Alchemised
by SenLinYu
Contents
Chapter 74
Overview
Ivy delivers Morrough’s severed arm, giving Helena the phylactery material needed to sever Kaine from Morrough’s control, but Sofia’s sacrifice and Ivy’s departure make the victory costly. Atreus, driven by love for Enid and a late recognition of Kaine as her legacy, willingly gives his soul so Helena can save Kaine.
Helena succeeds in making Kaine alive and mortal, though the ritual kills the servants and leaves Atreus only briefly sustained. Helena escapes Spirefell with Kaine on Amaris while Atreus destroys the evidence in flames, shifting the story from captivity to desperate flight.
Summary
Kaine restrains Atreus with the house’s wrought iron and returns to Helena, numbing the burns Atreus inflicted on her back. Kaine intends to heal Helena enough to send her away on Amaris, but Atreus taunts him that Morrough will hunt Helena forever if Kaine dies for her.
Ivy arrives in a lorry with Morrough’s rotted arm, explaining that Sofia, unnoticed because Morrough does not watch his own necrothralls, tore it off and threw it to Ivy before Morrough attacked her. The arm contains the phylactery bone needed to break Morrough’s control over Kaine. Kaine gives Ivy an obsidian knife and instructions for a quick death, and Ivy leaves.
Helena believes the phylactery gives them time to escape together, but Kaine refuses because he thinks staying behind is the only way to stop Morrough’s hunters long enough for Helena to disappear. Atreus then offers himself as the willing soul Helena needs to reverse Kaine’s condition, saying Enid would want him to save their son. Kaine rejects the idea, but Helena convinces Kaine to let her speak with Atreus, and Atreus agrees.
Inside the drawing room, Atreus sees the cage where Helena was kept and learns she was held there for four months. Helena and Kaine rebuild and modify the damaged array in iron while the servants prepare Amaris. Helena removes Kaine’s binding piece from Morrough’s arm, then activates the array with Kaine inside it.
The ritual kills the remaining servants as the phylactery’s bound energy collapses into the array. Kaine suffers violently as Helena separates Morrough’s control from him, prevents Atreus’s soul from mixing fully with Kaine’s, and persuades Kaine to fight with her by reminding him of their plan to flee with their baby. Helena binds a thin remnant of Atreus’s soul around Kaine’s talisman to stabilize him, leaving Kaine alive and mortal.
Exhausted, Helena reanimates Crowther’s corpse and returns what remains of Atreus’s soul to it so Atreus can help carry Kaine. With the reanimated servants’ help, Helena secures barely conscious Kaine onto Amaris. Atreus takes the ignition rings to destroy the array and tells Kaine that Enid was proud of him, then Helena and Kaine fly away as Spirefell is consumed by fire below.
Who Appears
- HelenaPregnant animancer who performs the ritual, saves Kaine, and escapes Spirefell with him.
- KaineFreed from Morrough’s control and made mortal after resisting escape to protect Helena.
- AtreusKaine’s father; offers his willing soul to save Kaine and burns Spirefell afterward.
- IvyArrives with Morrough’s severed arm after Sofia’s sacrifice, then leaves with Kaine’s knife.
- SofiaNecrothrall whose obedience to Ivy lets her tear off Morrough’s arm, enabling the ritual.
- AmarisChimaera prepared for escape; carries Helena and barely conscious Kaine away from Spirefell.
- DaviesServant who comforts Kaine before dying with the others during Helena’s ritual.
- MorroughAbsent antagonist whose severed arm contains the phylactery binding Kaine.