SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... stood before the door as though the wood marked a boundary between two worlds. Behind her lay the room in which Caelan was silent. Before her lay a morning that felt like a knife made of pale lightLight is the Aether aspect of binding, order, oath, protecti....
The knocking had stopped. The voice remained—calm, almost friendly, like a neighbour complaining about noise. Except that nothing human in that voice was asking. It expected.
“SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ...,” it said once more. “Open the door. You are not alone.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... pressed her fingers to her temples. Her mind was filled with images: Caelan’s face, the moment his breath had failed to return, the warmth in her mouth that she had never wanted and yet had needed. Her stomach clenched as though it meant to cast itself out.
She went to the door slowly, because every step made the truth louder. Her hand settled upon the bolt. She hesitated—not from defiance, but because she knew that if she opened this door, someone would enter who would not recoil.
And that was worse than any scream.
The bolt yielded.
The door opened a fraction. Cool air pressed inside, damp with rain. With it came a scent that immediately tightened Serenya’s throat: leather, cold metal, and something sweet, almost imperceptible, like dark flowers opening at night.
A tall woman stood in the doorway, wearing a cloak whose fabric did not absorb the rain, but shed it as though it were oiled stone. Her face was pale, though not sickly. Rather, it seemed never to have learnt how to take colour from the sun. Her dark hair was drawn smoothly back, and her eyes were—Serenya flinched despite herself—too clear. They were like a mirror in which nothing could be hidden.
Beside her stood a shorter figure in plain clothing, a hood drawn over the head. Human. SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... sensed the person’s pulse like a lantern in the darkness. It was a bodily instinct, and it frightened her more than anything else because it came not from her thoughts, but from her new being.
The woman in the cloak inclined her head.
“Myris,” she said, as though a name were a calling card. “Court of the BloodnightThe Court of the Bloodnight is a vampiric order that gathers....”
The hooded figure said nothing, but kept both hands visible, open and empty. SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... understood that this was deliberate. A gesture that said: We could, but we will not.
Not yet.
“I…” SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... began, her voice dry. “How—”
Myris stepped closer without crossingA Crossing is the act or event of passing through a rift, ga... the threshold. She did not look past SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ..., but directly at her. Yet SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... felt that Myris saw everything: the smeared fabric of her dress, the half-burnt candles, the scent of the room, which had not yet decided whether it wished to be wax or guilt.
“Breathe shallowly,” Myris said. “Not because of me. Because of you.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... swallowed. The thirst had returned, quiet but persistent. It was not like hunger for bread, which eventually faded. It was like a second consciousness dividing the world into blood and not-blood.
“You are trembling,” Myris said, and it was not an accusation. “You may fall into panic in a moment. Or you may learn now how to survive a morning.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... stared at her. “I did this to him…”
Myris raised one hand. Not to silence SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ..., but to smooth something that would otherwise tear.
“Do not speak it if you cannot carry it,” she said. “The room will remember without the words.”
The hooded figure stepped slightly forward and pushed back her hood. She was a young woman, perhaps Serenya’s age, with a narrow face and freckles that nearly vanished in the dim lightLight is the Aether aspect of binding, order, oath, protecti.... Her eyes were alert and sorrowful at once.
“Nera,” she said quietly. “I… work for the Court.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... thought: You work? As though this were a counting house.
“You are cold,” SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... whispered, realising only afterwards that she had said it to Nera—or perhaps to herself.
Nera glanced briefly at Myris, then back at SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First .... “You will be too. That passes. The panic passes first. Then something else comes.”
Myris crossed the threshold now as though the room truly belonged to her. Her cloak did not so much as brush the frame. She did not walk to the centre. She remained to one side, as though she did not wish to block Serenya’s escape.
“May I?” she asked, indicating the candles.
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... nodded mechanically.
Myris did not extinguish them all. Only two. She pinched out the flames with her fingertips without letting them touch her skin. SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... watched and understood: there was power here, but it was not displayed.
It was measured.
“You want to scream,” Myris said.
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... opened her mouth, and for a moment she truly believed the scream would come. What emerged instead was a hoarse, childlike sound.
“I did not mean to…” she managed. “I did not want this.”
Myris’s gaze remained calm. “I know.”
And because she said it without feigning pity and without taking pleasure in severity, something broke open inside SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... that she had held clenched since morning. Tears came, but they felt different. Not warm. More like salt ashamed of itself.
Nera stepped closer and offered SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... a cloth. It was dark and clean and smelled of herbs.
“Sit down,” Nera said. “Please.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... sank onto the chair as though her body had suddenly become heavy enough to fall again.
Myris took two steps towards the bed and stopped. She looked down at Caelan, and SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... expected—she did not know what. Disgust. Interest. Mockery. But Myris’s face remained unchanged: smooth and still.
“His name?” Myris asked.
“Caelan,” SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... whispered.
Myris nodded slowly. “He held you.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... looked up sharply. “You did not know him.”
“No,” Myris said. “But I know the kind of man you chose. And I know the kind of curse that chose you.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... shook her head as though she could strike the word from the air. “A curse? It was… wine. Something… poison.”
Myris turned towards the table, where the decanter still stood. The Blood Chalice. SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... had not touched it since returning to the room. It stood there like a witness.
Myris did not pick up the glass. She merely bent over it and breathed in once. Then she raised her eyes.
“Not poison,” she said. “A drop of night. Not enough to break everyone. But enough to find someone carrying an open door within.”
“I was the door,” SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... whispered, and her stomach tightened again.
Myris’s voice softened without becoming kind. “You swore an oathAn Oath is more than a promise in Teutarya; it can carry soc.... You bound yourself. That is strength. In MarvalisMarvalis is a major city of wet stone, mist, towers, alleys,..., they call it propriety. In the night, we call it an anchor.”
Nera placed a small vial upon the table. It was slender crystal, filled with a dark liquid that barely held its colour.
“What is that?” SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... asked. Her gaze clung to it with repulsed fascination.
“A ration,” Nera said. “Tempered blood. It has been prepared. It will clear your mind. Take the edges off.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... recoiled. “I do not want it.”
Her throat contracted as though it wished to contradict her. That was the most humiliating part.
Myris did not sit. She remained standing, as though prepared to disappear at any moment.
“You do not want it,” she said. “And yet you will need it, or you will do something in this city louder than the night of your engagement.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... stared at Caelan. “Louder?”
Myris’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. “The BloodwardensBloodwardens are hunters who operate against overwhelming su... hear the cries of birth. And last night, you screamed without knowing it.”
The word BloodwardensBloodwardens are hunters who operate against overwhelming su... struck SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... like cold water. She knew the stories. Everyone in Velmorien knew them. Men and women in grey cloaks, with silver sigils and ash in their hems, who made no bargains and could not be bought with tears.
“They are coming?” SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... whispered.
“Not yet,” Myris said. “But soon. And they will not search for you first. They will search for the RiftA Rift is a tear in reality through which hostile forces, co.... The scent. The trail.”
Nera stepped closer, holding up the vial as though it were medicine.
“Only one drop,” she said. “You do not have to drink like…” She broke off, as though the word monster lay upon her tongue and she did not wish to taste it.
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... breathed shallowly. Her eyes drifted back to the vial. The thirst pressed from within, merciless.
“If I drink it,” she whispered, “does that make me… one of you?”
Myris did not answer at once. Then she said, “You already are. The drop will not change what you are. It only decides whether you can still recognise yourself.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... took the vial. Her fingers no longer trembled from cold, but from knowledge.
She raised it to her lips. She smelled it—and it was as though the scent laid itself directly inside her throat and waited there.
One drop.
The taste was not sweet. Not salty. It was… deep. Like a sentence that could not be disputed. SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... felt something inside her grow quiet, as though an animal had lain down. The thirst remained, but it became clearer, less shrill.
She set the vial down as though it were hot.
Nera exhaled as though she had been holding her breath all along.
Myris returned to the table. From the inner pocket of her cloak, she drew a small piece of dark wax, almost black, and a narrow metal ring set with a stone that remained dull.
“Before you ask,” Myris said, “no. It is not jewellery. It is a sealA Seal is a ritual or magical binding used to close, dampen,....”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... looked at the ring. “A… mark?”
“A contract,” Myris said. “You were born in Marvalis—born anew, I mean. The city is not kind to the unbound. And the Court is not generous to those who accept our protection and then forget.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... felt her back straighten. A part of her—the part that had still been a betrothed woman yesterday—searched for dignity.
“I have nothing…” she began.
“You have more than you think,” Myris said. “You have a name. You have access. You have learnt how to stand in a room without shouting. Those are talents the night values.”
Nera glanced briefly towards Caelan, then lowered her eyes. SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... understood: Nera knew this scene. Not this one, but this kind.
Myris placed the ring upon the table. Beside the vial. Beside the Blood Chalice, which still stood there like an ill omen.
“Listen,” Myris said. “The Court of the BloodnightThe Court of the Bloodnight is a vampiric order that gathers... is not a church. We forgive no sins. We are an order. In a world that made no place for us, we make rules before others carve them into us with silver.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... stared at her through the tears, through the nausea. “Rules.”
Myris raised one finger.
“First: silence. What you are today is not a tale for the marketplace. Not a confession for your family. Not a sin to be whispered to a priest. Every sentence you speak becomes a trail.”
A second finger.
“Second: restraint. You do not hunt where you please. You do not hunt whom you please. You do not kill because you thirst. You learn to take without destroying.”
A third finger.
“Third: tithe. Blood is not merely food. Blood is currency. Those who hunt in our territories pay. Those who survive beneath our roof give. You will render tribute—not to enrich us, but to preserve the order that is saving you now.”
A fourth finger, raised only briefly.
“Fourth: no unrest. You attract no BloodwardensBloodwardens are hunters who operate against overwhelming su.... You attract no Order of the Lighttest More. You bring no wars into our cellars. Anyone who does becomes a danger. And dangers are removed.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... heard the word removed and felt it lodge inside her.
“And what…” she whispered. “What does that make me? A servant?”
The corner of Myris’s mouth lifted slightly. It was not a smile. More an acknowledgement.
“You will become one of us,” she said. “If you survive. First you will learn. Then you will serve. Later—if you are clever—you may negotiate.”
Nera stepped closer to SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ..., as though wishing to soften the worst of it. “It is not… only obedience,” she said quietly. “It is protection too. Otherwise they would already have scented you. People. Guards. Someone would have broken down the door. And you… you would have run. And then…”
Nera stopped.
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... knew how she would have finished the sentence: And then you would have killed more.
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... looked again at Caelan. His face was peaceful. It was as though the world had chosen to give her the cruellest form of beauty.
“What happens to him?” she asked.
Myris’s gaze grew a shade more serious. “He cannot be found like this.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... flinched. “I cannot… hide him.”
“No,” Myris said. “Not you. You would feel the thirst again. And you would hate yourself if your body…” She left the sentence unfinished.
Nera cleared her throat. “We will take him away,” she said. “And we will give the city a story it understands. A heart attack. A stroke. An accident. MarvalisMarvalis is a major city of wet stone, mist, towers, alleys,... would rather believe in accidents than monsters.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... closed her eyes. Part of her wanted to scream: He is not an accident. He is my life.
But that life was over.
Myris took the dark wax in her hand. “The Blood Chalice was no accident,” she said. “Someone opened it. Someone poured nightblood into a decanter intended for a celebration.”
Serenya’s eyes flew open. “Why?”
Myris’s eyes were mirrors again. “Because vampiresVampires are intelligent night predators who need blood and ... are not simply ‘made’. They are found. They are called. And sometimes they are lured to places where they may prove useful.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... felt her heart—this sparse, new heart—begin to beat faster. “You mean… someone wanted me?”
“Perhaps you,” Myris said. “Perhaps merely someone strong enough not to burn at once. But you were… suitable.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... thought of the sealA Seal is a ritual or magical binding used to close, dampen,... upon the crate, of the dark red wax. She thought of her uncle raising the Chalice so proudly. And suddenly she understood how vast MarvalisMarvalis is a major city of wet stone, mist, towers, alleys,... was—and how small one became when others were planning their moves.
“I have told no one—” she began.
“Not yet,” Myris said. “And that is good. Because first, you will learn to be silent.”
Myris placed the ring beside Serenya’s hand. “The sealA Seal is a ritual or magical binding used to close, dampen,... is not only for us. It is for you as well. It tells everyone in the night: this one stands under protection. Whoever harms her without right harms the Court.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... studied the ring. “And if I refuse it?”
Myris answered at once, without threat and without heat. “Then you walk out alone. You try to survive a morning that hates you. You stray into the shadows of an alley because you believe there will be peace there. And you take the first person who happens to look at you. Then you are born a second time, because this time you truly become a monster. And then the BloodwardensBloodwardens are hunters who operate against overwhelming su... will no longer ask whether you can be redeemed.”
The word redeemed lingered in the air like a spark.
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... looked at Myris. “Redeemed.”
Myris barely reacted. “It is a word the Order of the Lighttest More favours. We use it rarely. But the BloodwardensBloodwardens are hunters who operate against overwhelming su... enjoy it when they wish to put a cloak around their hunger for the hunt.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... felt a strange, faint hope and hated it at once. Hope had killed Caelan, she thought bitterly. Hope had made her believe the world could be simple.
“What are… my duties?” she asked, and her own tone surprised her. It was not submissive.
It was empty.
Myris nodded as though she had been waiting for SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... to ask of her own accord. “To begin with,” she said, “three things.”
She raised the first finger.
“You learn. How to drink without killing. How to move without leaving traces. How to hide in MarvalisMarvalis is a major city of wet stone, mist, towers, alleys,... without crawling through the filth. Nera will help you.”
Nera lowered her head briefly. SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... saw something like pride in the gesture—or duty.
A second finger.
“You pay. Not in blood at once, if you cannot bear it. You pay in information. Who acquired the Blood Chalice? Who sealed it? Who knew it would be opened on your night? You know the faces. You know the voices. You remember. You give us that.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... swallowed. The thought of betraying her own house was bitter. But the thought that someone might have planned this was bitterer still.
A third finger.
“You serve,” Myris said. “Not as a slave. As a hand. You will do what cannot be done by day. Carry messages. Observe. Deliver a word here, a warning there. You will learn that power in MarvalisMarvalis is a major city of wet stone, mist, towers, alleys,... does not dwell in blades, but in doors.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... stared at the ring.
“And if I cannot?” she whispered.
Myris’s voice grew quieter. “Then you will die. Not because I wish it. Because the world does. And because, if you do not learn, one day you will begin to wish for it yourself.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... took the ring.
It was colder than metal had any right to be. When she slid it onto her finger, she felt a brief, piercing pain. Not in the finger. In her chest. As though something within her had caught upon a hook.
Myris took up the dark wax. “One drop,” she said.
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... looked at her in confusion.
Nera drew a small knife so slender it was almost a needle. She offered it to SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... with both hands, as though presenting a sacred instrument.
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... took it. She pricked the tip of her finger. It scarcely hurt. But when the blood emerged, she felt the thirst take one step closer.
She forced herself not to lick it away.
The drop fell upon the wax. Myris pressed the wax briefly against the stone in the ring. SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... heard a faint crack, as though a sealA Seal is a ritual or magical binding used to close, dampen,... had closed.
And then she felt it: a presence far away, like a net settling around her. Not a chain. More a mark.
She had been seen.
Myris put away the knife as though nothing had happened. “Good,” she said. “Now stop thinking about the lightLight is the Aether aspect of binding, order, oath, protecti....”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... looked towards the window. The grey beyond it had brightened. It hurt her eyes.
“We are leaving,” Myris said.
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... sprang to her feet. “I cannot leave him… I cannot leave him here.”
Nera came to her. Her voice was gentle, but firm. “We will collect him,” she said. “You cannot be here for it. Not today. Not now.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... stared at Nera, her face twisting. “As though he were… as though he were only…”
“He is not only anything,” Nera said quickly. “But you are something now that you did not choose. And this city will not wait until you have learnt how to grieve.”
Myris went to the door and opened it only a fraction. The corridor beyond was empty. Yet SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... sensed it at once: movement. Not directly outside, but somewhere farther below. Sounds. A cough. The footsteps of guards or neighbours beginning their morning.
Myris did not turn around. “The BloodwardensBloodwardens are hunters who operate against overwhelming su... are not here yet,” she said. “But people are. And people are sometimes more dangerous because they are curious.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... straightened her shoulders, as she always did when she did not know how to breathe.
Myris gestured towards her face. “Wipe your mouth.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... passed a hand across her lips. She felt nothing. Yet the scent remained. A trace others would not notice—but the night would.
Nera drew a small tin from her pocket and opened it. Inside lay a grey powder.
“Ash-salt,” she said. “It masks the scent. Not for ever. Long enough for the journey.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... wanted to ask how many things the night had invented in order to hide itself. Instead, she kept her mouth closed.
Silence. The first rule.
Nera gently brushed the ash-salt over Serenya’s lips and throat. It felt like cold dust. SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... shivered.
“Do not breathe,” Nera murmured.
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... held her breath. Her throat tightened. The thirst protested. Yet the drop of blood inside her was like a weight that pulled her down and held her together at once.
Myris went first. SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... followed, with Nera close behind.
They stepped into the corridor. The lightLight is the Aether aspect of binding, order, oath, protecti... was milky. SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... felt it cut into her skin, not as pain but as an unwelcome truth: You no longer belong here.
They moved quietly. Not creeping, not behaving suspiciously. Simply walking as though they had every right to be there. Myris moved like a noblewoman who apologised to no one. And SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... understood that this kind of certainty was a weapon.
At the staircase, Myris stopped briefly and listened.
Below, in the counting room, men’s voices could be heard. Guards or workers. Perhaps someone clearing away the remnants of the celebration. Perhaps someone searching for something.
Myris turned towards SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First .... “Listen,” she said, so quietly that only SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... could hear. “In a moment, you will pass through a door. Once you do, your old life will be behind you. You may look back. But you may not go back.”
Serenya’s eyes burned. “I…”
Myris’s gaze remained calm. “You may love him. But you cannot save him.”
That was the sentence that took Serenya’s breath away.
She descended the stairs, each step a farewell.
At the bottom stood a side door, half concealed behind a stack of crates. Myris pushed it open. Beyond it was neither courtyard nor alley, but a narrow passage smelling of damp stone. A maintenance tunnel, SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... realised. MarvalisMarvalis is a major city of wet stone, mist, towers, alleys,... had many of them. One did not build a city upon water without digging paths beneath it.
“Here,” Nera said, taking SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... by the arm.
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... stepped inside. The passage was dark. It was a relief. The darkness was not kind, but it did not hurt.
The door closed behind them. The sound was quiet, yet it rang like a sealA Seal is a ritual or magical binding used to close, dampen,....
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... stopped for a moment. In the distance, she could hear the sea. Or was it only rain running through the shafts? She did not know.
She laid a hand upon the ring. Its stone remained dull, reflecting nothing.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
Myris continued without hesitation. “Down,” she said. “To where MarvalisMarvalis is a major city of wet stone, mist, towers, alleys,... is honest. To a house that does not exist by day.”
SerenyaSerenya is a vampiric key figure of Teutarya’s Song-First ... followed. And as the tunnel swallowed her, she thought of Caelan, of his warm smile, of the oathAn Oath is more than a promise in Teutarya; it can carry soc... that had made her an anchor.
She had believed the night wore a crown of velvet.
Now she knew: the crown was made of blood.
And the Court had placed it upon her head.