I knew it was close to dawn when the guards opened the doors of my cell.

Sarki hadn’t come back. Thea hadn’t come. What the hell happened to them? I felt sick thinking that Sarki could have gotten to Thea, and only hell knew what the sick woman could have done.

A sea of guards entered the dungeon cell. Two of them unhooked my chains from the wall and held them tight, while the others kept their spears pointed at me.

While they dragged me back to the courtroom, the thought of fighting them crossed my mind several times. I analyzed everything. As we crossed the wide corridor leading to the main floor, I imagined running through there. Then the stairs leading to the main foyer. I even imagined myself breaking down the big crystal chandelier outside the ballroom as a distraction.

But it was no use. I would never make it outside, not with the quantity of vampires living in the castle.

So, like an obedient puppy, I walked with the guards to the courtroom. As expected, the place was full, even more than during my judgment. Almost all vampires, saved for a few guards patrolling the castle, were probably here.

Seated in a privileged spot along with the other princes, Alex looked particular gleeful. His eyes shone as he stared down at me.

A wooden platform holding the sharp-looking guillotine had been brought to the center of the courtroom. I hadn’t seen this in decades. Maybe even over a century.

And now I was going to die in it.

I was pushed to the platform and brought down to my knees in front of the guillotine.

Grinning, Alex walked up to the platform, followed by Dorian.

“Prince Drake,” Dorian started. “You’ve been sentence to death for the murder of Lord Reynard and Prince Albert. Any last words?”

“Yes,” I said. “When Thea comes to kill you all, tell her I love her.”

A commotion started in the crowd and whispers rose to chatter. Killing? Thea? The blood slave? They had no idea what I was talking about.

“Silence!” Dorian shouted.

Instantly, the chatter died.

Alex leaned into the platform and said, “Your little blood slave attacked me earlier. I have the full force of the guards after her. She won’t be able to do a thing. Besides, you don’t have to worry about her.” He grinned at me. My spine chilled. “I plan on taking good care of her.”

I jerked against my chains, wishing I could squeeze his neck a little before I was executed. Perhaps I could even kill him. Since I was about to die anyway, I wouldn’t feel too bad about it.

The guards pushed my torso down over the bottom of the guillotine, and then they closed it around my neck. Like the chains, I could easily break out of here, but there was no point in that.

I could only pray for whatever god was listening that Thea found the heart and made it out of the castle before the vampires got to her.

Accepting my fate, I closed my eyes.

The sound of the blade coming down and cutting the air echoed in my ears.

Magic whipped across the run, an electrical charge like lightning. The blade flew several feet away, slicing a guard in half, and the wood around me exploded into millions of splinters.

I looked up and found the entire room frozen, staring at the woman standing at the door, her hand stretched in front of her.

“Thea,” I whispered. My chest tightened.

“Kill her!” Alex shouted.

The room erupted into chaos.

Every vampire turned to Thea. Pride filled my veins as I watched the vampires coming at her and Thea flinging them off with a simple wave of her hand, one by one.

Her clothes and hands were bloodied, and dark circles stained the skin under her eyes, but she looked powerful, fierce, stunning. As if she were Moses parting the Red Sea, Thea pushed the vampires away with her power, opening a path to the center of the room. To me.

Waking up from my stupor, I broke free of the rest of the chains. A guard noticed what I was doing and turned to me. A second later, my dagger zoomed past me and pierced his heart. I glanced over my shoulder, but Thea was busy with the others.

I grabbed my dagger from the vampire’s chest. His body fell on the platform. The dagger hadn’t killed him, but he would be out for a little while.

Holding my dagger tight, I made my way to Thea. Too worried about the witch in the room, the vampires had forgotten about me. I took advantage of my element of surprise and advanced on them. I sliced their necks or pierced their heart from behind, taking them out in a second and putting them out of commission for the rest of the night.

The other princes were the only ones holding their own against Thea. They advanced on her, she pushed them back, but unlike the others, they lunged at her a moment later.

Finally, I reached her. I stood beside her, my dagger in hand, ready to stab the vampires or rip their throats out.

I was undone when Thea took the dagger from me, pulled my back into her chest, and held the dagger against my neck.

“Stay back or he dies!” she shouted, retreating to the back of the room.

Laughing, Alex stepped forward. “You can kill him. We don’t care.”

“What are you doing?” I whispered, careful so the other vampires couldn’t hear it.

“Just play along,” she whispered back. Then she raised her voice and asked, “So you don’t care about the truth? What if I tell you Sarki is responsible for killing Lord Reynard and Prince Albert?”

The princes stared at her as if she were crazy. “It’s the truth. She let Drake take the blame, since it would be easier for her.”

“Easier for her to do what?” Nolan asked.

“To take over the castle and rule you all.”

Alex let out a loud, incredulous laugh. “You think we’d believe that?”

Thea pushed me down. Her strength was pathetic, but since I was playing along, I let her. I fell on my knees. Next, she used my dagger and sliced her palm. Blood dripped on the floor while she whispered words. An image, like a hologram appeared in front of us.

It was Sarki and Thea in a strange room.

Thea pointed my dagger to Sarki, who seemed unfazed.

“You … you tried to kill Drake?” Thea asked in a whisper. “Y-you killed Lord Reynard.”

“And I can honestly say I enjoyed it. Shame it was so fast.”

“This doesn’t make sense.” Thea shook her head. “I thought you liked Drake.”

Sarki tsked. “Drake was my favorite. I never wanted anything bad to happen to him. But he got in my way and started digging too deep. Soon, he would find out what I had done and I couldn’t let that happen, even if it pained me.”

“You’re insane,” Thea said.

She shrugged. “One does what one must.”

“That’s all magic,” Alex shouted, turning toward her. “You’re changing it.”

Nolan shook his head. “I’ve seen this before. This is blood magic and it can’t be altered.” He turned to the other vampires. “This witch is showing us the truth.”

“Where’s Sarki?” Gray asked.

The image faded away.

“I killed her,” she admitted.

Alex growled. “You attacked me earlier today, you revealed Sarki was the one behind the killings, and now you’re telling us you killed her. Very convenient, don’t you think?”

“But the blood magic—”

“Could be another lie!” Alex shouted, interrupting Nolan. “Theatrics. She’s pretending to use blood magic while she shows us an illusion.” A few other princes nodded. “I say we need clarification.” He pointed at her. “Get her!”

Thea flung her hand and the princes flew to the far wall. Swords were drawn from various bodies on the floor. They soared toward the princes, piercing their shoulders and pinning them to the wall, several feet from the ground.

They growled, howled, shouted, jerked against the swords, but didn’t move.

“Get her!” Alex shouted again.

The remaining vampires turned on us, their fangs bared, their hands in claws. The ones with swords and weapons pointed them at us.

“What now?” I asked.

Thea waved her hand and a translucent blue wall appeared between the vampires and us. She quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me up to stand beside her. She pressed the dagger to my neck again.

Still holding on to me, Thea retreated to the back door. Once we were past it and away from all eyes, she lowered the dagger and stepped into me.

“I thought I lost you,” she said, her voice breaking.

I embraced her. “And I thought I had lost you.” I buried my face on her neck. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Shouts came from the courtroom.

“The shield won’t hold for long.” She slipped her hand into mine. “Let’s go.”

Together, we ran out of the castle. Together, we were free.