Seraphina's POV
Kill him.
The voice in my head is cold. Not mine. It comes from the purple light wrapped around my mind like chains.
Kill him. Kill the prince. Kill your mate.
My hand rises. Light builds in my palm—deadly, burning light that will turn Caelan to ash.
"Seraphina, please!" His voice sounds far away. Desperate. "I know you're in there! Fight it!"
But I can't fight. The Oracle's Heart has control. My body moves like a puppet, and I'm trapped inside, screaming silently.
I can see everything. Can feel everything. But I can't stop my hand from aiming at his heart.
"Do it," Aldric orders. "Kill him now."
My fingers tingle with power. One second. That's all it will take. One blast of light, and Caelan dies.
And through our bond, I feel his emotions flooding into me. Not fear for himself. Fear for me. Grief that I'll have to live with killing him.
I'm sorry, his mental voice whispers through our connection. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you.
NO! I scream inside my own head. I won't do this! I WON'T!
But my body doesn't listen. The light grows brighter. My hand steadies, aiming true.
The creatures holding Caelan laugh. Aldric smiles his poisonous smile.
"Such a tragedy," Aldric says. "The Luna Wolf who broke the curse, only to become the weapon that ends him. Poetic, really."
One second until I fire. Half a second.
Then Caelan does something impossible.
He stops fighting the creatures holding him. Instead, he surges forward, breaking free with pure desperation, and grabs my face with both hands.
Skin to skin. Palm to cheek.
His curse power—now transformed by our bond—slams into me. Not to hurt. To reach me. To find me in the darkness where I'm trapped.
Seraphina! His mental voice is a roar in my mind. Come back to me! You're stronger than this! You're stronger than any curse!
The purple light fights back, trying to shove him out. But Caelan doesn't let go.
"I won't lose you," he says out loud, his forehead pressed to mine. "Not to him. Not to any curse. You're MINE. And I'm yours. That bond is stronger than any dark magic. Do you hear me? STRONGER!"
Something cracks inside the purple chains. A tiny fracture.
Through that crack, I feel it—our bond. Silver and black, life and death, twisted together so tight nothing can separate us.
Caelan, I manage to think at him. I can't... I can't break free...
Then I'll break it for you, he answers. Together. Like we do everything.
He pours his power through our bond. All of it. His transformed curse magic, his strength, his will. It floods into me like a river of shadow and silver light.
The purple chains scream. They're not designed for this. Not designed for two bonded souls fighting as one.
"Stop them!" Aldric shouts. "Kill them both!"
Creatures lunge at us. But Lyra is faster. Her sword flashes, cutting down three creatures before they reach us.
"I've got your backs!" she yells. "Just break the corruption!"
Caelan's hands tighten on my face. His silver eyes bore into mine. "One more push. Give me everything you have. Trust me."
I trust him. With everything I am, I trust him.
I gather every scrap of Luna power I have left and shove it through our bond. White light meets black shadows. They explode together, creating something new. Something that burns away corruption.
The purple chains shatter.
I gasp, suddenly in control of my own body again. The deadly light in my palm vanishes.
"You're back," Caelan breathes. "Thank the gods, you're back."
"I'm sorry," I sob. "I almost killed you. I almost—"
"You didn't." He pulls me against his chest. "You fought it. You won."
"Impossible!" Aldric's face twists with rage. "The Oracle's Heart is absolute! No one breaks its control!"
"She's not 'no one,'" Caelan snarls, turning to face his uncle while keeping me close. "She's a Luna Priestess. The last of her kind. And she's MINE."
Aldric's hand tightens on the wooden box. The Oracle's Heart inside pulses with angry purple light.
"If I can't control her," Aldric says slowly, "then I'll just have to destroy her." He opens the box wider. "The Heart can corrupt or it can consume. Let's see how you handle option two."
Purple light explodes from the box. Not chains this time. Pure destructive power, aimed straight at me.
Caelan shoves me behind him, taking the blast himself.
"NO!" I scream.
But something amazing happens. The purple light hits Caelan and... stops. It swirls around him, unable to penetrate. His curse power—transformed by our bond—creates a shield that dark magic can't break through.
"You forget, uncle," Caelan says, his voice deadly calm. "I lived with a curse for fifteen years. I know darkness intimately. And now that darkness is mine to command, not yours."
He raises his hand. Black smoke pours out, but it's threaded with silver light. My light. Our power combined.
The smoke crashes into Aldric's purple light. The two powers fight, neither winning.
"Lyra!" Caelan shouts. "The box! Get the box!"
Lyra doesn't hesitate. She throws her sword like a spear. It flies true, knocking the wooden box from Aldric's hands.
The box hits the ground and breaks open. The Oracle's Heart rolls out—a glowing crystal the size of my fist, pulsing with purple and silver light.
Every creature in the clearing freezes. Every eye turns to the Heart.
"The Heart," one creature whispers. "It's free."
They all lunge for it at once.
But I'm faster. I shift into my Luna Wolf form—the giant white wolf with silver markings—and leap over the crowd of creatures. My jaws close around the Oracle's Heart.
Power explodes into my mouth. Ancient, overwhelming, absolute power. The Heart doesn't want to be held. It wants to be free. It wants to corrupt. To destroy.
Don't swallow it! Caelan's mental voice screams. If you swallow it, the corruption will take you from the inside! You'll never break free!
But I can't hold it in my jaws much longer. The power is too strong. It's burning my mouth, forcing itself down my throat.
I shift back to human form and spit the Heart into my hand. It's hot. Burning. Fighting me.
"Give it to me!" Aldric rushes toward me.
Creatures close in from all sides.
Caelan is there in a second, his hand finding mine. Our fingers close around the Oracle's Heart together.
The moment we both touch it, everything changes.
The purple light turns silver. The corruption burns away like fog in sunlight. The Heart recognizes something—the bond between us, maybe. Or the combination of curse and Luna magic.
Whatever it recognizes, it stops fighting.
Instead, it hums. A sound like a thousand voices singing.
And I hear them. Hear the voices of every Luna Priestess who ever lived, speaking through the Heart.
"Two halves made whole," they sing. "Death and life united. The curse and the blessing. The corruption is cleansed. The Heart accepts its new guardian."
"What's happening?" I whisper.
"The Heart is bonding with you," Caelan says, his eyes wide. "With us. Both of us."
The silver light grows brighter and brighter until I can't see anything else.
When it fades, the Oracle's Heart is gone. Dissolved into pure light. That light sinks into my chest, right above my heart.
I gasp as power floods through me. Not corrupted power. Pure Luna magic. The full power of the Oracle bloodline, awakened and whole.
I look at my hands. They glow with soft silver light.
"Impossible," Aldric breathes. "The ritual requires a blood sacrifice. You didn't kill him. How did you bond with the Heart?"
"Because we found the third option," I say, and my voice sounds different. Stronger. Filled with ancient power. "The ritual was designed for one person. But we're not one person. We're two souls in one bond. The Heart didn't need his death. It needed both our lives, given freely, together."
The creatures back away, fear in their yellow eyes.
"She has the full power now," one whispers. "The Oracle is reborn."
"Run," another hisses. "Run before she—"
I raise my hand. Silver light explodes from my palm, not to destroy but to purify. It washes over every creature in the clearing.
They scream. Not in pain, but in shock. The dark magic holding them together burns away. They dissolve into ash—but peaceful ash, freed from whatever evil bound them.
Within seconds, every creature is gone. Only Aldric, Caelan, Lyra, and I remain.
Aldric backs away, his face pale. "You can't kill me. I'm royalty. The kingdom will—"
"The kingdom will be fine without you," Caelan says coldly. He walks toward his uncle, each step deliberate. "You cursed me. Killed my sister. Murdered my mother. Tried to corrupt my mate. You're not walking away from this."
"Wait!" Aldric holds up his hands. "I know things! About the bloodline curse! About how to break it! Kill me, and you'll never know!"
Caelan pauses. "Talk."
"The bloodline curse can be broken," Aldric says quickly. "But it requires—"
He lunges, pulling a hidden dagger from his sleeve, aiming for Caelan's heart.
But I'm already moving. My Luna Wolf is faster than thought. I shift mid-leap, my massive wolf body slamming into Aldric.
We crash to the ground. My jaws close around his throat.
"Please," he gurgles. "Mercy..."
I want to kill him. Every fiber of my being wants to end him for what he did to Caelan. To the Queen. To everyone.
But through our bond, I feel Caelan's emotions. He doesn't want me to become a killer. Doesn't want my first act with Oracle power to be revenge.
I release Aldric's throat but keep my paw on his chest, claws pressing down.
"Mercy is more than you deserve," I growl in my wolf voice. "But I'll give you one chance. Tell us how to break the bloodline curse. The real way. No lies."
Aldric coughs, blood on his lips. "The curse... can only be broken... by the Oracle's Heart. But not through death. Through..." He wheezes. "Through creation. New life. A child born from the bonded pair... will break the curse on the entire bloodline."
My heart stops. "A child? But Caelan can't have children without cursing them!"
"Not anymore." Aldric's laugh is bitter. "You absorbed the Oracle's Heart. Its power flows through your bond now. Any child you have will carry Luna magic strong enough to counter the curse. The first Thorne child born to a Luna Priestess in a thousand years. That child will break every curse on the Thorne bloodline. Past, present, and future."
I shift back to human form, staring at Caelan. "Is that true? Could we really—"
"He could be lying," Caelan says, but his voice is full of hope. Dangerous, fragile hope.
"The Oracle's Heart knows truth from lies," I say slowly. The power in my chest hums, confirming it. "He's telling the truth. A child would break the curse. Save the bloodline."
Aldric starts laughing. "So kill me if you want. The knowledge dies with me anyway. Good luck figuring out the rest."
"What rest?" Caelan demands. "What aren't you telling us?"
"The child has to be conceived during a Blood Moon," Aldric wheezes. "And carried to term under Luna protection. One mistake, and the curse consumes them both—mother and child. Oh, and there's one more thing..."
He coughs, and more blood comes up.
"What?" I ask urgently. "What else?"
"The child... will have power... beyond anything this world has seen. Luna and curse combined. Life and death in one body." His eyes meet mine. "That power will make them... a target. Every dark thing... in this world... will hunt them. Want to use them. Kill them. Corrupt them."
His head falls back. He stops breathing.
Aldric is dead.
Silence falls over the clearing. Lyra sheathes her sword. Caelan comes to my side and wraps his arms around me.
"Are you alright?" he asks softly.
"I don't know." I'm shaking. "We bonded with the Oracle's Heart. We found a way to break the bloodline curse. But—"
"But it requires having a child," he finishes. "A child who will be hunted for their power."
We stand there, holding each other, the weight of impossible choices pressing down.
"We don't have to decide now," Caelan says finally. "We've been bonded for less than a day. We just survived Aldric. We can figure out the rest later."
"Can we?" I pull back to look at him. "Because I think there's something you need to know. Something the Oracle's Heart showed me when it bonded with us."
"What?"
I take his hand and press it to my stomach. Through our bond, I let him feel what I'm feeling. What the Heart revealed.
His eyes go wide. "No. That's impossible. We only—"
"I know," I whisper. "But Oracle magic doesn't follow normal rules. The moment we bonded, the moment we touched the Heart together..." I swallow hard. "I'm already pregnant, Caelan. The child that will break the curse? They're already growing inside me."
He stares at me in shock. "But... but that means..."
"It means we have nine months to prepare," I say. "Nine months before every dark thing in this world comes hunting for our baby. Nine months to figure out how to protect a child with the power of life and death."
"And it means," a new voice says from the trees, "that you're both in more danger than you realize."
We spin around. A woman steps from the shadows—tall, hooded, with eyes that glow silver like Caelan's.
"Who are you?" Caelan demands, putting himself between me and the stranger.
The woman pulls back her hood. She has Caelan's face. His eyes. His features.
But she's been dead for fifteen years.
"Hello, brother," she says with a sad smile. "I'm Elena. Your sister. And I'm here to tell you that everything Aldric said was a lie. The bloodline curse can't be broken by a child. It can only be transferred. And that transfer..." She looks at my stomach. "That transfer will kill Seraphina the moment the baby is born."