Caspian's POV
Seraphina's body moves toward her father like a puppet on strings.
"No!" She fights it, every muscle straining against the invisible pull. Her feet drag across the stone floor, leaving marks. "I won't—I can't—"
"Stop fighting, daughter," her father says calmly, still climbing from the rubble. The King's body he wears is broken—bones jutting at wrong angles, flesh torn—but it keeps moving, healing itself with stolen soul magic. "Blood obeys blood. I created you. You belong to me."
"She belongs to herself!" I grab Seraphina's waist, trying to hold her back.
But the pull is too strong. She slides forward despite my grip, her hands reaching toward her father against her will.
"Caspian, let go," she gasps. "He'll take you too—"
"Not happening." I wrap both arms around her and channel ice magic into the ground, freezing our feet to the floor.
The ice cracks immediately. The blood magic is too powerful.
"Clever, boy," her father says, finally free of the rubble. "But futile. I've spent twenty years perfecting this magic. You've had it for what, a day?"
He's right. Our bond is new, unstable. His magic has had decades to grow.
"Fight it, Seraphina!" I hold her tighter. "Use your own blood magic against him!"
"I can't!" Tears stream down her face. "It's my blood pulling me. How do I fight my own blood?"
Her father laughs. "You can't. That's the beauty of it. Every drop of blood in your veins carries my essence. You're literally made of me."
"That's not true," I say desperately. "You're made of your mother too. And yourself. All the choices you've made—"
"Don't listen to him, Seraphina." Her father's voice turns soft, almost loving. "Come to me. Let me show you what real power feels like. Together, we could rule both kingdoms. We could bring back everyone we lost—"
"You can't bring back the dead!" Seraphina shouts.
"No. But I can trap their souls forever. Keep them with us always." He gestures at the screaming faces in his shadow-form. "Your mother is here. Your brothers. They're all here, waiting for you."
Seraphina goes rigid. "You're lying."
"Am I? Listen closely."
He raises his hand, and I hear it—voices, faint but distinct, calling Seraphina's name. Her mother's voice. Her brothers' voices. All begging her to join them.
"Stop it!" Seraphina screams, her magic exploding outward in a wave of gold and red.
It hits her father square in the chest—and passes right through him.
"You can't hurt me with magic I taught you," he says. "Every spell you know, I know better. Every trick you've learned, I invented."
The blood pull intensifies. Seraphina's feet leave the ground, her body floating toward him.
"No!" I grab her hand, using every bit of strength I have. "Seraphina, look at me!"
Her terrified eyes meet mine.
"You are not your blood," I say fiercely. "You are your choices. And right now, you're choosing to fight. Keep choosing."
Something flickers in her expression. Understanding. Hope.
"My choices," she whispers.
"Yes. He can control your blood, but he can't control your will."
"Actually, I can," her father interrupts. "Watch."
He closes his fist, and Seraphina screams. Her body convulses in my arms, fighting itself. I feel her magic turning inward, attacking her own heart.
"Stop!" I roar at him. "You're killing her!"
"I'm teaching her a lesson." His voice is cold now. "Defy me and suffer. Obey and live. Simple choice."
Seraphina's heart is slowing. I can feel it through our bond—the flutter of it failing, her life slipping away.
"Please," I beg, something I've never done. "Don't kill her. Take me instead. I have Aldric blood too, remember? Use me for your prophecy—"
"Tempting. But no." Her father's smile is cruel. "She needs to understand her place first. Then she'll be useful."
Seraphina's eyes are starting to close. Her magic is fading.
I have seconds to act. One chance.
I do the only thing I can think of.
I kiss her.
Not gently. Not romantically. Desperately, pouring everything I have into it—all my magic, all my will, all my stubborn refusal to let her die.
Our bond flares white-hot. Gold and ice magic merge, flowing between us like a circuit.
And then something incredible happens.
My ice magic floods into Seraphina's veins, freezing her blood. Not killing her—protecting her. Creating a barrier between her father's control and her heart.
The blood pull snaps.
Seraphina gasps against my lips, suddenly free. Her magic returns in a rush, stronger than before.
"Impossible!" her father snarls. "Ice magic can't—"
"It can when it's bonded to blood magic," Seraphina says, her voice steady now. She pulls away from me, standing on her own. "You taught me blood is power. But Caspian just taught me something better. Love is stronger."
"Sentimental nonsense—"
"Is it?" She raises her hands, and her magic is different now. Not pure gold, not pure red. A mixture of both, swirling with threads of ice-blue. "You said I'm made of you. But I'm also made of Mother. And now I'm made of Caspian too. Our bond changed me."
"Changed you into what?"
"Someone you can't control." She smiles, fierce and bright. "Someone who chooses her own fate."
Her father's expression darkens. "We'll see about that."
He raises both hands, summoning a massive wave of dark magic. The souls in his body scream louder, their power combining into something monstrous.
But Seraphina doesn't flinch.
She grabs my hand, our fingers lacing together. "Trust me?"
"Always," I say without hesitation.
"Then let's show him what bonded magic really looks like."
Our combined power erupts outward—not attacking, but creating. A shield that's also a mirror, reflecting her father's own magic back at him.
His attack slams into the reflection and reverses, hitting him with full force.
For the first time, I see fear in his eyes.
"You can't—that's not possible—"
"You taught me blood magic," Seraphina says. "But you never learned the most important rule. Magic powered by love will always beat magic powered by hate."
The reflected magic tears into him, ripping souls from his stolen body. They scream as they're freed, their forms dissolving into light.
"No!" her father roars, trying to hold himself together. "I won't lose! I've worked too long—"
"You already lost," Seraphina says quietly. "The moment you chose power over family."
One by one, the souls escape. I see Seraphina's brothers among them—young boys who smile at her before fading peacefully. Nobles from both kingdoms. Soldiers. Servants.
But not her mother. That soul is already free.
Finally, only her father's core soul remains, clinging to the King's body.
"Seraphina," he gasps, his voice weak now. "Please. I'm still your father—"
"No," she says, and I hear her heart breaking. "My father died five years ago. You're just what he became when he chose wrong."
"But I did it for you! For our family! For—"
"For yourself." A tear slides down her cheek. "Goodbye, Father."
She releases the final burst of magic.
Her father's soul rips free from the King's body, screaming as it dissolves into nothing. Not peaceful like the others. Gone. Erased.
The punishment for corrupting blood magic.
The King's body collapses, truly empty now.
Silence falls.
Seraphina stands there, staring at what remains of her father, her whole body shaking.
"It's over," I say softly, pulling her close. "He can't hurt anyone anymore."
"I killed him," she whispers. "My own father."
"You freed everyone he imprisoned. That's not murder. That's justice."
She buries her face in my chest, sobbing. I hold her, letting her grieve, letting her break.
Because sometimes breaking is how we rebuild ourselves stronger.
Behind us, I hear movement. The King's body is stirring.
My heart stops. How can it be moving? There's no soul left to—
The body sits up.
And opens its eyes.
But they're not black anymore. They're brown. Normal. Human.
"Caspian?" The voice is my father's. The real one. Confused and weak but ALIVE.
"Father?" I breathe.
"Where... what happened?" He looks around in confusion. "The last thing I remember is... twenty years ago. I was in my study, and someone offered me wine..."
Twenty years. The same time Seraphina's father started his plan.
"He possessed you," I realize. "All this time, Seraphina's father was controlling you. You've been trapped in your own body for twenty years."
My father's face crumples. "The things I did. The people I hurt. The invasion—"
"Wasn't you," I say firmly. "It was him."
"But I'm still responsible—" He stops, seeing Seraphina. Recognition floods his face. "You're an Aldric. I can see it in your eyes. Who—"
"Seraphina," she says quietly. "The girl you were forced to marry to your son."
"Forced?" My father looks at me in horror. "Caspian, tell me we didn't—"
"We did. But it's..." I glance at Seraphina. "Complicated."
My father tries to stand but collapses. His body is damaged from years of abuse. "I'm sorry. Whatever happened, whatever I did under his control, I'm so sorry—"
A slow clap echoes through the tunnel.
We all spin around.
Morgana stands at the tunnel entrance, that slave brand still glowing on her neck. Behind her, dozens of guards with empty eyes.
"Touching reunion," she says mockingly. "But you forgot something important."
"What?" I demand, raising my sword.
"I told you—the King controls me. But you destroyed the wrong soul." Her smile is terrible. "The one controlling ME isn't dead."
Cold dread washes through me.
"What are you saying?" Seraphina asks.
"That wasn't the only soul fragment your father created," Morgana explains. "He left pieces everywhere. In artifacts. In servants. In..." She touches her neck. "In slave brands."
The brand pulses brighter.
And I hear it—Seraphina's father's voice, coming from Morgana's mouth, layered with her own.
"Did you really think I'd put all my soul in one place?" they say together. "I'm everywhere, daughter. In every person I've ever controlled. In every artifact I've ever touched. You can't kill me. I'm immortal."
Seraphina goes whi
te.
"And now," Morgana/Father continues, "I'm going to finish what I started. Starting with killing everyone you love. One by one. While you watch helplessly."
Morgana raises her knife.
And lunges straight for my father's heart.