Seraphina's POV
I should be dead.
That was my first thought when I opened my eyes. My second thought was that I was definitely NOT dead, because death probably didn't hurt this much.
Every muscle in my body screamed. My head felt like it had been split open. And the Soul Bind mark on my wrist burned like fire.
But I was breathing. Alive.
How?
"She's waking up!" Lyra's voice came from somewhere nearby.
I tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. Pain shot through me, and I collapsed back onto—wait. I wasn't on a bed. I was lying on cold stone.
"Don't move!" Lyra appeared above me, her face pale and worried. "You almost died. Actually, you DID die. For about thirty seconds."
"What?" I croaked. My throat felt like sandpaper.
"Here. Drink." She held a cup to my lips. The liquid tasted like flowers and moonlight—if moonlight had a taste. The pain eased slightly.
"Where's Caelan?" I asked.
Lyra's expression changed. Became guarded.
"He's alive. But Seraphina... something happened when you tried to separate the realms."
I forced myself to sit up, ignoring the pain. We were in the crystal chamber where I'd broken the binding before. But something was different. The air felt... wrong. Heavy.
"Tell me," I demanded.
"You succeeded. Sort of." Lyra helped me stand on shaking legs. "The realms didn't fully separate. They... split. Into layers."
"I don't understand."
She waved her hand, and purple magic formed an image in the air—two circles overlapping.
"The mortal realm and Noctwyth are now layered on top of each other. They exist in the same space but on different... frequencies. Mortals can't see shadow beings unless they have magic. Shadow beings can't interact with mortals unless they choose to cross over."
"And the Forgotten?" I asked, dreading the answer.
"Trapped between the layers. They can't fully enter either realm now. You created a new prison for them." She dismissed the image. "But there's a cost."
"There's always a cost." I touched the mark on my wrist. It felt different. Colder. "What happened to Caelan?"
"Come see for yourself."
She led me through corridors that seemed darker than before. Servants pressed against walls as we passed, whispering. Their eyes on me weren't grateful or worshipful anymore.
They were afraid.
We reached Caelan's chambers. Thorne stood guard outside, his scarred face grim.
"Is he—" I started.
"See for yourself, Princess." His voice was cold. Angry.
That scared me more than anything else.
Lyra pushed open the door, and I stepped inside.
Caelan stood by the window, his back to me. He looked the same—tall, powerful, dangerous. But something was wrong. I could feel it through the Soul Bind.
Or rather, I couldn't feel anything.
The connection that had hummed between us constantly since the binding was... silent. Like a cut wire.
"Caelan?" I said softly.
He turned slowly.
His eyes were completely silver now. No pupils. No iris. Just pure, glowing silver that looked through me rather than at me.
"Hello, Seraphina." His voice sounded the same but felt different. Empty. "I'm glad you survived."
"What happened to you?" I took a step toward him.
"Don't touch him!" Lyra grabbed my arm. "Please. Not yet."
"Why? What's wrong?"
Caelan smiled, but it didn't reach those strange silver eyes.
"When you split the realms, the magic backlash should have killed us both. The Soul Bind should have broken completely." He held up his wrist, showing the mark. It was still there, but it no longer glowed. It looked like a scar now. Dead. "But I made a choice."
"What choice?" My voice shook.
"I took the full force of the magic into myself. All of it. To save you."
"No." The word came out as a whisper. "No, you didn't. You couldn't have—"
"I'm the Immortal King, Seraphina. I've survived five hundred years of impossible things. I can survive this too."
"Survive what? Tell me what's happening!"
Lyra's hand tightened on my arm. "The magic didn't just hurt him. It... changed him. He's becoming something else."
"What does that mean?"
"It means," Caelan said, his voice still terrifyingly calm, "that I'm slowly turning into pure magic. No longer truly alive. No longer truly dead. Just... existing."
Horror washed over me. "How long?"
"Lyra estimates I have maybe three months before the transformation is complete."
"Three months until what?"
"Until I become a statue." He said it like he was discussing the weather. "Frozen in magical crystal. Aware but unable to move, speak, or interact with anything. Forever."
I couldn't breathe. "No. No, there has to be a way to stop it. To reverse it!"
"There might be." Lyra's voice was careful. "But it would require—"
"Don't," Caelan interrupted sharply.
"She deserves to know!" Lyra shot back.
"Know what?" I looked between them. "Tell me!"
Lyra pulled away from Caelan's glare and faced me directly. "The only way to save him is to complete what you started. Fully separate the realms. But that would require you to use even more power than before. It would definitely kill you this time."
"Then I'll do it," I said immediately.
"No." Caelan's voice cracked like a whip.
"Yes! This is my fault! I caused this!"
"You saved millions of people!" He moved toward me finally, and even with those dead silver eyes, I could see emotion in his face now. Anger. Fear. "You stopped the Forgotten. You created a solution no one else could have imagined. And I will NOT let you throw your life away because of choices I made!"
"You shouldn't have saved me!" Tears burned my eyes. "You should have let me die! Let us both die! Not this!"
"I would make the same choice a thousand times." He reached out like he wanted to touch my face, then stopped. His hand fell. "I've lived five hundred years. You've barely lived twenty-three. Your life is worth more than mine."
"That's not true!"
"It is to me."
We stared at each other. The broken Soul Bind mark on my wrist throbbed with phantom pain.
"There has to be another way," I said desperately.
"There is." A new voice spoke from the doorway.
We all spun around.
An old woman stood there. She wore simple robes and carried a staff that pulsed with ancient magic. Her eyes were completely white—blind, but somehow I knew she could see more than any of us.
"Who are you?" Caelan demanded.
"I am Oracle Kairos. I exist outside time." She stepped into the room. "I felt the moment reality split. Felt the Starborn reshape existence itself." Her blind eyes fixed on me. "You did well, child. But you didn't finish the job."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"The realms are split but still connected. The Forgotten are trapped but not destroyed. And your bond—" She gestured to our matching marks. "Is broken but not gone. Everything is half-finished."
"Can you help him?" I pointed at Caelan.
"I can tell you how to help him. But the price will be steep."
"I'll pay it," I said instantly.
"You don't even know what it is yet."
"I don't care. Tell me."
The Oracle smiled—sad and knowing. "To save King Caelan, you must complete the Soul Bind. Not break it. Complete it."
"I don't understand."
"The bond formed between you, but it was never consummated. Never made whole. You tried to separate the realms while the bond was still forming, and it fractured both the connection and Caelan himself." She tapped her staff on the ground. "To heal him, you must finish what the magic started. You must become true Inverse Souls. Fully bonded. Permanently."
My heart stopped. "You mean... forever? No way to break it? Ever?"
"Ever," she confirmed. "Your lives would be completely intertwined. Your souls merged. You would feel every emotion, share every thought, live and die as one being in two bodies."
"That's insane," Lyra breathed.
"That's the only way," the Oracle said.
I looked at Caelan. He was already shaking his head.
"No. Seraphina, don't even consider it. I won't trap you like that."
"You'd rather turn into a statue?"
"Yes! You deserve freedom! A choice! Not to be bound to someone you barely know!"
"But I—" I stopped. What was I about to say? That I was already falling for him? That the thought of losing him made me feel like I couldn't breathe? We'd known each other for barely two days!
But those two days had been more intense than my entire twenty-three years before.
"There's more," the Oracle said quietly. "If you complete the bond, your combined power will be strong enough to destroy the Forgotten permanently. To seal the rift between realities. To fix everything." She paused. "But you must decide quickly. Every hour, Caelan loses more of himself. In three months, he'll be gone completely. But in three days..." Her white eyes seemed to see into the future. "In three days, he'll lose the ability to feel emotions at all. Including love. If you wait that long, the bond cannot be completed. It will be too late."
Three days to decide if I wanted to bind my soul forever to a man I barely knew.
Three days to save him or watch him disappear.
Three days.
"I need time to think," I whispered.
"You have seventy-two hours," the Oracle said. "Then fate will decide for you."
She vanished in a swirl of silver light, leaving us in heavy silence.
"You won't do it," Caelan said firmly. "I forbid it."
"You can't forbid me to make my own choices."
"Seraphina—"
"I need air." I turned and ran from the room before he could stop me.
I ran through the palace, out onto a balcony, and finally let myself cry.
Three days to decide my entire future.
Three days to choose between freedom and saving the man who'd already saved me twice.
What would I choose?
And deep in the space between realms, the Forgotten watched.
And smiled.
Because they knew something the Oracle hadn't mentioned.
Completing the Soul Bind would save Caelan, yes.
But it would also break the final barrier keeping them imprisoned.
One way or another, the Starborn was going to set them free.