Broken Bonds: The Rogue's Redemption-Chapter 16: The Truth in Blood

Cassian’s POV

I threw myself between Ember and everyone else.

My daughter—or the thing wearing her face—laughed. The sound made my dragon recoil in fear.

"Papa, don’t be dramatic," Ember said with that terrible triple-layered voice. "I’m not going to hurt anyone. Yet."

"Get away from her!" Lyanna screamed, trying to push past Kieran. He held her back, his face pale but determined.

"Let me go!" Lyanna clawed at his arms. "That’s my baby!"

"That’s NOT your baby," Kieran said through hard teeth. "Not anymore."

Ember—the thing inside Ember—tilted her head. "Actually, I’m more her baby than you know. But we can talk family trees later." Those whirling black-gold-red eyes fixed on me. "Right now, Morgana needs to do her little routine. Don’t you, old woman?"

Morgana stood frozen, her staff trembling in her hands. "How do you know about—"

"I know everything." Ember’s smile widened impossibly. "I’ve been inside this child since birth, watching, waiting, learning. I know about the ritual you planned. The blood test to show which Lyanna is real." She giggled, and it sounded so much like my daughter that my heart cracked. "So go ahead. Do it. The results will be... educational."

"We’re not doing anything while you’re controlling my daughter," I growled.

"Then you’ll never get her back." Ember’s voice went flat, lifeless. "Because the only way to separate us is to understand what we really are. And that needs Morgana’s test." She motioned with a small hand. "So do it. Or I leave with this body right now, and you never see your sweet Ember again."

Lyanna’s broken sob cut through me like a blade.

"Fine." Morgana’s voice was steel. "Everyone step back. This will require space."

She began drawing symbols on the floor with chalk that glowed blue. Ancient runes that hurt to look at. In the middle, she placed two bowls of silver.

"I need blood from both Lyannas," Morgana stated. "The modern one, and the original body."

"The original body is ash now," Kieran said softly. "That creature merged with Ember."

"I can provide it." Ember skipped forward, holding out her hand. A cut appeared on her hand—too exact, too controlled for a four-year-old. Black-red blood dripped into the first bowl. "There. Original Lyanna’s essence, kept in me for three thousand years."

Morgana’s hands shook as she added flowers and powders to the blood. Then she looked at Lyanna. "And you, child."

Lyanna stumbled forward, her legs barely holding her. I wanted to help, but something kept me frozen. She cut her own palm with a knife Morgana supplied. Her blood—normal, red, human—dripped into the second bowl.

Morgana began singing. The blood in both bowls started shining. Swirling. Rising into the air like liquid smoke.

The two streams of blood moved toward each other. When they touched, the light burst.

Images appeared in the air above the bowls. Magical images showing soul signatures—the unique pattern that made someone who they were.

My breath caught.

Both signatures were indistinguishable. Perfect mirrors. The same swirls, the same colors, the same basic pattern.

"Impossible," Stone whispered from behind me. "No two souls are exactly alike."

"Unless they’re the same soul," Morgana said deeply. The blood streams split apart, and she pointed at Ember’s bowl. "This is the root. The real Lyanna Thorne, born three thousand years ago. Her soul signature is old, scarred by demon corruption."

She pointed at Lyanna’s bowl. "This is the rebirth. The same soul, remade clean and new. Her signature is younger, fresher, but basically identical."

"So which one is real?" Kieran demanded. "Which Lyanna is the true one?"

Morgana closed her eyes. "Both. And neither."

"That’s not an answer!" I roared. My dragon was going insane inside me, torn between rage and sadness and confusion.

"It’s the only answer." Morgana opened her eyes, and they were full of tears. "When Lyanna made her deal with the devils, her soul was ripped in half. One piece—corrupted and possessed—stayed trapped in the spirit world. The other piece escaped and began the cycle of reincarnation." She looked at my modern Lyanna. "You are that escaped piece, reborn. You’re not a copy. You’re a winner."

"And the piece that got trapped?" Lyanna whispered.

"It festered. The devil used it as an anchor, a cage. For three thousand years." Morgana’s voice cracked. "That piece was meant to die. To fade away. But the demon kept it alive, kept it aware, kept it hurting."

The words hit like physical blows. That thing we’d locked up—it really was part of Lyanna. A part that had been abused for three millennia.

"But how is it in Ember now?" I asked desperately.

Morgana’s face went pale. "Because the original Ember—your first daughter—made the same deal her mother made. When she was four years old, the demon inside her fully took control. And that demon..." She swallowed hard. "That monster has been reincarnating too. Following Lyanna’s soul signature through lives. Waiting to be reunited."

"I’m a very patient hunter," Ember said sweetly. "And every time Lyanna reincarnates and has a daughter? I make sure I’m that kid. It’s great, really. Mama can never escape me. She made sure of that when she sold her soul to bring me back the first time."

Lyanna fell. I barely caught her before she hit the ground.

"No," she sobbed. "No, no, no. I doomed my daughter? Every lifetime?"

"Every. Single. One." Ember crouched beside us, her child face showing impossible cruelty. "You wanted me alive so badly? Well, here I am. Forever."

My mind raced. "Then how do we save her? How do we save Ember?"

"You can’t," Ember whispered. "The demon and your daughter are linked together now. Kill one, kill both."

"There has to be a way," Kieran said furiously.

Morgana studied the blood bowls, her face twisted with focus. "Maybe... if we could reconnect the two pieces of Lyanna’s soul. Make her whole again. The complete soul might have power over the devil contract."

"How?" I asked.

"The original piece is inside Ember now. The reborn piece is standing before us." Morgana’s eyes widened with terrible understanding. "They’d have to join. Fully. Permanently."

"No." Lyanna’s voice was small but strong. "If I merge with that... that thing... I won’t be me anymore."

"But you might save your daughter," Morgana said softly.

Silence fell like a hammer.

I looked at Lyanna. She looked at Ember. Our daughter, wearing a monster like a second skin.

"Mama?" Ember’s voice changed. For just one second, it was pure. Young. Scared. My real kid, breaking through. "Mama, help me. It hurts. Please make it stop hurting."

Lyanna’s face collapsed. "Baby—"

Ember’s eyes went black again. "Too late. She’s gone. Make your choice, Mother. Merge with your twisted half and maybe save her. Or stay pure and watch her suffer forever."

That’s when I heard it. A wisp of sound from above.

My dragon senses screamed warning. I looked up fast.

A shadow moved in the attic. Something that shouldn’t be there.

I shifted partly, my claws extending. "We’re being watched!"

The shadow laughed—a familiar, cold laugh that made my blood freeze.

"Very perceptive, Dragon Prince."

The voice belonged to the Shadow King.

"I died," I said slowly. "You died in the war."

"Did I?" The shadow rippled, and I saw his face form in the darkness. "Or did I simply retreat? Wait? Listen?"

He’d been hiding there the whole time. Listening to everything.

"And now I know the truth," the Shadow King’s voice purred. "The child is the key. Control her, control the evil. Control the monster, control Lyanna’s soul." His laughter grew. "Thank you for solving my trouble. Now I know exactly what I need to do."

The shadow burst into a dozen smaller shadows. They swarmed toward Ember.

"No!" I roared, throwing myself forward.

But I was too slow.

The shadows wrapped around my daughter. She screamed—both her voice and the demon’s voice, disjointed and terrified.

"Release her!" Lyanna shrieked.

The Shadow King’s voice came from everywhere. "The girl is mine now. If you want her back? Bring me both pieces of Lyanna’s soul. The current one, and the ancient one. Only then will I give you your daughter."

The shadows vanished.

Taking Ember with them.

Lyanna’s scream of pain shook the walls.

And somewhere in the darkness, the Shadow King laughed.