Lyanna's POV
I was falling through darkness, screaming, waiting to hit ground that never came.
Strong arms caught me instead.
"I've got you." Cassian's voice. His heat surrounded me like a blanket. We landed hard but together, his body taking the shock while I stayed safe in his grip.
For one heartbeat, I let myself feel safe. Let myself remember what it was like when I thought he might actually care.
Then I remembered he was marrying someone else in four weeks and shoved him away.
"Where are we?" My voice echoed in the darkness.
"Deep beneath the tower." Cassian created a flame in his hand, lighting up our surroundings. We stood in a huge underground chamber carved from black stone. Strange symbols covered every surface, glowing slightly blue. "These are the Old Foundations. Built before the Five Kingdoms even existed."
"How comforting," the stranger said from somewhere to my left. His lightning gave more light. "We fell into old ruins while being chased by a psychotic shadow witch. Just a normal Tuesday."
Despite everything, I almost laughed. There was something about his dry humor that cut through the fear.
"I'm Kieran, by the way," he added, his silver eyes finding mine in the dim light. "Kieran Ashborn. Storm-Shadow mix. Professional reject. And apparently, your soul mate."
Soul mate. The words still felt impossible. Three days ago I'd been alone, happy with my books and my quiet life. Now I had soul marks burning on my arm—plural, because somehow I'd grown a third mark during the fall.
I looked down at my forearm. Three different symbols glowed there now:
• A dragon made of fire (Cassian, even though he had no matching mark) • A dragon wrapped in storm clouds (Kieran) • And something new—a dragon made of pure shadow
"No," I whispered. "No, no, no. Why do I have three marks?"
"Because the prophecy was more complicated than anyone realized." The old female voice spoke again, coming from everywhere and nowhere. "Show yourself, child. Let me see what the gods have chosen."
Light blazed to life throughout the room. At the middle stood a woman—or something that used to be a woman. Her body was half-stone, half-flesh, frozen in the act of change. But her eyes were alive and aware and impossibly old.
"What are you?" Cassian breathed.
"I am the Last Oracle. The one who wrote the forecast you've been running from." Her stone lips barely moved when she spoke. "I've been waiting three thousand years for this moment."
"Three thousand years?" Kieran moved closer to me protectively. I appreciated it even as my heart pulled toward Cassian standing on my other side. How could I feel drawn to two people at once? "That's impossible."
"Time means nothing when you're trapped between life and death, boy." The Oracle's eyes fixed on me. "Come closer, Primordial child. Let me see what you've become."
I didn't want to move. Didn't want to know what she'd say. But my feet carried me forward anyway, pulled by some force I couldn't fight.
The Oracle reached out with her one flesh hand and touched my forehead. Images burst through my mind:
A war between dragons and old magic users. Thousands dying. The world burning. A desperate attempt to make peace by binding bloodlines together through soul bonds. But the magic went wrong—twisted, corrupted, making something new.
Primordials. Beings who could channel multiple soul bonds, bridge different magics, unite the warring groups. They were meant to save everyone.
Instead, they became too strong. The dragons feared them. Hunted them. Killed them all.
Except one family who hid among humans, passing down dormant power through generations, waiting for the prophecy to trigger again.
"You're the first Primordial born in three millennia," the Oracle said, releasing my forehead. "And you have the potential for not three soul bonds, but four."
"Four?" The word came out choked. "I can't handle three!"
"The fourth bond is the most dangerous." The Oracle's stone face somehow looked sad. "Shadow magic. Seraphine carries the potential to be your soul mate too."
The floor dropped out from under me. Not literally this time, but it felt like it.
"That's insane," Cassian growled. "Seraphine is trying to kill her!"
"Because she feels the pull too and hates it." The Oracle turned her old eyes to him. "You wonder why you feel attached to this girl even though you carry no mark, Prince? It's because your soul sees what she could become—a being powerful enough to unite all dragon bloodlines. Your dragon wants to claim her not as a mate, but as a queen."
The words hit like punches. So Cassian didn't actually love me. His dragon just recognized power and wanted to possess it. Everything I'd felt, everything I'd hoped—it was all just gut and politics.
"That's not true," Cassian said, but he sounded unsure.
"Isn't it?" Kieran's speech was gentle but firm. "You're engaged to another woman. You were willing to marry her while keeping Lyanna as a secret. That's not love, Prince. That's ownership."
"You don't understand—"
"I understand perfectly." Kieran's soul mark glowed brighter. "I feel the real bond. The one that makes me want her happiness more than my own. The one that would let her go if that's what she needed. Do you feel that?"
Cassian's silence was answer enough.
My heart cracked into smaller pieces. I'd been so stupid. So desperate to think that someone like him could actually want someone like me. " The forecast continues," the Oracle interrupted. "Lyanna Thorne, you must choose which links to accept. But know this—each link you claim makes you stronger and more dangerous. Four bonds would make you invincible. It would also make you a threat that every power would try to destroy."
"What if I don't want any of them?" I asked desperately. "What if I just want to be normal?"
"Normal died the moment the marks appeared." The Oracle's voice softened with something like sadness. "You can reject the bonds, but the power stays. And those who fear power will hunt you regardless. Your only safety lies in becoming strong enough to protect yourself."
"How?" My voice broke. "How do I do that?"
"By accepting what you are. By training your skills. And by making the hardest choice of all." The Oracle pointed at Cassian and Kieran. "One of these bonds is true—chosen by the gods with your happiness in mind. One is false—created by your own fears and wants. You must figure out which is which before you can access your full power."
"And the third bond?" Kieran asked. "The shadow mark?"
"That is her greatest test." The Oracle's eyes went faraway. "Seraphine must be destroyed or redeemed. There is no middle ground. If Lyanna kills her, the shadow link breaks and she loses access to that power forever. If she redeems her... well, no one has ever successfully redeemed a perverted soul mate before."
The room started shaking. Dust rained from the roof.
"She's found us," Cassian said sadly. "Seraphine's breaking through the Old Foundations."
"Of course she has." The Oracle laughed bitterly. "She feels the bond pulling her here. She doesn't understand what it means, but she feels it. And it scares her."
The wall burst inward. Shadow creatures poured through, followed by Seraphine herself. But she looked different now—wild, desperate, her violet eyes too bright.
"I feel you!" she screamed at me. "Inside my head, under my skin, in my soul! What did you do to me?"
"Nothing," I whispered. "I didn't know—"
"Liar!" Shadow spears shot toward me.
Kieran's lightning stopped them. Cassian's fire formed a wall between us and Seraphine. But we were trapped—the room had only one exit and she blocked it.
The Oracle spoke one last time, her voice fading: "The trial starts now. Four souls, four ties, one choice. Choose wrong and everyone dies. Choose right and—"
Her body crumbled to dust before she could finish.
Seraphine raised her hands. Behind her, dozens more shadow things appeared. We were outnumbered. Outmatched.
"Last chance, hybrid," Seraphine said. "Accept my bond freely and I'll let your precious dragon princes live. Reject it, and I'll kill everyone you care about."
Before I could answer, my soul marks all blazed at once—fire, storm, and darkness burning in perfect sync. Power burst from my body.
When I opened my eyes, I stood in three places at once.
Part of me pressed against Cassian, feeling his beating match mine.
Part of me held Kieran's hand, feeling his steady strength.
And part of me—gods help me—stood face to face with Seraphine, feeling her pain and rage and frightened loneliness.
"What's happening?" I heard myself say from three different mouths.
Then everything went black.
And when I woke up, I couldn't remember which body was really mine.