Sera's POV
I stare at the note until the words blur.
Come alone to the east tower. Trade yourself for him, or we kill you both.
My father. The man who abandoned me at the trial. The man who chose his reputation over his own daughter.
But he's still my father.
I remember him teaching me magic when I was six. Remember him catching me when I fell from a tree. Remember him saying I love you every night before bed.
That man wouldn't have disowned me. Unless someone forced him to.
I look at the sketch again. His bruised face. His terrified eyes.
They're torturing him because of me.
I crumple the note in my fist. The Temple of Dawn wants me badly enough to kidnap my father. Which means I'm more important to their plan than I thought.
But why? I'm nobody. Just a servant with weak temporal magic.
Unless... unless they know something I don't.
I check the time. It's barely seven in the morning. I have until midnight to decide. Five hours until I'm supposed to report to the Emperor's chambers for my first night assignment. Seventeen hours until the east tower meeting.
Think, Sera. Think.
If I go to the tower, I'm walking into a trap. They'll kill both me and my father. If I don't go, they'll kill him anyway and probably come after me next.
But if I tell the Emperor...
No. Day Caspian barely trusts me. He won't risk his guards to save a disgraced noble who publicly disowned his daughter. And if I wait until Night Caspian appears at midnight, it'll be too late. The meeting is at midnight exactly.
I'm alone in this. Just like always.
I spend the day in the archives where I've been reassigned. Elira, the mysterious librarian, watches me with knowing eyes.
You look troubled, child, she says softly.
I almost laugh. Troubled doesn't begin to cover it.
I'm fine, I lie.
Hmm. She slides a book across the table to me. Perhaps this will help.
I look at the title: The Temple of Dawn: Origins and Curses.
My head snaps up. How did you
I know many things, Elira says with a small smile. Including that you'll need to understand the temple if you want to survive what's coming. She taps the book. Read quickly. Time is running out.
She disappears into the stacks before I can ask what she means.
I open the book and start reading.
The Temple of Dawn was founded a thousand years ago by immortals who believed in balance. For every gift of power, there must be an equal sacrifice. They cursed Emperor Caspian because he tried to cheat death immortality without cost.
But the curse wasn't meant to kill him. It was meant to teach him about humanity. About loss. About what it means to be mortal.
So why would the temple want him dead now?
I flip through more pages and find a chapter that makes my blood run cold.
The Curse of Dawn can only be broken by one method: the willing sacrifice of someone with temporal magic. The curse will transfer to them, and they will become immortal in the Emperor's place. The Emperor will die as a mortal, and the cycle will begin again.
Temporal magic. Like mine.
Oh gods.
They don't want to kill the Emperor. They want to replace him. And they need me to do it.
That's why they framed me. Why they made sure I ended up in the citadel. Why they're threatening my father.
They want to force me to break the curse so someone else probably Lucian can become the new immortal Emperor.
My hands shake as I close the book.
I need to warn Caspian. Now.
But it's only three in the afternoon. He won't transform into his mortal self for nine more hours. And I can't tell Day Caspian about this he doesn't even remember his curse exists.
I'm trapped in an impossible situation with no good options.
Unless...
An idea starts forming. Crazy. Dangerous. Probably suicidal.
But it might work.
I spend the rest of the day preparing. I steal a servant's cloak from the laundry. I grab a knife from the kitchen and hide it in my boot. I write a note explaining everything and hide it in the Emperor's chambers where only Night Caspian will find it.
At 11:45 PM, I'm standing outside the east tower, fifteen minutes early.
The tower is old and abandoned. No guards. No lights. Just darkness and silence.
I'm not stupid enough to walk in without backup. But my backup isn't here yet.
Come on, I think desperately. Please work.
At exactly midnight, I feel it. That strange shift in the air that happens when Caspian transforms from immortal to mortal.
And right on cue, I hear footsteps running toward me.
Caspian appears from the shadows, breathing hard, his mortal eyes wide with panic. He's holding my note.
Are you insane? he hisses. You can't trade yourself to them!
I'm not, I whisper back. But they don't know that you're here. They think I came alone.
Understanding dawns on his face. You're using yourself as bait.
We need to know who's behind this. This is our chance.
This is suicide, he argues. But he doesn't leave. Instead, he pulls out a dagger. If we're doing this, we're doing it smart. I go in first. You follow thirty seconds later. We find your father, and we get out. No heroics.
You're mortal right now, I remind him. If they stab you
I know. His jaw clenches. But I'm not letting you walk in there alone.
Something warm blooms in my chest. No one has protected me in so long, I almost forgot what it feels like.
Thank you, I whisper.
He nods and slips into the tower entrance.
I count to thirty, my heart pounding.
Then I follow.
The inside of the tower is pitch black. I can barely see two feet in front of me. My footsteps echo on stone stairs leading down.
Down? That's wrong. Towers go up, not down.
Caspian? I whisper.
No answer.
A chill runs down my spine.
I descend the stairs carefully, one hand on the wall. The air gets colder with each step. Damper. Like I'm going deep underground.
Finally, I reach the bottom and step into a large chamber lit by torches.
I freeze.
My father is there, tied to a chair, exactly like in the sketch. But he's not alone.
Ten robed figures surround him in a circle. They're all wearing masks marked with the Temple of Dawn symbol.
And standing in the center, holding a knife to my father's throat, is someone I recognize.
Morgana. My stepsister.
She pulls off her mask and smiles at me.
Hello, sister, she purrs. So glad you could join us. We've been waiting for you.
Where's Caspian? I demand.
You mean the Emperor? Morgana laughs. Oh, he never made it inside. We have people stationed at every entrance. They caught him the moment he tried to enter. He's in another room right now, being restrained.
No. No, no, no.
This was a trap. Not just for me. For both of us.
Don't worry, Morgana continues. We won't kill him. Not yet. First, you're going to break his curse for us. You're going to transfer his immortality to someone who actually deserves it.
She gestures, and another figure steps forward, removing their mask.
Lucian.
Of course.
The temple promised us immortality if we delivered you, Lucian says smoothly. A temporal mage pure enough to break the curse. All you have to do is perform one simple ritual, and everyone lives. Your father. The Emperor. You.
And if I refuse?
Morgana presses the knife harder against our father's throat. A thin line of blood appears.
Then we start with dear old dad, she says sweetly. Then the Emperor. Then you. But not before we make you watch them both die slowly.
My father's eyes meet mine. They're filled with tears. Don't do it, Sera, he croaks. Don't give them what they want. Let me die. I deserve it for what I did to you.
Shut up, Morgana snaps, hitting him.
I clench my fists, magic crackling around my fingers.
Ten robed figures. Morgana. Lucian. All between me and my father.
And somewhere in this nightmare, Caspian is being held prisoner.
I came here to save one person. Now I need to save three, including myself.
The odds are impossible.
Lucian pulls out an ancient scroll. This is the ritual. Read it aloud, and the curse transfers. Simple. Easy. Everyone lives.
He holds it out to me.
I look at the scroll. At my father bleeding. At Morgana's triumphant smile.
And I make my choice.
I take the scroll.
Smart girl, Lucian says.
I unroll it and begin to read. The words are old, written in a language I barely recognize. But my temporal magic helps me understand them.
The ritual is real. It would actually work. It would transfer the curse to me, make Lucian immortal, and kill Caspian.
I keep reading, my voice steady, while my mind races through every possible escape plan.
And then I feel it.
A pulse of magic. Not from me. From somewhere else in the chamber.
I glance up and see a tiny movement in the shadows behind Morgana.
Caspian. He wasn't captured. He followed me down here and has been waiting for the right moment.
Our eyes meet for a fraction of a second.
He's mortal. Wounded. Outnumbered.
But he mouths one word: Now.
I don't hesitate.
I rip the scroll in half and release every ounce of my temporal magic in an explosive wave.
Time freezes.
Everyone in the room stops moving everyone except me and Caspian, because my magic recognizes him as an ally.
We have maybe ten seconds before the spell breaks.
Get your father! Caspian shouts, running toward me.
I race to my father and cut his ropes with the knife from my boot. He collapses into my arms.
Can you walk? I ask urgently.
I'll crawl if I have to, he gasps.
Caspian reaches us. The exit. Now!
We run.
Behind us, I feel my temporal freeze starting to crack. The robed figures are beginning to move again, fighting against my magic.
We burst out of the chamber and up the stairs. My father leans heavily on me, slowing us down.
Leave me, he begs. Save yourselves.
Not a chance, I snap.
We make it to the tower entrance just as the freeze breaks completely.
Shouts echo from below. Footsteps pounding on stairs.
They're coming! Caspian yells.
We stumble out into the night and run toward the citadel. But we're not fast enough. My father can barely stand. Caspian is mortal and wounded. I'm exhausted from using so much magic.
The robed figures pour out of the tower behind us.
We're not going to make it.
Caspian stops running and turns to face them, raising his dagger.
Go, he tells me. Get your father to safety.
I'm not leaving you!
Sera, I'm ordering you as your Emperor
You're not my Emperor right now, I shoot back. You're just a man. And I don't abandon people I care about.
His eyes widen at that last part.
The robed figures are closing in. Twenty feet away. Ten.
I grab Caspian's hand, and my father's hand, and I do something I've never tried before.
I pour all my remaining magic into one desperate spell.
Time bends around us.
The world blurs.
And when it clears again, we're standing inside the citadel walls, safe.
I collapse from the effort, completely drained.
Caspian catches me before I hit the ground.
How did you he starts.
Teleportation, I gasp. Through time. Never... tried it before...
You're insane, he says, but he's smiling.
My father is staring at me in shock. Sera... your magic... I've never seen power like that.
Before I can respond, the citadel alarm bells start ringing.
Guards rush toward us, weapons drawn.
And at the front of the group, looking furious, is Day Caspian.
Because dawn has broken.
Night Caspian's body glows and transforms in my arms. His warm eyes turn cold. His mortal body becomes immortal again.
He blinks in confusion, looking down at me in his arms, covered in blood and dirt.
The guards surround us, swords pointed at me and my father.
Explain, Day Caspian says in his ice cold voice, why you're covered in blood, holding a known traitor, and have triggered every security ward in my citadel.
I open my mouth, but no words come out.
How do I explain this without revealing his curse? Without condemning myself and my father?
One of the guards steps forward. Your Majesty, we found evidence of an attack at the east tower. Dark magic. Temple symbols. And... He hesitates. Bodies.
My stomach drops. Bodies?
Show me, Caspian orders.
The guards drag me, Caspian, and my father to the east tower.
Inside, we find the chamber where we were just held.
But it's different now.
All ten robed figures are dead. Their throats slashed. Blood everywhere.
And in the center of the carnage, written in blood on the floor, is a message:
The curse must be broken. The temporal mage must die. Dawn will fall.
Caspian turns to me, his eyes colder than I've ever seen them.
You have ten seconds to explain why a death threat with YOUR magic signature is written in blood, he says quietly. Or I will assume you're responsible for all of this.
My magic signature. But I didn't kill these people. I barely escaped.
Unless...
Oh no.
My time teleportation spell. It must have left a trace. A signature that the real killer used to frame me.
Again.
I'm about to be convicted of mass murder.
And I have no way to prove my innocence.