Princess Of The Skulls - Chapter 53: Chapter 53

The cathedral was packed with nobility from both kingdoms, their faces a mixture of political calculation and genuine celebration. I walked down the aisle in my wedding dress, the skull relics at my throat pulsing with increasing urgency as ancient magic stirred in the air around me.
Aldric stood at the altar, resplendent in his ceremonial armor, but I could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his hand rested casually near his sword hilt. Through our soul-bond, I felt his readiness for violence, his determination to protect me from whatever trap was closing around us.
The High Priest began the ceremony with traditional words, but I barely heard them over the whispers of the dead. The skull relics were practically burning against my skin now, their voices rising to a crescendo of warning.
Ancient magic stirs, they hissed. Blood calls to blood. The binding comes with the kiss.
I caught Aldric's eye and saw understanding there. The kiss that would seal our marriage would also trigger whatever magical trap had been woven into the ceremony. We had moments to act.
"Do you, Princess Seraphina Blackthorne, take Prince Aldric Thornfield to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, for better or worse, until death do you part?"
The traditional words, but I could hear the binding magic woven between them, feel the ancient power gathering like a storm. If I said yes, if I completed the ritual, I would be bound not just to Aldric but to the will of whoever had orchestrated this trap.
"I—" I began, then stopped as I felt something shift in the air.
A commotion at the back of the cathedral interrupted the ceremony. Guests turned in their seats, murmuring in confusion as a figure in dark leather strode down the aisle with deadly purpose, Kael.
"Stop the ceremony," he called out, his voice carrying across the cathedral. "This marriage is built on lies and treachery."
Guards moved to intercept him, but Kael was faster. His blade sang as it cleared its sheath, cutting down the first man to reach him with brutal efficiency. The nobility screamed and scattered as chaos erupted in the sacred space.
"Kael, no!" I shouted, but he was already fighting his way toward the altar, his dark eyes blazing with desperate determination.
"The contract," he yelled over the sounds of battle. "Look at the marriage contract! See what they're really binding you to!"
I turned to the High Priest, who had gone pale at Kael's words. "Show me," I demanded.
"Your Highness, the ceremony must continue—"
"Show me the contract. Now."
With trembling hands, he produced the document. I snatched it from him, scanning the ornate script for the passages that had been hidden in ancient languages. My knowledge of the old tongues was limited, but I could make out enough to understand the true horror of what I'd almost agreed to.
"'The bride's power shall be bound to the crown, her will subservient to the throne, her magic channeled through the royal bloodline for all eternity,'" I read aloud, my voice carrying across the cathedral. "'Should she bear children, they too shall be bound to this servitude, their abilities enslaved to the kingdom's needs."
The words hit the assembled nobility like a physical blow. They'd come expecting to witness a wedding, not a magical enslavement.
"Who wrote this?" I demanded, but the High Priest's terrified gaze had already given me the answer.
My father emerged from the shadows near the altar, flanked by armed guards. His face was cold, devoid of any paternal warmth.
"You were always too clever for your good," he said calmly. "But intelligence without wisdom is dangerous. You needed to be controlled."
"By you?"
"By the kingdom," he corrected. "Your power is too great to be left unchecked. This binding would have ensured you served the realm rather than your desires."
"The way mother served?" I asked, pieces of the puzzle finally clicking into place. "Is that why you had her killed? Because she wouldn't submit to your control?"
"Your mother was a romantic fool who thought love conquered all," he said dismissively. "She chose to die rather than accept her place. I won't make the same mistake with you."
Rage filled me, pure and burning. The skull relics at my throat blazed with cold fire as I called upon the power I'd inherited from my mother's bloodline. The spirits of the dead answered my call, their voices joining mine in a harmony of fury.
"Then you'll die instead," I said, and the cathedral filled with the sound of otherworldly screams.
The ancient magic that had been building for the ceremony turned on its creators. The binding spell, designed to control me, instead shattered like glass, sending shockwaves of power through the building.
Stained glass windows exploded inward, showering the fleeing nobility with rainbow fragments.
My father's guards charged, but they were mortal men facing the fury of the dead. Spectral figures materialized around me, the spirits of every person who had ever been wronged by the crown. They fought with cold determination, their ethereal weapons as deadly as any steel.
Through the chaos, I saw Aldric fighting his way toward me, his sword cutting through the guards trying to reach the altar. Our soul-bond pulsed with shared purpose, and I realized that whatever happened, we would face it together.
Kael reached the altar first, his blade finding my father's heart with surgical precision. The king fell, his blood pooling on the sacred stones as his life drained away.
"It's done," Kael said, his voice hollow with the weight of what he'd done. "The man who ordered your mother's death is finally dead."
But I barely heard him. The breaking of the binding spell had released more than just my power—it had torn holes in the fabric of reality itself. Through those holes, I could see other realms, other possibilities.
And something was looking back.
"We need to leave," I said urgently. "Now. The spell breaking has attracted attention from things we don't want to face."
But even as I spoke, I knew it was too late. The damage was done. The cathedral was collapsing around us, and reality itself was beginning to unravel at the edges.
Through the chaos, I felt Aldric's hand in mine, his presence steady and strong. Whatever came next, we would face it together—not as husband and wife, but as partners in whatever struggle lay ahead.
The skull relics pulsed with new power, their voices rising in triumph. I was no longer bound by duty or family obligation. I was free to choose my path.
But freedom, I was learning, came with its terrible price.