulled myself upright against the pillar.

"The healers examined her! No blood flow!"

"You're so bewitched you can't recognize True Death?!"

Lilith reclined weakly as healers tended her.

A cold smirk played on her mouth, voice still fragile.

"Lady Chloe... I know you resent me for taking the Duke's affection..."

"But my late father left me maps of the Empire's magical defenses..."

"Is House Nightshade killing me for those maps?"

One sentence. Domestic dispute became political treason.

Arthur stopped. Murder intensified in his eyes.

"So that's it... Clever House Nightshade. Cunning Chloe Nightshade!"