Sera's POV
You're lying.
My voice cuts through the shocked silence. Luna's words are still hanging in the air like poison your uncle ordered her to kill them but I'm staring at Caspian, watching his face shatter.
Luna, leave, Caspian says. His voice is dead. Empty. Now.
Not until Sera hears the truth
LEAVE!
The command echoes through the forest. Luna flinches but doesn't move. She looks at me instead.
Your mother is waiting for you, Luna says urgently. She has proof about what really happened to his parents. About what the Temple has been hiding for decades. She tosses something at my feet a small crystal that glows with soft light. When you're ready for the truth, break this. It will show you the way.
Then she's gone, melting into the shadows like smoke.
The silence that follows is crushing.
Caspian hasn't moved. He's standing frozen, his hand still on his blade, staring at nothing.
Caspian
Don't. The word is sharp enough to cut. Don't say anything.
But I can't stop. What if she's right? What if your uncle
My uncle raised me! Caspian spins around, and I see rage burning in his ice-blue eyes. He took me in when I had nothing. Gave me a home. A purpose. He wouldn't His voice cracks. He wouldn't lie about that.
Are you sure?
The question hangs between us.
Caspian's jaw tightens. Without another word, he pulls out the sacred chains and locks them around my wrists. The magic suppresses my power instantly, leaving me weak and shaking.
We're leaving, he says coldly. Now.
Morning comes too fast.
I wake up in a cage made of silver light, my whole body aching. The chains are still on my wrists, burning with every breath. Caspian sits by a small fire, sharpening his blade with sharp, angry strokes.
He hasn't looked at me once.
Are you going to ignore me for seven days? I ask.
Yes.
That's going to be boring.
You're my prisoner, not my friend.
I laugh, but there's no humor in it. I'm your mate. That's got to be eating you alive.
Finally, Caspian looks at me. His eyes are cold as winter. The mate bond is a test. The Moon Goddess wants to see if I'll choose duty over temptation.
Or maybe, I say carefully, she's trying to tell you you're about to murder an innocent person.
Heretics aren't innocent. Caspian stands, sliding his blade into its sheath. You have the power to sever mate bonds. To destroy the most sacred connection between wolves. That makes you dangerous.
I've never hurt anyone!
But you could. He steps closer to the cage. That's what my uncle taught me. It doesn't matter what you've done. It matters what you're capable of doing.
My heart pounds. Your uncle also might have lied about your parents.
Caspian's face goes blank. We leave in ten minutes. Don't try to escape.
The day passes in awful silence.
We travel through dense forest, Caspian leading while I follow in my magical cage that floats along behind him. The chains make me weak, but the cage keeps me from running.
Not that I could get far anyway.
I try to escape at the river crossing. The moment the cage touches water, I channel what little power I have left and break through. I run, splashing through the current, heading for the opposite bank.
Caspian catches me in three seconds.
Stop fighting, he says, pulling me back. His hands are firm but careful, never rough. You'll only hurt yourself.
I try again at midday when he stops for water. This time I make it ten feet before he tackles me gently to the ground.
Why don't you hurt me? I gasp, staring up at him. I'm trying to escape. You should punish me.
Caspian's expression flickers pain, maybe, or regret. Because you're... He stops. Pulls away. Just stop running.
He never finishes the sentence.
But I know what he was going to say: Because you're my mate.
Night falls, and we make camp.
Caspian builds a fire while I sit in my cage, the chains heavy on my wrists. I watch him move precise, controlled, every action practiced a thousand times.
He's been trained since childhood to be the perfect weapon. No feelings. No doubts. Just duty.
But I see the cracks in his armor.
When did you know? I ask quietly. About the mate bond?
Caspian doesn't answer for a long time. The fire crackles between us, throwing shadows across his face.
Finally: Three years ago. The first time I saw you.
My breath catches. You've been hunting me for three years, knowing I was your mate?
Yes.
How? The word comes out broken. How could you do that?
Caspian's hands clench into fists. Because loving you would mean betraying everything I believe in. Everything I am. The Temple saved me when I was eight years old and had nothing. They gave me purpose. Direction. A way to honor my parents' memory by protecting other wolves from Heretics.
By killing people like me.
Yes. He finally looks at me, and his eyes are full of anguish. I've been trying to do the right thing. Even when it kills me.
The mate bond pulses between us a connection I can feel even through the chains. It's like a rope tied around my heart, pulling me toward him.
I can see it hurting him too.
What if Luna was right? I whisper. What if your uncle lied?
Then everything I've done for thirteen years has been for nothing. Caspian's voice cracks. Every Heretic I've hunted. Every execution I've performed. All of it would be murder.
Caspian
Go to sleep, Sera.
He turns away, ending the conversation.
But neither of us sleeps.
I lie awake in my cage, listening to Caspian's breathing on the other side of the fire. The mate bond thrums between us like a living thing, making my chest ache.
Six more days until we reach the Temple.
Six more days until I die.
Unless I can convince him that everything he believes is a lie.
Hours pass. The moon rises higher. And just when I think Caspian has finally fallen asleep, he speaks.
My parents died screaming.
I go still.
I was hiding in the cellar, Caspian continues, his voice hollow. I heard everything. The Heretic used her power, and my parents... the sound they made when their bond broke... He stops, breathing hard. I hear it every night. Thirteen years later, and I still hear them screaming.
Tears burn my eyes. I'm sorry.
Don't be sorry. Just tell me the truth. Caspian finally turns to look at me. If you had to choose if using your power to sever a bond was the only way to save yourself would you do it?
The question feels like a trap.
But I answer honestly: I don't know. I hope I'd find another way. But if I was terrified enough, desperate enough... maybe I'd make a terrible choice too.
Caspian's expression shifts something that might be respect, or maybe just more pain.
At least you're honest, he says quietly.
We fall silent again.
But just before dawn, when the sky starts turning gray, Caspian does something that shocks me.
He unlocks my cage.
What are you doing? I ask, confused.
Testing something. Caspian pulls me out, then removes the sacred chains from my wrists.
Power floods back into my body, making me gasp. I could run. I could fight. I could escape.
Caspian steps back, his hand on his blade. Waiting.
Well? he asks. Run. Prove to me you're the monster they say you are.
My heart pounds. This is it my chance at freedom.
But something stops me.
I look at Caspian's face the pain, the doubt, the desperate need to understand and I realize something terrible.
If I run now, I prove him right. I prove that Heretics can't be trusted. That we're just monsters wearing human skin.
And he'll spend the rest of his life believing the lie.
No, I say softly.
Caspian's eyes widen. What?
I'm not running. I step closer, even though every instinct screams at me to flee. Because you need to see the truth. And the only way that happens is if we reach the Temple together.
You're choosing execution over freedom?
I'm choosing to prove you wrong.
For a long moment, we just stare at each other.
Then Caspian does something that changes everything he holds out his hand.
No chains, he says. No cage. Just your word that you won't run.
I stare at his outstretched hand, hardly daring to believe it.
You trust me?
No, Caspian admits. But I'm trying to.
I take his hand.
The moment our skin touches, the mate bond flares to life. Magic explodes between us silver light so bright it turns the forest day. I feel Caspian's emotions crashing into mine: fear, longing, guilt, hope, desperation.
And beneath it all, a love so powerful it steals my breath.
He feels it too. I see it in his eyes the moment he stops fighting and lets himself feel everything.
Sera, he breathes.
Then the light fades.
And we're left standing hand in hand, the bond between us stronger than ever.
Six more days, I whisper.
Six more days, Caspian agrees.
But now, I don't know if we're walking toward my death or toward something that could save us both.
A branch snaps in the forest behind us.
We both spin around.
Standing in the shadows is a figure in Temple robes. But these robes are black instead of white.
Elite Temple hunters.
And there are dozens of them.
The leader steps forward, pulling back his hood.
I recognize him from wanted posters Kieran Wolfscar, Caspian's rival. The second-best hunter in the Temple.
He smiles, cold and cruel.
Well, well, Kieran says. The High Priest holding hands with the Heretic. The High Chancellor is going to love hearing about this.
Caspian's hand tightens on mine.
This isn't what it looks like, Caspian says.
Really? Kieran's smile widens. Because it looks like treason.