SERA'S POV
The light is coming from my hands.
I stare at them in the darkness, watching golden glow pulse from my palms like a heartbeat. It's impossible. Completely impossible. But it's happening.
The light gets brighter. Stronger. Heat builds in my chest, spreading down my arms until my whole body feels like it's on fire from the inside out.
"No, no, no," I whisper, shaking my hands like I can fling the light away. "Stop. Whatever you are, just stop!"
The glow flares brighter in response. The chains around my wrists start heating up, metal turning warm against my skin.
Panic floods through me. What if I burn myself? What if this—this thing inside me explodes and kills me?
Footsteps pound outside my cell. Fast. Running.
The door crashes open and Caspian bursts in, holding his lantern high. His eyes go wide when he sees me—sees the light pouring from my hands, making the whole cell glow gold.
"You're manifesting," he breathes. There's something in his voice I can't name. Wonder? Fear? Both?
"I don't know what's happening!" My voice comes out high and scared. "Make it stop. Please, make it stop!"
Caspian sets down his lantern and moves toward me. Slowly. Carefully. Like I'm a wild animal that might bite.
"Listen to me," he says, his voice suddenly calm and steady. "You need to breathe. Slow, deep breaths. In through your nose, out through your mouth."
"I can't—"
"Yes, you can." He's right in front of me now, kneeling so we're eye to eye. "Breathe with me. In..."
He takes a slow breath. Despite my panic, I copy him.
"And out..."
We breathe out together. The light dims just a little.
"Good. Again. In..."
We breathe together—in and out, in and out—until finally the glow fades from my hands. The heat in my chest cools down. The chains stop burning my skin.
I slump forward, exhausted. Caspian catches me before I can fall.
His arms are strong around me. Steady. For just a second, I let myself lean into him because I'm so tired and scared and confused.
Then I remember—he's my jailer. The man who's keeping me locked in chains. The man who said he's waiting for orders to kill me.
I jerk back. He lets me go immediately.
"What was that?" I demand, holding up my now-normal hands. They're shaking. "What just happened to me?"
Caspian sits back on his heels, studying me with those sharp gray eyes. "Your power is waking up. The seal they put on you is weakening."
"What seal? What power? I don't understand any of this!"
"I know." He runs a hand through his dark hair, looking suddenly tired. "I know you don't. That's what makes this so..."
He trails off, but I see something cross his face. Guilt? Pain? The same hurt expression from before when he said he was sorry.
"Makes it so what?" I push.
"Cruel," he says quietly. "What they did to you. Taking your memories. Your power. Leaving you trapped and confused with no idea why." His hand goes to his chest again, pressing against that glow under his shirt. "It's cruel."
I blink at him, surprised. "You... you think what they did was wrong?"
"I think," Caspian says carefully, "that the gods do many things that are wrong. But my opinion doesn't matter. I have to follow orders."
"Because of that thing on your chest. That mark." I lean forward, curious despite myself. "What is it?"
His jaw tightens. For a long moment I think he won't answer. Then he reaches up and slowly unbuttons the top of his shirt.
The mark is right over his heart—a symbol that looks like twisted chains made of light, glowing faint blue against his skin. Just looking at it makes my chest ache with a sadness I don't understand.
"It's a divine brand," he says. "A curse passed down through my family for generations. It binds me to serve the gods. I have to obey their commands or..." He touches the mark and winces. "Or it will kill me."
"That's horrible." The words slip out before I can stop them.
He looks at me, surprised. "You feel sorry for me? I'm the one keeping you prisoner."
"You're a prisoner too," I say. "Just a different kind."
Something shifts in his expression. Softens. For the first time since I woke up, I see him as more than just my scary keeper. He's a person. A person who's hurting just like me.
"How long?" I ask quietly. "How long have you been bound like this?"
"Sixteen years." His voice goes hollow again. "Since I was eighteen. Since my parents died."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be." He buttons his shirt back up, hiding the mark. "At least I remember who I am. You don't even have that."
He's right. I don't. And suddenly the unfairness of it all crashes over me like a wave.
"Why?" I ask, hating how my voice shakes. "Why did I try to destroy the gods? Was I evil? Did I hurt people?"
Caspian goes very still. That guilty look is back on his face, stronger now.
"I don't know if you were evil," he says slowly. "But I do know one thing."
"What?"
He leans closer, and I see something burning in his eyes—something dangerous and desperate and almost angry.
"The gods say you tried to destroy them," he whispers. "But gods lie, Seraphina. They lie all the time. And I think..."
He stops himself, biting the words back. His chest mark flares bright blue, like it's punishing him for even thinking about saying more.
"You think what?" I press. "Please. Tell me."
Caspian stands up abruptly, backing toward the door. The mark is pulsing now, clearly hurting him.
"I can't," he grits out. "The curse won't let me tell you certain things. But tomorrow... tomorrow I'll bring you something. Something that might help you understand."
"What? What are you going to bring me?"
He grabs his lantern, already halfway out the door.
"Caspian!" I shout. "What did you mean the gods lie? What aren't you telling me?"
He pauses in the doorway, his back to me. When he speaks, his voice is so quiet I almost miss it.
"Your sister is the one who wants you dead, Seraphina. Not the Council. Your own twin sister."
My world tilts sideways.
"I have a sister?" I whisper.
But he's already gone, the door slamming shut behind him.
I'm alone in the darkness again. But this time, two words echo in my head, worse than any chains:
Twin sister.