Chapter 3

Aiyana POV:

I stopped before the towering basalt doors of the Sea Burial Sanctuary, where carvings of ancient leviathans radiated a suffocating pressure. Behind me, the wedding guests followed like bone-crusher sharks scenting blood, whispering at my back.

Ignoring them, I braced both hands against the stone and shoved the heavy doors open with a low rumble.

Inside, there was no warm Hydrosun—only eternal blue phosphor lamps illuminating a massive white jade altar in the center. There was no corpse on the altar, only a set of shattered platinum armor stained with dried black blood, and a dull obsidian-platinum Tide-Oath Ring.

Those were the relics of the empire's supreme military commander, the High Lord of Tides, Corbin Glass. Three days ago, while blocking an abyssal demon horde at the Northern Frost Bastion, he had plunged into a crushing deep-sea trench, leaving no body behind.

Beside the altar stood the head of House Glass, Duke Reginald, and his wife, Duchess Eleanor, dressed in mourning black.

My intrusion broke the silence. Eleanor raised her bloodshot glacial-blue eyes, while Reginald's voice boomed with a Warlord's authority.

"Aiyana? Why are you trespassing in the hall of the dead instead of marrying in the First House? Get out!"

Instead of retreating, I lifted my white skirts and walked up the white jade steps until I stood right before the bloodstained armor.

"Your Grace, Lord Gideon just got my adopted sister pregnant on my wedding bed."

Murmurs rippled through the guests at the door. Reginald's jaw tightened as his face turned iron-gray. "I will settle that score with Brody's family, but that gives you no right to storm this sanctuary!"

"I came here to fulfill the marriage alliance between House Glass and House Gould." I met Reginald's gaze without blinking.

"The betrothal is ruined," Eleanor said wearily. "What more do you want?"

"Who says it is ruined?" I turned toward the obsidian-platinum ring on the altar. "Gideon is unworthy, so I will marry the High Lord of Tides, Corbin Glass! I will become his widow, the Fourth Madame of this house!"

Gasps echoed from the doorway. Eleanor's eyes widened in shock. "Have you lost your mind? Corbin has returned to the sea! Marrying his tablet means guarding an empty chamber for three hundred years, forfeiting any chance of a Fated Mate at the Royal Cathedral!"

"Being an Outer Shoals outcast has brought me nothing but humiliation," I replied, each word crisp and cold. "I would rather be a dead Sovereign's Duchess than a living Viscount's joke."

Reginald narrowed his eyes, studying me closely. "You want the title of Duchess to crush the First House, yet why should we agree?"

"Because the High Lord died unmarried and childless," I said rapidly. "Under High Council law, his fiefdoms and Mana-Crystal quotas—the deep-sea energy stones that serve as our empire's currency and life force—will be reclaimed by the crown. As his lawful widow, I can hold his estate together for House Glass. You need his wealth, and I need his rank."

Silence fell over the sanctuary. Reginald and Eleanor exchanged a heavy look.

"Even if there is only a cold ring left?" Eleanor's voice trembled.

"Even if there is only a ring."

Before the watching nobles, I reached out and picked up the bloodstained obsidian-platinum Tide-Oath Ring. Pulling a sharp silver hairpin from my coils, I pricked my fingertip and let a drop of crimson blood fall onto the dead metal.

A dead ring taken from another should never respond, yet the moment my blood touched the platinum, a faint gold-violet crest flared inside the band!

Eleanor gasped, covering her mouth. "The Deep Mother bears witness... his ring accepted her blood!"

"Since the ring has claimed you," Reginald declared, his voice ringing over the hall, "from this hour forth, you are Corbin's wife, the Fourth Madame of House Glass!"

I slid the loose obsidian-platinum ring onto my right ring finger, the cool metal steadying my racing pulse. Just as I turned to face the stunned crowd, frantic footsteps pounded down the outer corridor.