Cassian’s POV 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

I watched Lyanna disappear into the yard with Kieran, and something inside me snapped.

Not broke—snapped. Like a rope pulled too tight for too long, finally giving way.

She was planning something with him. Something dangerous. I could see it in the way their soul marks glowed in perfect sync, in the way Kieran smiled like a wolf scenting blood.

And I had no right to stop them.

I’d chosen duty over love. Politics over fact. Safety over fighting for what I wanted. I’d let them cut her into pieces and stuff her into someone else’s skin, and I’d done nothing.

What kind of prince was I? What kind of man?

"You look like you’re about to do something stupid." Commander Stone appeared at my elbow, arms crossed. "Please don’t. We can’t afford another political disaster."

"Another?" I laughed bitterly. "Stone, this entire situation is one huge disaster. My father and the Shadow King did illegal soul magic. They’re forcing me to marry a woman wearing someone else’s face while the woman I actually love plots payback with her storm dragon soul mate. What part of this isn’t already a disaster?"

Stone winced. "Fair point. But starting a war won’t fix it."

"Maybe war is exactly what we need." The words surprised me even as I said them. "Maybe peace built on lies and forced marriages and stolen lives isn’t worth keeping."

"You don’t mean that."

"Don’t I?" I turned to face him fully. "Tell me, Stone. If they did this to your wife—ripped her soul out and put it in another woman’s body, then threatened to kill her if she told the truth—what would you do?"

His jaw tightened. "I’d burn the world down to get her back."

"Exactly." I started walking toward the park. Toward Lyanna. Toward the truth that scared me. "That’s exactly what I should have done from the start."

"Cassian, wait—"

But I was done waiting. Done being careful. Done picking duty over the one person who’d ever made me feel alive.

I found them in the garden’s center, heads bent close, planning. Lyanna looked up when I approached, and for a moment I saw fear flash across Seraphine’s stolen face.

Good. Let her be afraid. Let her see that I was finally done being a coward.

"Whatever you’re planning," I said, "I’m in."

Kieran raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think we’re planning anything?"

"Because I know that look." I gestured between them. "Soul mates don’t glow like that unless they’re about to do something reckless and probably illegal."

"You mean like forcibly swapping two people’s souls?" Lyanna’s voice was sharp. "That kind of illegal?"

"Yes. Exactly like that." I knelt in front of her, ignoring Kieran’s warning growl. "I’m sorry. I’m sorry I picked wrong. I’m sorry I let them hurt you. I’m sorry I’ve been a terrible, weak excuse for a prince. But I’m done now. Done playing by their rules."

"What are you saying?" Lyanna asked slowly.

"I’m saying I’m calling off the wedding."

Silence crashed through the garden.

"You can’t," Lyanna whispered. "They’ll declare war. Thousands will die."

"Then let them." I took her hands—Seraphine’s hands, but I didn’t care anymore. "I’d rather fight an honest war than live this lie. Rather die defending truth than live by abandoning it."

"You’ll lose everything," Kieran pointed out. "Your cap. Your kingdom. Possibly your life."

"I already lost everything that mattered." I looked at Lyanna. Really looked at her. "The woman I love is stuck in another woman’s body, marked by magic that will kill her if she speaks truth. If I marry her like this, I’m just another jailer. Another person keeping her prisoner."

Tears streamed down her face. "Cassian—"

"I love you," I said strongly. "Not the body. Not the face. You. Your soul. Your bravery. The way you challenged me when everyone else just followed. The way you saw through my masks to the scared boy underneath. That’s what I love. And I’m done letting anyone tell me that love doesn’t matter."

"This is very touching," a cold voice said from behind us. "But unfortunately, I can’t allow it."

We all spun around.

The Shadow King stood there with two dozen guards. But worse—he held someone by the throat.

The real Seraphine. Still trapped in Lyanna’s body, struggling against his grip.

"Release her," Kieran snarled, lightning crackling around his fists.

"I don’t think so." The Shadow King’s smile was terrible. "You see, I anticipated this little rebellion. Knew that someday someone would try to break my careful plans. So I took insurance."

He squeezed tighter. Seraphine gasped, her face—Lyanna’s face—turning red.

"Here’s what’s going to happen," the Shadow King continued. "Prince Cassian will marry my daughter—the one wearing her body, not the one wearing the hybrid’s skin—in three days. Not four weeks. Three days. And if anyone objects, if anyone tries to stop it, if anyone says one word of truth..." He squeezed harder. "This body dies. And I wonder—if we kill the body, does the soul die too? Shall we find out?"

"Stop!" Lyanna screamed. "Please, you’re killing her!"

"That’s rather the point, dear." He relaxed his grip slightly. Seraphine sucked in desperate breaths. "Now, do we have an understanding? Three days. A quiet wedding. No rebellions. No truth-telling. No heroics."

"And if we agree?" I forced the words through gritted teeth.

"Then this body lives. I’ll even let her stay in the cells rather than executing her. Generous, don’t you think?"

It was a trap. A great trap. Save Seraphine’s soul and condemn Lyanna to marriage as someone else, or fight back and watch Seraphine die.

"There has to be another way," Kieran said desperately.

"There isn’t." The Shadow King motioned to his guards. "Take them. Separate rooms, heavy guard. The wedding plans begin immediately."

Guards surrounded us. Too many to fight. Too many to run.

As they dragged me away from Lyanna, I saw her say words across the distance: "Trust me."

Then she was gone, and I was being thrown into a cell, and the last chance to stop this nightmare was slipping away.

But hours later, after the guards had left and darkness had fallen, I heard something impossible.

Lyanna’s voice. Her real voice. Coming from the walls themselves.

"Cassian? Can you hear me?"

"How—" "Shadow magic." Her laugh was shaky. "Turns out wearing Seraphine’s body gives me access to her skills. Including the ability to speak through darkness. We don’t have much time, so listen carefully."

"I’m listening."

"There’s a way to break the soul swap. One way only. But it needs something terrible."

"What?"

Her voice dropped to barely a whisper.

"One of us has to die. Really die. Not just the body, but the soul. And then the other soul will snap back to its original body like a broken rope finding its home."

Horror crashed through me. "No. Absolutely not. We’ll find another way—"

"There is no other way." She sounded so tired. So beaten. "The power is permanent unless death breaks it. So someone has to choose. Me or Seraphine. And I think..." Her voice cracked. "I think it should be me."

"No!"

"I’m already wearing her body. If I die, her soul returns to where it goes. She gets her life back. You get to marry the woman you were supposed to marry. Everything goes back to normal."

"Nothing about this is normal! Lyanna, please—"

"I’m tired, Cassian." The words were so soft I almost missed them. "So tired of fighting. Of running. Of being someone I’m not. Maybe... maybe this is the way it’s supposed to end."

"Don’t you dare." I pressed my hands against the wall, wishing I could reach through and shake her. "Don’t you dare give up. We’ll fight. We’ll find a way. We’ll—"

"There’s one other option."

Her voice had changed. Gone cold. Determined.

"What option?"

"We kill them instead. Your father and mine. The kings who did this to us. Remove them from power and rule the countries ourselves."

The words hung in the darkness.

Treason. Regicide. Revolution.

Everything I’d been raised to never even think about.

"Are you serious?" I breathed.

"Completely." Through the shadow magic, I felt her hand touch my cheek. "They destroyed our lives to keep their power. So we destroy their power to recover our lives. What do you say, Prince? Ready to become a king?"

Before I could answer, alarm bells started ringing throughout the house.

And through the wall, Lyanna whispered four words that changed everything:

"Seraphine just escaped."