Chapter 2

She ran out of the benediction room her heart pounding hard against her chest, she knew this place but the adrenaline rush made her disoriented .

She made bee line runs towards anywhere that looked like an exit.

“ stop” she heard someone say

It was another guard in uniform, she ran towards the opposite end of where the voice came from as she made the turn she saw the other guard coming though distracted.

She stood there, panting and hoping for some divine intervention, just as she thought she was going to be caught she felt a pull

Within a second she was inside a hidden compartment but with whom she could hear him breath, she tried to scream but he had his hand pressed tightly on her mouth.

He watched the guards movements

then gently let her go with the hope she wouldn't shout

She turned and met a familiar gaze

“ Marcus” she choked out though unsure as it was dark

She should have screamed, if it was really Marcus, Marcus had died long ago.

She watched his burial herself, white roses, a coffin lowered into the ground, no fanfare, just whispers and rumours that he was more than a bodyguard but a Rossetti.

But yet he stood in front of her now

Alive or was he

The guards had left but her knees buckled from a mixture of fear and anger.

“ What is this?” She rasped “ some kind of trick”

Marcus stepped out of the darkness of the compartment, his eyes the same storm-grey she remembered locked unto hers.

The scar across his face from when he saved her from some assailants though faint but jagged.

“ it is not a trick”

“ no it is not” she whispered “it's a betrayal”

The air thickened, the lights flickered as if reacting to her rage.

Marcus raised his hand calm and commanding and the light stopped flickering

She stood for a moment bemused

“ How did you do that?” she asked

“ do what?” He questioned confused

“ how did you stop the lights from flickering by just raising your hands?” she pestered

“ I didn't, I just raised my hands to prove a point and the lights coincidentally stopped” he answered

“ but you were supposed to be dead” she said quickly changing the subject

“ I was supposed to be a lot of things” he said smirking “ but death never suited me”

She lunged at him.

Her fingers curled into his collar, before she could think she slammed him against the wall.

The sound of the impact cracked like thunder but nobody seemed to notice except for a guard who was making his way towards the origin of the sound

“ let go of me” he said

“ why should I?” She replied

“ let go of me now?” Was his reply

“ or else what?” She asked provocatively

“ or we get caught and get killed” he said

She snapped out of her anger as they made for the opposite exit.

In the safety of the great outdoors she continued her questioning

“ do you know how much it cost my dad and me seeing you die at least thinking you died” she hissed

At this point she was struggling to hold back her tears, though she had not said anything she had loved and missed him every moment since he died.

His death made her dad question her safety and sent her to the vatican.

“ I know” his voice and eyes softened as he saw her tearing up

“ Then why let me believe you were dead?”

Marcus did not answer immediately

He looked past her towards the moon as it faded behind the clouds

“ you weren't ready to know what they had done what I had become” he finally said

Maria's mouth went dry. “ try me” she said

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled something out– a torn piece of parchment, burnt at the edge.

She recognised it immediately.

Her invitation, the letter that summoned her home.

“ You sent this” she breathed

He nodded

Her anger increased

“ You lied to me, hid from me. Let them bury you while I”

He cut her off

“ I kept you alive” Marcus snapped, his voice sharp now

“ you think if the council knew you were alive they would let you go, they would use you like others but you are safe now in my hands and the mansion” he continued

She could get past the word used

“ what do you mean” she paused, deliberating if she was actually ready to hear the truth

“ what do you mean used” she finally said

Marcus stepped forward

“ There is a reason the thirteenth was the salvation of the Rossetti family, and it is not just the effect of the curse but something deeper, its blood politics” he paused letting what he said to sink in.

“ The thirteenth Rossetti who inherits the empire becomes a living vault for all others’ sins. The family isn't just passing down power to the thirteenth but they purge it into you, every murder, every debt, every oath they can't repay– they bury in the thirteenth” he concluded with a look of despair.

Maria's leg started growing numb, she wasn’t expecting such a sinister plot, it was not what she expected at all

“ am I the thirteenth” she asked Her voice trembling

“ unfortunately, you are but I am right beside you , I will guide you as far as I can” he said

Maria skin went pale, the wind blew, Cold and hard

the night grew eerie, fog appeared from nowhere as the severity of the issue dawned on Maria

“ the benediction is not salvation it is a sacrifice and everytime it is performed it marks the beginning of the next sacrifice and now you have activated it” he said

“ so you came back to stop me from activating it” she said hollowly

“ no” Marcus said softly. “ To stop them from killing you too”

From above, the chapel bell rang out once – Solemn and heavy

Maria's head snapped up.

“ what's that” she asked

“ funeral starts in fifteen minutes” Marcus murmured

“ your father's death wasn’t an accident, Maria, look closer”

He handed her the key— old and rusty, still stained with blood.

“ if you want the truth,” he said, “ you will need this” he said as he turned away

She watched him walk out

she was alone again, the wind blowing hard against her skin

As she contemplated she could let everything go and walk away or she could dig deeper and risk her life

Either way She knew that she had to stop this curse

And the first step was finding her father's murderer.