Chapter 3 - The Blood-Bound Vow
The private chapel of Blackwood Manor felt more like a ancient mausoleum than a place of holy union. High, narrow stained-glass windows depicted tragic scenes of martyrs and weeping angels. Stacks of thick wax candles flickered along the stone walls, casting tall, dancing shadows across the rows of empty wooden pews.
There were no guests. No family members, no friends from the town, no joyful music.
Only Julian standing at the altar beside an elderly priest whose eyes looked milky white with cataracts. Four guards dressed in dark suits stood near the heavy oak exits, their hands folded formally in front of them.
Anna moved down the aisle as if walking through a nightmare. The silk dress felt heavier with every step she took, dragging against her ankles like lead weights. Her mind raced with Mrs. Gable’s words: Clara... she never made it past her wedding night.
Julian held out his hand as she reached the altar steps. His smile was smooth, but his eyes were sharp and predatory.
"We begin," Julian told the priest.
The ceremony proceeded with unnatural speed. The old priest read the ancient Latin rites in a low, gravelly monotone that sounded less like a blessing and more like a binding spell. Anna stood frozen, her eyes darting to the shadows behind the altar.
Every time she blinked, she saw the mirror's image burned into her eyelids: the dark, wet blood soaking through the silk chest of her dress.
"Do you, Julian Vance, take Anna to be your lawfully wedded wife, to hold and to protect, in life and beyond?"
"I do," Julian answered without a second's hesitation.
"And do you, Anna," the priest continued, turning his blind eyes toward her, "take Julian Vance to be your husband, to obey his word and bind your blood to this house?"
The phrasing made Anna freeze. Bind your blood to this house? That wasn't a standard wedding vow.
"Anna?" Julian whispered, his grip tightening around her fingers until her bones ached slightly. His eyes darkened with a subtle, dangerous threat. "Answer the holy man, my love."
She looked at the exit doors. The four guards stood motionless. She was miles away from civilization, trapped in an isolated fortress high above the ocean cliffs. She had no money, no transport, and nowhere to run into the freezing midnight storm outside.
"I... I do," Anna whispered.
"Then by the ancient covenant of Blackwood," the priest announced, "I seal this bond."
Julian pulled a small, silver ceremonial blade from inside his coat jacket. Before Anna could pull away, he made a quick, precise nick across his left thumb, then reached for Anna’s right hand, slicing the tip of her index finger.
"Julian! What are you doing?!" Anna gasped, trying to pull back.
"A Sterling marriage is sealed in truth, Anna," Julian murmured softly.
He pressed his bleeding thumb firmly against her bleeding finger, forcing their blood to mix. He then wiped the combined red smear across the front page of the heavy leather-bound marriage ledger sitting on the altar.
As the blood soaked into the old parchment paper, a freezing gust of wind slammed against the high stained-glass windows. Three candle rows blew out simultaneously, plunging the chapel into near-total darkness.
May you like
In the sudden shadow, Anna looked down at her hand.
The blood on her finger wasn't bright red. It was turning pitch-black, sizzling softly against her skin like cold ice.
