Seraphina's POV
I woke to screaming.
My own screaming.
Pain ripped through my body like lightning, starting from the Soul Bind mark on my wrist and spreading everywhere. It felt like my bones were breaking and reforming, like my blood had turned to fire.
"Seraphina!" Lyra burst through my door, purple magic swirling around her hands. "What's happening?"
"It hurts!" I gasped, curling into a ball on the bed. "Make it stop!"
"Caelan!" Lyra shouted. "Get here NOW!"
Shadows exploded in the corner of the room, and suddenly he was there, moving faster than should be possible. He grabbed my hand—the one with the mark—and the pain lessened slightly.
"Her magic is trying to break free," he said, his voice tight. "The binding your mother put on you is fighting back."
"I don't understand!" Tears streamed down my face.
Caelan's silver eyes met mine. "When you were born, your mother performed a ritual to lock your magic away. She stored it in a crystal. But now that the Soul Bind has formed, it's trying to return to you. Your body is fighting two opposite magics at once."
Another wave of pain hit, and I screamed again.
"We have to break the binding completely," Lyra said urgently. "Or it will kill her."
"That could kill her too," Caelan growled.
"Not breaking it WILL kill her!" Lyra shot back. "Look at her! The magic is tearing her apart from the inside!"
Through the haze of pain, I felt Caelan's emotions through our bond—fear, anger, desperation. He was terrified.
"Seraphina." He cupped my face, forcing me to look at him. "Listen to me. We can try to break the binding, but it's going to hurt worse before it gets better. Do you trust me?"
I should say no. I'd known him less than a day.
But when I looked into his silver eyes, I felt the truth through our bond. He would die before he let anything happen to me.
"Yes," I whispered.
He lifted me into his arms like I weighed nothing. "Lyra, prepare the ritual chamber. We do this now."
He carried me through the palace at impossible speed. I buried my face in his chest, trying not to scream again. He smelled like night air and something wild.
"Stay with me," he murmured. "Just a little longer."
We reached a circular room carved entirely from crystal. Silver moonlight poured through the ceiling, concentrating in a beam at the center.
Caelan set me down in that beam of light, and the pain eased slightly.
Lyra drew symbols around me in glowing purple ink. "This is ancient magic. Very dangerous. Are you absolutely certain, Your Majesty?"
"Do it," Caelan commanded.
"Wait!" I grabbed his hand. "What if something goes wrong?"
"Then we die together." He said it simply, like it was obvious. "The Soul Bind, remember? Your fate is my fate now."
"That's insane! You barely know me!"
He smiled—sad and beautiful. "I've been alive for five hundred years, Seraphina. I've known thousands of people. And in less than a day, you've made me feel more alive than any of them." He squeezed my hand. "Now stop arguing and let us save your life."
Lyra began chanting in that old language that made my teeth hurt. The symbols around me glowed brighter.
"This is going to hurt," Caelan warned. "Hold onto me. Don't let go."
The magic hit like a tidal wave.
I screamed, and this time I couldn't stop. It felt like something was ripping out of my chest, tearing through every part of me. I gripped Caelan's hand so hard I should have broken his bones.
But through the agony, I felt something else.
Power.
Raw, enormous power flooding into me. It was terrifying and wonderful and too much and not enough all at once.
Images flashed through my mind—memories that weren't mine.
I saw my mother holding a newborn baby. Me. Her face twisted with jealousy and fear.
"She's too powerful," young Queen Vivienne whispered. "The prophecy says the Starborn will reshape everything. I won't let her take what's mine."
I saw her perform the ritual, pulling silver light from the baby's chest and trapping it in a crystal. The baby—I—screamed and screamed.
"Forget," my mother commanded, her magic pressing into the infant's mind. "Forget your power. Forget who you were meant to be."
The vision shifted.
I saw a much older scene—a woman who looked like me but wasn't, standing on a battlefield. She raised her hands, and reality itself bent around her. Kingdoms fell. Mountains rose. She was crying.
"The Starborn bears the weight of all worlds," a voice echoed. "With power to create or destroy. The choice will always be theirs."
Then I saw Caelan—but younger, mortal, dying on a battlefield. A dark figure stood over him.
"You want to save your kingdom? Bind yourself to immortality. Five hundred years of life for five hundred years of searching. When you find your Inverse Soul, your curse ends. But be warned—she will either save you or destroy you completely."
Young Caelan looked up at the figure. "I accept."
The visions shattered.
I gasped, my eyes flying open. I was floating three feet off the ground, surrounded by silver light. The mark on my wrist blazed so bright it hurt to look at.
"Seraphina!" Caelan's voice sounded far away. "Come back!"
I looked down at him. He was kneeling, one hand outstretched, his face showing more emotion than I'd ever seen.
He looked terrified.
The silver light pulsed once more, then exploded outward in a wave that shook the entire palace.
I fell.
Caelan caught me before I hit the ground, cradling me against his chest. His heart was racing—I could hear it. Feel it through the bond.
"Is she—" Lyra started.
"She's breathing," Caelan said roughly. "The binding is broken. I can feel her magic now. It's..."
"Overwhelming," Lyra whispered.
I opened my eyes. Everything looked different—sharper, clearer. I could see the individual threads of magic woven through the air. Could feel the pulse of life in every stone of the palace.
"What happened to me?" My voice sounded different too. Stronger.
"You took your power back," Caelan said softly. "All of it."
I sat up, still in his arms, and looked at my hands. Silver light danced between my fingers like living things.
"I saw things," I said. "Visions. I saw my mother steal my magic when I was born. I saw another Starborn before me, destroying kingdoms." I looked up at him. "I saw you make your deal for immortality."
His jaw tightened. "What else did you see?"
"That you've been searching for me for five hundred years. That finding me was supposed to break your curse." I felt tears building. "But the vision said I would either save you or destroy you. What does that mean?"
Before he could answer, the palace shook violently.
Lyra ran to the window. "No. No, no, no."
"What is it?" Caelan demanded, still holding me.
"A portal just opened. Someone's coming through from the mortal realm." She spun around, her face pale. "It's Queen Vivienne. And she brought an army."
My blood ran cold. "My mother is here? How?"
"The Soul Bind created a temporary bridge between realms when it formed," Lyra explained quickly. "It's still open. She must have tracked it."
Caelan set me on my feet and stepped in front of me protectively. "How many soldiers?"
"At least a hundred. And she's carrying something." Lyra's voice shook. "It's glowing. I think it's the crystal. The one with Seraphina's stolen magic."
"But I just got my magic back," I said, confused. "How can she still have—"
"She doesn't have your magic anymore," Caelan said grimly. "She has the container that held it. Which means she can use it to track you. To control you." He turned to me. "Your mother didn't just lock away your power, Seraphina. She tied herself to it. She's been feeding off your magic for twenty-three years."
Horror washed over me. "That's why she wanted me dead. Not just to stop me from becoming powerful. Because if I lived long enough to break free, she'd lose everything."
"And now she's here to finish what she started," Lyra said.
Alarms began blaring throughout the palace. Shouts echoed from below.
Commander Thorne burst into the room, his sword already drawn. "Your Majesty! We're under attack! The mortal queen demands we hand over Princess Seraphina or she'll destroy Noctwyth!"
Caelan's eyes flashed pure silver. "Let her try."
"Wait." I grabbed his arm. "I won't let innocent people die because of me. If she wants me, I'll face her."
"Absolutely not," Caelan said flatly.
"She's my mother. My responsibility." I stepped around him, even though my legs were shaking. "Besides, you said I'm powerful now, right? Let me prove it."
"You just broke free from a binding that nearly killed you," he argued. "You can barely stand. You have no idea how to control your power yet."
"Then I guess I'll learn fast." I walked toward the door.
He grabbed my wrist—the one with the Soul Bind mark. His touch sent warmth through me.
"If you go down there, I'm going with you," he said. "We're bound. Your fight is my fight."
I looked up at him and saw something in his expression that made my heart skip.
He wasn't just protecting me because of the Soul Bind.
He actually cared.
"Together then," I said.
"Together."
We ran through the palace toward the throne room. Every window we passed showed the same scene—soldiers in my father's colors surrounding the palace, and at the front, my mother, holding a glowing crystal above her head.
When we burst into the throne room, Caelan's entire court was already assembled. They parted as we walked through, and I heard their whispers.
"The Starborn."
"She survived the breaking."
"Look at her eyes. They're glowing."
Were they? I couldn't tell.
Caelan and I stepped out onto the main balcony. Below, the army waited. And there, at the front, stood my mother.
She looked up at me, and her beautiful face twisted with pure hatred.
"Seraphina!" she screamed. "You belong to ME! That power is MINE!"
"It was never yours!" I shouted back, surprised by the strength in my voice. "You stole it! But I'm taking everything back now!"
My mother raised the crystal. "You think you're powerful? Let me show you what I can do with even a fraction of what you gave me!"
She slammed the crystal into the ground.
Reality fractured.
A wave of dark magic exploded toward the palace, and I knew—absolutely knew—that if it hit, everyone inside would die.
"NO!" I thrust my hands forward without thinking.
Silver light erupted from my palms, meeting the dark magic halfway. The two forces collided with an explosion that lit up the sky.
I was holding back my mother's attack.
Me. The powerless princess.
I was actually doing it.
But I could feel it draining me. I wasn't strong enough yet. Not trained enough.
"Seraphina, you need to stop!" Caelan said urgently beside me. "You'll burn yourself out!"
"If I stop, everyone dies!"
"Then don't stop alone!" He grabbed my free hand, and power flooded through our Soul Bind—his ancient, dark magic mixing with my silver Starborn light.
The combined force shattered my mother's attack completely.
Queen Vivienne staggered backward, shock on her face.
"Impossible," she whispered. "You're just a child. A broken, worthless—"
"I AM THE STARBORN!" My voice echoed with power I didn't know I had. "And you will never control me again!"
Light exploded from my body, so bright that everyone had to shield their eyes.
When it faded, I was transformed.
Wings of pure starlight spread from my back. My hair floated around me like I was underwater. The mark on my wrist blazed like a tiny sun.
And my mother looked absolutely terrified.
"What have you become?" she breathed.
I looked at Caelan, who was staring at me with wonder and something that looked like pride.
Then I looked back at my mother.
"Everything you tried to prevent."
But before I could do anything else, the crystal in my mother's hand cracked.
Then shattered.
And from the broken pieces, something dark and ancient emerged.
Something that had been waiting inside that crystal for twenty-three years.
Something my mother had accidentally released.
It took form—a shadow creature with too many eyes and teeth.
"Finally," it hissed. "Free at last. And so hungry."
It lunged—not at me.
At my mother.
She screamed as the creature wrapped around her, feeding on her magic, her life force.
"Help me!" she shrieked, reaching toward me. "Seraphina, please!"
The woman who had locked away my power. Who had offered me as a sacrifice. Who had just tried to kill everyone I'd started to care about.
Was begging me to save her.
And I had a choice to make.
Save the woman who'd tortured me for twenty-three years?
Or let her die?
The entire court watched. Waiting to see what the Starborn would choose.
What would I choose?