With her new zeal to return to Arkadia and unite her people behind the Black Lily, she now understood something she didn’t before. Mikhail’s sense of duty wasn’t just an important part of him, it was an essential part. A tree was merely branches and fluttering leaves without the sturdy trunk holding it up. His honor was the trunk that held him up.
She knew that she was in the wrong now, that by tempting him to betray his vow to the Bloodguard—no matter that she yearned for him body and soul—she was asking him to break himself in half. To set aside what was the essence of who he was as a man. Noble and fine and steadfast till the end. A pang of remorse stung her, knowing what kind of lover, what kind of husband he would make. She was going to say good night, then he took a step closer and gestured behind him.
“I have another gift for you.” He frowned, his demeanor becoming rigid. “Not a gift actually. But a pledge.”
“A pledge?”
“Come with me.”
He offered his hand. She took it and let him guide her away from the cottage and the natural trails, into the thick of the woods. Darkness wrapped around them, as did the pervading pulse of magic that Mina always sensed here. The electric tingle vibrated along her skin, then through her flesh, to her bones. It wrapped inside her chest as if holding a secret for her, waiting to be discovered. She gasped at the rightness of being here at this moment, holding Mikhail’s hand as he led her deeper into the dark.
They stepped through the brush toward an open grove of black oaks. Before they stepped into the clearing, she saw the circle of men, the familiar faces of the Bloodguard, each of them shirtless beneath the light of the full moon. The sight took her breath away.
“What is this?” she asked in a whisper, feeling as if she interrupted a sacred rite.
He didn’t answer but led her between Dmitri and Gavril to the center of the circle where a silver goblet stood on the ground. He lifted it and wrapped both her hands to cradle it.
“Hold this. You’ll know what to do when the time comes.”
Stepping back, he reached his arms over his shoulders to his back and removed his shirt in a swift move. Dropping it at his feet, he marched to the one open space next to his brother.
“Bloodguard, ready,” he commanded in a clear, loud voice.
In unison, they knelt, left knee then right. Including Mikhail.
Mina tried not to react, but it was impossible. The sight of a circle of forty muscular, shirtless warrior vampires on their knees around her under the moonlight was enough to make a weaker woman swoon. She did her best to remain poised, her breath puffs of white air in the cold.
Mikhail continued in his commanding tenor. “This pledge of devotion and fealty is given by free hands and free hearts.” He held her gaze with fiery intensity. “This rite is our seal and vow to you, Vilhelmina Dragomir.”
Then they spoke as one.
“We are the Bloodguard. Noble by birth, brothers by choice. We smite the evil ones. We avenge the innocents. We right all wrongs. We are the cold blade in the dark night. We give our swords, our bodies, our strength, and our blood. We bleed as one. We die as one.”
The chorus of voices echoed in the silent grove as Dmitri unsheathed his dagger and sliced open the fleshy part of his palm.
“For Vilhelmina.” He stretched out his arm, blood dripping onto the snow-dusted ground.
Mina understood and moved swiftly to him, catching droplets of his blood in the cup. He then swiped his palm across his chest, over his heart, smearing a line of crimson.
“Vilhelmina,” said Gregoravich at Dmitri’s left, slicing open his palm in the same way.
Again, she collected the blood sacrifice. A few drops fell into the goblet, then he marked his bloody palm over his heart.
“Vilhelmina.” Aleksei was next. Then Gavril.
Mina went from one warrior to the next, meeting each one’s gaze, hoping they recognized how much their pledge meant to her. She circled around till she was finally left standing in front of Mikhail.
With a swift slice of his dagger, he raised his hand, blood dripping in a steady line. “Vilhelmina,” he annunciated clearly with his dark, melodic voice. The one she recognized that awoke her from the bloodless sleep. The voice that called to her helpless heart, beating frantically.
She collected his offering, watching in fascination as he crossed his heart, marking himself with his own blood. Then all was silent as they remained on their knees. Watching her. Waiting.
She knew what was expected of her but not what words were usually said after such a sacrificial rite. She could only say what she felt down to her bones once she’d taken her place at the center of the circle once more.
“I accept your pledge.”
She raised the goblet in salute, moonlight glinting off the silver, her voice trembling with emotion. With one hand, she eased her left sleeve off her shoulder, exposing the skin over her heart.
“I will honor and cherish it.”
Dipping two fingers into the goblet, she smeared their mixed blood across her own heart, turning in a circle as she did so that they all could see the visible sign of her own vow to them.
“I give you my loyalty as you give me yours.”
Holding the goblet up to the sky, she scanned the perimeter, her eyes landing on Mikhail, then tipped it back and drank the blood of the men who’d just devoted their lives to her safety.
For a human, this might be hard to stomach, but for her, it was like drinking the nectar of the gods, the essence and strength of every man energizing her body. She accepted them not just as her personal guard, but as her devoted knights for the duration of her life and their own.
When the chalice was empty, a drop trailing from the corner of her mouth, she held the goblet between both hands and watched as they quietly lifted to their feet one by one and disappeared into Silvane Forest. Until finally only Mikhail was left, standing where he’d knelt, looking at her with his otherworldly eyes, thinking deeply of she knew not what.
Mina trembled from the ritual, the power of it, the devotion of it. “Why?” she asked, swiping away the blood at her mouth with the back of her hand.
He remained statue still, carved in perfect lines by moonlight and shadow. His bare chest hardly rose with his shallow intake of breath while Mina felt as if she’d run a lap around the world.
“What do you mean?” he asked, still not moving.
She walked toward him. “Why did they do that?” Her voice quivered. “Because you asked them to?”
“No,” he answered calmly, though the flare of his eyes said he was anything but. “The Bloodguard is an order of brothers. Not a military dictatorship.”
She finally reached him, her body thrumming with the energy of their blood and the utter beauty of their pledge. Fire pumped hard through her veins while the chill of the winter night cooled her skin. Once more, she felt so magnificently alive. She wanted to thank Mikhail, but words felt insufficient for such an act of devotion.
His mouth ticked up on one side as if he knew her thoughts. “It’s time to get you indoors.” He took her hand and roughly led her back through the dark woods.