Mira's POV
The Raven Guard moved like shadows made flesh.
Caspian shoved me behind him, dark magic exploding from his hands in waves. The assassins dodged effortlessly, their movements inhuman.
"Get out!" Caspian roared at me. "Run!"
But where? They had my blood. They could track me anywhere.
One of them lunged past Caspian, straight at me. I stumbled backward, my hands raised uselessly—
The assassin's blade stopped an inch from my throat.
Not because I'd stopped it. Because Caspian's shadow had wrapped around the assassin's wrist like a chain, yanking them backward with brutal force.
"I said RUN!" Caspian's voice was pure command.
This time, my legs obeyed.
I ran through the shattered doorway, into corridors that twisted and turned. Behind me, I heard sounds of fighting—metal on metal, magic crackling, screams.
My bare feet slapped against cold stone. My lungs burned. The binding mark on my wrist pulsed hot, like it was trying to tell me something.
Go back, it seemed to say. He needs you.
But I couldn't help him. I was useless. A liability, just like he'd said.
A figure stepped out of the shadows ahead.
Another Raven Guard, their blade already swinging.
I dropped, rolling sideways. The blade sparked against stone where my head had been a second before.
Training I didn't have—Seraphina's training—moved my body. I kicked out, hitting the assassin's knee. They stumbled, and I ran past them, deeper into the castle.
More corridors. More turns. I had no idea where I was going.
Until I hit a dead end.
A window. Large, open to the night air.
Freedom.
I could jump. Could run into the forest beyond the castle walls. Maybe lose them in the darkness—
The binding mark on my wrist flared suddenly, burning so hot I cried out.
Don't leave him, it seemed to scream. Don't leave your mate.
But staying meant dying. The Raven Guard were trained killers, and I was just a girl who didn't even belong in this world.
Behind me, footsteps approached. Multiple sets.
They'd found me.
I looked at the window. At freedom. At escape.
Then at my wrist, where Caspian's mark burned like a brand.
He'd saved me. Protected me. Promised to keep me alive.
And I was going to abandon him?
Shame burned hotter than the mark.
No, I thought fiercely. I'm not that person. Not anymore.
I turned away from the window—
And came face-to-face with three Raven Guards.
They didn't speak. Didn't need to. Their blades rose as one.
"Wait!" I held up my hands. "I surrender! Take me to Evangeline. Just—just don't hurt anyone else. Please."
The center assassin tilted their head, considering.
Then they nodded.
Two of them grabbed my arms, their grips like iron. The third led the way back through the corridors.
We passed rooms where fighting still raged. Saw Caspian's soldiers being overwhelmed by more Raven Guards than should have been possible.
How many had Evangeline sent? Dozens? Hundreds?
They dragged me toward the front entrance, where a portal of swirling white light had opened.
Evangeline's portal. To take me back to the Temple.
"No," I said, finally understanding. "No, wait—"
Too late.
They threw me toward the portal—
A wall of pure darkness slammed into existence between me and the white light.
The force of it sent everyone flying backward. I hit the ground hard, my teeth rattling.
When I looked up, Caspian stood between me and the Raven Guards.
Blood dripped from a cut on his face. His expensive clothes were torn. But his silver eyes blazed with fury that made the assassins actually step back.
"You don't get to take her," he said, his voice death itself. "Not while I'm still breathing."
The lead Raven Guard laughed—a horrible, scraping sound. "Then we'll simply stop your breathing, Dark Lord."
They attacked as one.
What followed wasn't a fight. It was a massacre.
Caspian's dark magic didn't just block attacks—it consumed them. Assassins who'd dodged everything before suddenly found themselves trapped in shadows that squeezed, crushed, destroyed.
But there were too many. For every one he killed, two more appeared from the portal.
And he was getting slower. Weaker.
Because of the binding, I realized with horror. He's using his life force to protect me, and it's draining him.
I had to do something. Anything.
My hand went to my wrist, to the double marks burning there. Caspian's binding. Seraphina's soul.
"Help me," I whispered to the dead girl who shared my body. "Please. He's going to die protecting me. Help me save him."
Nothing.
Seraphina's presence was gone. Faded. I was alone.
Except—
I wasn't completely powerless. The binding went both ways. If Caspian could feel my pain, my fear...
Maybe I could feel his power.
I closed my eyes and reached through the binding mark, searching for the connection between us.
And found it.
A thread of dark magic, connecting my soul to his.
I grabbed it—
Power flooded into me like lightning. Dark, ancient, overwhelming magic that shouldn't have been mine but was, because we were bound, because he was mine and I was his—
My eyes snapped open.
Darkness poured from my hands, just like Caspian's. Different, though. Where his was cold and controlled, mine was wild, chaotic.
I threw it at the nearest Raven Guard.
The assassin screamed as shadows wrapped around them, dragging them down into nothingness.
Every head turned toward me.
Caspian's eyes went wide with shock. "Mira, what are you—"
"Saving us both," I said, my voice steady despite my terror. "Together, remember? Your battles are mine."
Something flickered across his face. Pride, maybe. Or hope.
"Then let's end this," he said.
We moved as one.
His darkness and mine merged, becoming something new. Something stronger than either of us alone. The Raven Guards tried to retreat, but our combined magic was everywhere, surrounding them, crushing them.
In seconds, it was over.
The last assassin fell. The white portal flickered and died.
Silence.
Caspian and I stood in the wreckage, breathing hard, our hands still glowing with power.
Then the magic cut off abruptly, and I collapsed.
This time, Caspian caught me.
"You shouldn't have been able to do that," he said, his voice rough. "Using my magic through the binding—it should have killed you."
"Guess I'm harder to kill than I look," I managed.
His laugh was shaky. "Apparently."
He carried me through the destroyed corridors, back toward the guest room. I should have protested, told him I could walk, but honestly, I couldn't. Every muscle felt like jelly.
"The others?" I asked.
"Alive. Wounded, but alive." His jaw tightened. "Thanks to you. If you hadn't channeled my magic, if you hadn't given me that extra power—we would have lost."
Pride swelled in my chest. I'd actually helped. Hadn't been useless after all.
He set me gently on the bed, then sat beside me. His hands moved over my arms, checking for injuries with surprising gentleness.
"You scared me," he said quietly. "When I saw them taking you to that portal, I thought—" His voice broke. "I thought I'd lost you."
"I'm okay," I said. "We're okay."
His silver eyes met mine, and something in them made my heart skip.
"The binding," he said. "It's stronger now. Do you feel it?"
I did. The mark on my wrist burned steady and warm, like a second heartbeat.
"What does it mean?"
"It means we're fully connected now. Soul to soul. Life to life." He touched my wrist gently, his thumb tracing the double marks. "If you die, part of me dies with you. And if I die—"
"Don't," I interrupted. "Don't finish that sentence."
"We need to talk about it eventually—"
A different kind of pain suddenly lanced through my chest. Sharp, hot, wrong.
I gasped, doubling over.
"Mira?" Caspian's hands were on my shoulders immediately. "What's wrong?"
The pain intensified. Like something was burning inside me, trying to claw its way out.
And then I felt it.
Seraphina's soul—not faded, not gone, but waking up again.
But this time, it felt different. Desperate. Terrified.
"She's trying to tell me something," I gasped through the pain. "Seraphina—she's trying to warn me—"
Images flooded my mind. Not memories. Visions.
Evangeline in the Temple, standing over a massive ritual circle drawn in blood. In the center of the circle, a mirror—but not reflecting the room. Reflecting something else.
A place of pure darkness. And in that darkness, eyes. Dozens of them. Hundreds. Watching. Hungry.
"The blood test," Seraphina's voice whispered through my mind. "It's not to prove your heritage. It's to open a gateway. To bring THEM through."
"Bring who through?" I whispered out loud.
The vision shifted, showing me creatures made of nightmare and shadow. Ancient things that should never exist in this world.
"The Void Walkers," Seraphina's voice was fading again. "Beings from between dimensions. Evangeline doesn't want your soul essence for immortality. She wants it to summon them. To make herself their queen. To—"
The vision shattered.
I came back to myself, gasping, tears streaming down my face.
Caspian held me, his expression dark with understanding.
"You saw it too, didn't you?" I asked. "Through the binding. You saw what she showed me."
He nodded grimly. "The Void Walkers. I thought they were just legends."
"They're real. And in three days, when we go to the capital for the blood test—" My voice shook. "We're going to help Evangeline open the gateway that brings them here."
"Then we don't go," Caspian said immediately. "We stay here. Fortify the Shadowlands. Let her try to—"
"She'll kill your people. You heard the messenger. Everyone in the Shadowlands dies if I don't take the test."
"Better some than everyone in the entire kingdom!"
"There has to be another way," I insisted. "Some way to stop her without letting thousands die."
"There isn't. It's an impossible choice."
We sat in heavy silence.
Then, slowly, an idea formed. Terrible and desperate and probably suicidal.
But maybe—just maybe—it could work.
"What if," I said carefully, "we let her open the gateway?"
Caspian stared at me like I'd lost my mind. "Absolutely not—"
"Listen. She needs my blood for the ritual, right? My Starborn blood. What if we give it to her—but we sabotage the ritual from the inside?"
"You're suggesting we walk into her trap on purpose."
"I'm suggesting we turn her trap into ours." I grabbed his hands. "Think about it. She's expecting me to resist, to fight. What if instead, I cooperate? Let her think she's won. And then, when she opens the gateway—"
"We close it in her face," Caspian finished slowly. "And trap her between dimensions with her own Void Walkers."
"Exactly."
He was quiet for a long moment. Then: "That's the most insane plan I've ever heard."
"Will it work?"
"Maybe." His grip on my hands tightened. "If we can synchronize our magic perfectly. If the gateway behaves like the ancient texts describe. If Evangeline doesn't realize what we're doing until it's too late." He looked at me seriously. "Those are a lot of ifs, Mira."
"Do you have a better plan?"
He didn't answer.
Which meant no.
"Then in three days," I said, my voice stronger than I felt, "we're going to the capital. We're going to let Evangeline think she's won. And then we're going to destroy her and save the kingdom."
"Or die trying," Caspian added darkly.
"Or die trying," I agreed.
He pulled me against his chest, his arms wrapping around me tight.
"I'm starting to regret binding myself to someone so recklessly brave," he muttered into my hair.
Despite everything, I smiled. "Too late now. You're stuck with me."
"I suppose there are worse fates."
We stayed like that for a long moment, taking comfort in each other's presence.
Then Caspian tensed.
"What?" I asked.
"I just realized something." He pulled back to look at me. "If Seraphina could send you that vision, it means she's stronger than we thought. Her soul isn't fading—it's growing."
"Is that good or bad?"
His expression was grim. "I don't know. But I think we're about to find out."
The marks on my wrist suddenly blazed with golden light.
And Seraphina's voice—clear, strong, fully present—spoke directly into both our minds:
"Caspian. Mira. The binding between you has awakened something. Something that was always meant to be. The prophecy Evangeline uses to justify her murders? She translated it wrong. It doesn't say 'the villainess must die.' It says: 'The two who are one will rise from death to reclaim what was stolen.' You're not two separate souls. You're two halves that were split apart. And now that you're together again—now that the binding has made you whole—you have power Evangeline never anticipated. Power that can stop her. But only if you accept the truth: Mira, you ARE me. And I am you. We always were. Across dimensions, across lives, across death itself. We are the same."
The golden light flared brighter—
And suddenly, I wasn't just me anymore.
I was Mira Chen AND Seraphina Blackwood.
Two lives. Two deaths. Two souls.
Merged into one.
Complete at last.