The Blood Heiress They Sent to Her Death Chapter 01
I am the Blood Heiress of House Blackthorn, the most ancient and noble line in the Night Court.
On my eighteenth birthday, my father the Elder pledged me to Corvin Ashford the boy I had grown up beside
But at the Blood-Binding ceremony, my handmaiden Mira threw herself before the assembly and screamed that she was the true heir and I, nothing but a stolen-blood impostor.
I demanded proof
She fell to her knees before my father, the Elder, voice breaking.
“The Bloodline cannot be defiled. Father, let the Blood Rite prove my claim.”
The Elder studied her for a long moment, then nodded.
Corvin gripped my hand and swore he would always believe in me.
So I pressed the silver blade to my fingertip, bewildered and shaking, and let my blood fall into the sacred water.
But in that moment, words drifted across my vision -the Blood Memory, the whispers of my ancestors, alive behind my eyes.
My body went cold. I seized the bowl and hurled it to the floor, my voice ringing like struck silver.
“Father, the water has been corrupted!”
The crystal bowl shattered across the marble.
Corvin surged forward, his voice already rising.
“Seraphina -what is the meaning of this? I prepared the sacred water myself. We have been blood-bonded since childhood. Do you not trust me?”
His eyes glistened, the picture of wounded devotion.
I wanted to laugh.
Once, I had truly believed he was one of the few I could trust.
But without the Blood Memory, I would not even know how I died.
I gave him nothing but ice. “When the Bloodline is at stake, one cannot be too careful.” I turned to the steward. “Fetch uncontaminated sacred water.”
The steward bowed and departed. In the silence, I ignored Corvin’s darkening face and let my gaze drift to Mira.
Since the bowl shattered, her panic had been leaking through her mask.
“Mira. You have served at my side for many years. I never saw the ambition in you.” I let my voice carry. “Fine. If you claim to be the true heir, then tell us how did the Blood Heiress become a serving girl?”
Mira wrenched her head up, eyes blazing with rehearsed fury. “Because on the night I was born, your mother stole me from my cradle and replaced me with you!”
“Lady Elara fled the House while carrying me -she was ambushed, gave birth in hiding, and was taken in by a peasant woman. That woman swapped her own newborn for the true heir!”
“From that day, I suffered and starved. I was sold into servitude for a handful of silver, made to kneel at your feet while you stole my name, my House, my very bloodright!”
She spoke with quivering conviction. Then she turned her tear-bright face to the Elder and pressed her forehead to the stone floor. “Father -grant me justice.”
I applauded -slowly, three soft claps. “A magnificent tale. I never knew you could spin stories so well. But stories require proof.”
“I have proof.” From her robe, Mira drew a pendant -a cloud-shaped bloodstone set in silver.
“This was bound to me at birth.”
The Elder rose from his throne. His hand -ancient, steady -reached for the pendant. “This… this is the bloodstone I bound to Elara. Our covenant.”
He looked at Mira, bewilderment cutting through his ancient composure. “Could you truly be…”
The Blood Memory erupted across my vision. [That pendant was stolen from your mother’s relics! Mira took it years ago while serving in your chambers!]
My heart dropped. Three years ago, when I sorted through my mother’s belongings, one piece had vanished. I had searched everywhere. Mira. Of course.
As the Elder’s face shifted toward Mira, the assembled House lords began to murmur, their stares crawling over my skin like insects.
Corvin saw his moment. He turned to me with a mask of shock and sorrow. “Seraphina… can it be true? You -an impostor? You have deceived me, deceived the Elder, all these years?”
Under the weight of every stare in the chamber, I let the corner of my mouth curl. “If a single trinket could condemn me, how absurd this House has become.”
I slipped a ring from my finger. “This was also left to me by my mother on her deathbed. Does it prove my bloodright -so that I may have Mira dragged out and put to the Final Death?”
Corvin’s mouth opened. I cut him off. “The Blood Rite has not yet spoken. Why are you in such a hurry to convict me? Anyone would think Mira was your true beloved, not your betrothed.”
“Enough of this slander!” Corvin’s face darkened “Seraphina, you need not be so aggressive I will say nothing more We will wait for the Rite”
That suited me perfectly Once the Rite confirmed my blood, Mira could slander me no more But why did Corvin show no fear, standing at the edge of ruin?
A cold thread of dread coiled in my stomach.
The steward returned with fresh sacred water. The Elder and I each let our blood fall into the bowl.
I fixed my eyes on the water. The two drops of blood drifted toward each other -and then, before my eyes, they wrenched apart like enemies.