Caspian's POV
That's impossible, Aurelia says, her voice shaking. My father died. I saw his body. I went to his funeral.
So did I, Riven says grimly. But the magical council verified the message. It's coming from someone with Marcus Voss's magical signature. Someone who knows details about your family that only he would know.
Seraphine faked her death, Dr. Isla points out. Maybe your father did too?
But why? Aurelia demands. Why would he let me think he was dead for ten years? Why would he let Thorne manipulate me? Why wouldn't he come for me?
Maybe he couldn't, I suggest quietly. Maybe something was keeping him away. Or someone.
Aurelia's face goes pale. Seraphine. She must have been holding him prisoner all this time.
Which means when you destroyed her tonight, you freed him, Riven says.
And now he's coming, Aurelia finishes.
We all stand in silence, processing this new twist.
Just when we thought it was over. Just when we thought we'd won.
The message said the curse was just the beginning, I recall. What does that mean? We broke the curse. It's gone.
Maybe there's more to this than we understood, Dr. Isla says. Maybe the curse was never the real threat. Maybe it was just a distraction from something bigger.
We need to find him, Aurelia says decisively. We need to find my father and get answers.
You need to rest, I counter. You just fought off a possession and destroyed a curse. You're exhausted.
I don't care
Aurelia, please. I take her hands. You're running on adrenaline and fear. If your father is really alive and really coming, you need to be ready. That means sleeping. Eating. Recovering your strength.
She looks like she wants to argue, but her body sags with exhaustion. Fine. But first thing tomorrow, we start searching.
We return to the hospital where both Aurelia and I are supposed to be recovering. Dr. Isla insists on monitoring us overnight.
I'm lying in my bed, unable to sleep, when I hear a soft knock.
Aurelia slips into my room.
Can't sleep either? I ask.
Too much in my head, she admits, sitting on the edge of my bed. Every time I close my eyes, I see Seraphine. Or Thorne. Or my father's face from when I was sixteen.
Come here, I say, shifting over to make room.
She lies down beside me, and I wrap my arms around her. It feels right, even though I don't have memories of doing this before. My body knows how to hold her.
Tell me about him, I say. Your real father. What was he like?
Aurelia is quiet for a moment. Kind. Gentle. He used to read me stories about brave heroes and magical adventures. He taught me how to use my memory-keeping abilities when they first appeared. He always said my gift was special, that I could help people remember the best parts of themselves.
He sounds like a good man.
He was. Which is why it doesn't make sense that he'd abandon me. If he was alive all this time, why didn't he find a way to contact me? To let me know he was okay?
Maybe Seraphine made it impossible. Maybe she had him bound somehow.
Or maybe, Aurelia says quietly, the man sending those messages isn't really my father. Maybe it's another trick. Another enemy pretending to be someone I love to get close to me.
I tighten my arms around her. Then we'll face it together. Whatever comes next, you're not alone.
She turns in my arms to face me. You keep saying things like that. Like you're committed to this. To us. But you don't even remember me.
I don't need memories to know what I want, I say. I'm falling in love with you right now, Aurelia Who brave, fierce and refuses to give up. Who fought off her own mother to save herself? Who's lying here worried about a father who might not even be real. I'm falling for all of it.
Tears slide down her cheeks. This is the eighteenth time.
And it's real, I promise. Just as real as the first seventeen.
We're inches apart, and the pull between us is magnetic.
We shouldn't kiss, Aurelia whispers. Not until we're sure the curse is really gone.
I know.
But I really want to.
Me too.
We stay like that wanting, aching, but not crossing the line. Eventually, Aurelia falls asleep in my arms, and I hold her, guarding her rest.
The next morning, we're awakened by Riven bursting into the room.
We found him, he says urgently. Marcus Voss. He's here. In the city.
Aurelia sits up immediately. Where?
The old Memory Archive. The one that belonged to your parents before they died. He's waiting for you there.
It could be a trap, I warn.
I know, Aurelia says, already getting out of bed. But I have to go. If there's even a chance it's really him...
Then we all go, I say firmly. You, me, Riven, Dr. Isla. We don't walk into unknown situations alone anymore.
Thirty minutes later, we're standing outside the abandoned Memory Archive. It's a old building, covered in vines and decay.
I haven't been here since I was sixteen, Aurelia says. After my parents died, I couldn't stand to visit. Too many memories.
Are you ready? I ask.
She nods, and we enter together.
The inside is surprisingly well-preserved. Shelves of memory vials line the walls, glowing faintly in the dim light.
And in the center of the room, standing beside a desk, is a man who looks exactly like the photographs Aurelia showed me.
Marcus Voss.
Aurelia, he says, his voice breaking with emotion. My daughter. You're alive.
Dad? Aurelia whispers.
She takes a step toward him, then stops.
Prove it, she says. Prove you're really him. Tell me something only my father would know.
Marcus smiles sadly. When you were seven, you accidentally extracted one of your own memories and stored it in a vial. You panicked because you couldn't remember your eighth birthday party. I helped you restore it, and afterward, you made me promise never to tell your mother because you were embarrassed.
Aurelia's breathe catches. It's really you.
She runs to him, and he catches her in a tight hug.
I should feel happy for her. Relieved. But something feels wrong.
Riven notices it too. He's scanning the room, his expression wary.
Mr. Voss, Dr. Isla says carefully. Can you explain where you've been for ten years? Why you let Aurelia believe you were dead?
Marcus releases Aurelia and turns to face us. Seraphine imprisoned me. She kept me in a magical stasis, unable to move, unable to communicate. She wanted to make sure I couldn't interfere with her plans for Aurelia.
How did you escape? I ask.
When Aurelia destroyed Seraphine last night, all her spells broke. Including the one holding me.
It makes sense. But something still feels off.
Why did you come here? Aurelia asks. To the old Archive?
Because I needed to show you something, Marcus says. He walks to the desk and pulls out a thick file. The truth about the curse. About Seraphine's real plan. About why you and Caspian were targeted.
He opens the file, and inside are documents, photographs, magical diagrams.
The curse wasn't just about keeping you and Caspian apart, Marcus explains. It was about creating something. Every time you fell in love and forgot, every time you suffered and survived, you were generating a specific type of magical energy. Pure emotional energy.
I know, Aurelia says. Seraphine told us. She was harvesting it to make herself more powerful.
That's what she wanted you to believe, Marcus says. But the truth is worse. She wasn't using that energy for herself. She was storing it. Building it up. For someone else.
My blood runs cold. Who?
Marcus looks at us with haunted eyes. For me.
Aurelia stumbles backward. What?
I'm sorry, sweetheart, Marcus says, and his voice changes becomes colder, harder. But Seraphine and I were partners. We created this plan together. The curse. The cycles. The suffering. All of it was designed to create enough emotional energy to resurrect me properly after I faked my death.
No, Aurelia whispers. No, you're lying.
I wish I was. Marcus or whoever this is smiles, and it's nothing like the kind father from the photographs. You see, I'm not actually Marcus Voss. Not anymore. I'm something new. Something created from ten years of harvested emotional pain. And now that Seraphine is gone, I get to collect all that power for myself.
He raises his hand, and dark energy explodes from his palm.
The attack hits us before we can react.
I try to shield Aurelia, but the force throws us all backward. My head hits the wall, and stars explode across my vision.
The last thing I see before losing consciousness is the thing wearing Marcus Voss's face standing over Aurelia.
Thank you, daughter, it says. For everything you've suffered. It made me possible.
Then everything goes black.