I get back to the castle, but I’m not sure how. My head is in a daze. Perhaps I’m overwhelmed by everything that’s happened. Or perhaps it is the deep magic that is seeped into the blade I carry that’s blurring my awareness.
Before I know it, I’m in the main hall. All eyes are on me as I descend the stairs, ancient dagger in hand.
“Floriane?” Winny asks. They’re still around the table as if nothing has happened, even though the entire world has changed.
“I need you to do something,” I say, pausing at the hallway that leads down to the smithy. “It’s going to require all four of you.”
“All four of us?” Callos is surprised; he’s not used to being sent out.
“Yes, I want you all to see it,” I say cryptically. They need to discover things on their own. I’ve already taken the dagger from Solos’s body, but they’ll piece together the important parts: there’s still the hole in his mummified chest that I took it from. A vampir must be the one who passes on the truth. As much as I want to do it, it has to be one of them. Because I will never be believed. Solos knew it, as did Jontun, even Loretta.
The people who are frozen in time are only a generation and a half away from King Solos. They’re still the direct descendants of vampir who couldn’t even fathom their king taking a human as a lover. Ruvan will have a hard enough time convincing them to accept my role in all this as it is.
“See what?” Ventos asks.
“The truth. Go to the ruins where we trapped Tersius. You’ll find a cellar door there; I left it open. Go into the depths, find the truth.”
“I’m not really a fan of all this dodging,” Lavenzia mutters.
“Please, do this for me.” I need them to leave. I don’t want an audience for what I’m about to do.
They all pause. I don’t know if I’ve ever asked them to do something so earnestly, so plainly.
“It couldn’t hurt,” Winny says.
They all reluctantly agree, stand, and leave. I descend to the smithy with a sigh of relief.
The forge is hot. It takes no time to fire it up to a workable temperature. All the while I loom over the dagger I freed from Solos’s chest. I stare at it, willing it to tell me its secrets. Maybe I have two gifts when it comes to the blood lore. One is an innate gift unique to me—to see the past written in blood. The other is perhaps one passed down to me from my family through the ages, and that is my gift of understanding the union between metal and blood.
I place the crucible in the forge, allowing it to get hot. Solos’s dagger is a beautiful piece indeed. A shame so much evil and heartache has been tied up with it.
Without a second thought, I toss it into the crucible.
“I will remake you into my own shape.” I hold my arm over the crucible, my own blood silver dagger in hand. I draw it across my arm just above my elbow and bleed into the melted metal from Solos’s dagger. “I take ownership of this curse. Let it be bound to my will and to my blood. I will take its burden from here on. It is enough, Solos. You can rest.”
I pour out the molten metal into a mold. While it is still red-hot, I lift it with tongs and place it on the anvil. Keeping it steady, I begin to work.
This will not be my finest piece. It doesn’t need to be. It just needs to be sharp and strong enough for this one final act.
When the metal has been quenched and cooled, I pick it up with my bare hands. It’s a basic dagger, nothing fancy or special. I have taken what Solos used to create the curse and I’ve made it my own. I have shaped it into my design and merged my blood with it. I have gained control…I hope.
I hold the dagger outward, looking at it in the early dawn. So simple. So elegant. To think so much rides on this little bit of nothing.
I point the dagger toward myself.
“A curse, wrought in blood, a curse on the people of Hunter’s Hamlet, and the man who led them. A curse in search of vengeance. A curse in search of retribution,” I say to the dagger. Though, in reality, I’m speaking to Solos. “I accept the punishment of Tersius as a descendant of his kind. I accept your curse. I will pay in blood for the blood that was spilled unjustly. Let it end with me.”
I take a deep breath and plunge the dagger into my chest.
