Kade's POV
She's dying right in front of me, and I can't do anything to stop it.
Lyra's body convulses on the ground, silver light spreading across her skin like poison. The curse mark that was once confined to her wrist now covers half her body, crawling up her neck toward her face.
"Move!" I shove Isla aside and drop to my knees beside Lyra. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything." Isla's voice is cold. "She did this to herself. The moment she spoke with Lyria's voice, she triggered the curse's final stage."
No. This can't be happening. Not again. I didn't search for seven years just to watch her die a second time.
I reach for Lyra, but Seris blocks me, her eyes wild with fear and fury.
"Don't touch her! Every time you're near, this gets worse." She cradles Lyra's head in her lap. "What did that woman mean? What has Lyra forgotten?"
"Everything." The word tastes like ash in my mouth. "She's forgotten everything."
Lyra's eyes snap open, but they're not her normal violet anymore. They're glowing pure silver, and when she looks at me, I see someone else staring out from behind them.
"Kade." It's Lyria's voice—the voice I haven't heard in two hundred years. "You found me."
My heart stops. Starts. Stops again.
"Lyria?"
"I'm here." Her hand reaches up, trembling, and touches my face. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I left you."
Then her eyes roll back, and she goes completely still.
Lyra's POV
I'm floating in darkness.
No—not floating. Drowning.
Memories crash over me like waves, each one pulling me deeper into something I don't understand. I see flashes of a life I don't remember living:
A grand library filled with ancient books. Practicing magic with a dark-haired boy who laughs when I accidentally turn his hair blue. That same boy, older now, kissing me under moonlight and promising forever. Fighting side by side against enemies I can't quite see. Betrayal. Fire. Death.
And through it all, one constant: Kade.
But he's different in these memories. Younger, happier, without the weight of grief that I see in his eyes now. He looks at past-me like I'm his entire world.
Did I really love him? In another life, was he mine?
"Wake up."
The command cuts through the darkness. It's not Kade's voice. It's older, ancient, powerful.
"You cannot hide in the past, child. Your present needs you."
"I don't want to wake up," I whisper into the void. "If I wake up, I'll have to face the truth. That I'm not really me. That I'm just some dead woman wearing a new face."
"You are both and neither. You are who you choose to be. Now WAKE UP."
I gasp awake to find myself in a bed that isn't mine.
Soft sheets. The smell of herbs and medicine. Sunlight streaming through a window. My whole body aches like I've been run over by a horse cart.
"Thank the gods." Seris appears at my side instantly, her eyes red from crying. "You've been unconscious for two days. Two days, Lyra! Do you know how terrifying that was?"
Two days?
I try to sit up, and she helps me, propping pillows behind my back. That's when I see him.
Kade sits in a chair by the window, looking like he hasn't slept since I collapsed. His clothes are rumpled, his hair loose around his shoulders, and there are dark circles under his eyes.
When our gazes meet, something electric passes between us.
"You're awake." His voice is rough, like he's been screaming or hasn't used it in days. "How do you feel?"
"Like I was trampled by an army." I look down at my arms and gasp.
The curse mark has spread everywhere. Silver lines cover both arms, my shoulders, my collarbone. When I touch my neck, I can feel them there too, traced across my skin like delicate chains.
"It's getting worse," I whisper.
"Yes." Kade stands and moves closer, but stops a few feet away, like he's afraid to get too near. "The curse is consuming you. When you spoke with Lyria's voice, you triggered something. A failsafe, maybe, designed to activate when you started remembering."
"I don't remember anything." The lie feels wrong on my tongue, but I'm not ready to admit to the flashes I saw. "I don't know what happened in the square."
Kade's expression says he doesn't believe me, but he doesn't push. "We need to break the curse. Soon. Before it takes everything—including your life."
"How?" Seris demands. "You keep talking about this curse like it's some simple spell, but Lyra's had it for three years. If it could be broken easily, it would have happened already."
"It can't be broken easily." Kade finally looks away from me, his jaw tight. "There's only one place powerful enough to undo magic this ancient. The Temple of Echoes."
My blood runs cold. "That's where I woke up. Three years ago. That's where I appeared."
"I know." Kade's voice is gentle. "That's not a coincidence. The temple is where the Veil between past and present is thinnest. It's where you cast the curse on yourself in your final moments as Lyria."
The room spins. "I did this to myself?"
"You were dying," he says quietly, and the pain in his voice is unbearable. "We both were. You had knowledge—dangerous knowledge about memory magic—that you couldn't let fall into the wrong hands. So you locked it away inside your own mind and erased the key."
"That's insane."
"That's survival." He takes a step closer, and I can see the barely controlled emotion in his eyes. "You chose to forget rather than let them win. You chose to protect everyone, even if it meant losing yourself."
Tears blur my vision. "So I'm just her leftover pieces? A shell she left behind?"
"No." Kade moves fast, suddenly kneeling beside my bed. His hand hovers near mine but doesn't touch. "You're not a shell. You're not leftover anything. You're Lyra—a person who's lived three years, made friends, helped people, built a life. You're real."
"But I'm also Lyria."
"You were also Lyria," he corrects softly. "Past tense. And maybe, if we break the curse, you can be both. Or neither. Or something entirely new."
I want to believe him. But before I can respond, the door bursts open.
A man in official guard uniform rushes in, his face pale. "Commander Asheron, we have a problem. The Memory Council has issued an arrest warrant."
Kade stands immediately. "For who?"
The guard's eyes flick to me. "For Lyra Evanswood. She's charged with grand memory theft and magical terrorism. They're saying she's the one who's been stealing memories across the realm."
"That's ridiculous!" Seris explodes. "Lyra would never—"
"They have evidence," the guard interrupts. "Witness testimonies. Magical signatures that match hers. And they're saying the attack on her shop was staged to throw off suspicion."
My heart drops into my stomach. "But I didn't—I would never—"
"I know." Kade's voice is hard as steel. "This is a setup. Someone's framing you."
"The Council wants her arrested immediately," the guard continues. "They're sending soldiers here. They'll arrive within the hour."
Kade's hand moves to the sword at his hip. "They'll have to go through me first."
"You can't fight the entire Council," Seris says desperately.
"Watch me."
"There's another option." The voice comes from the doorway.
Isla steps into the room, and I notice she's carrying a travel pack. Her expression is unreadable.
"If you run now, you can reach the Temple of Echoes before they catch you," she says. "Break the curse, get your memories back, and clear your name. It's the only way."
"Why are you helping?" I ask suspiciously.
Her smile is sharp. "Because watching you and Kade run off together into danger sounds absolutely miserable for both of you. And I find that entertaining."
"Isla—" Kade starts.
"Don't." She cuts him off. "I'll stay here and delay the soldiers. Buy you time. But you need to leave now."
Seris grabs my hand. "I'm coming with you."
"No." Kade's voice is firm. "You'll slow us down, and the route to the temple is dangerous. I need to get Lyra there fast."
"Then what am I supposed to do?" Seris's voice breaks. "Just wait here while my best friend runs off with a stranger into a cursed temple?"
"Trust me to keep her safe," Kade says. "I've been protecting her for longer than you know."
Before anyone can argue further, I hear it—the sound of marching boots. Many of them. The soldiers are already here.
"Too late," the guard whispers. "They're at the front door."
Kade grabs my arm and pulls me out of bed. "We're leaving. Now."
"How? They've surrounded the building!"
He moves to the window and looks down. We're three stories up. Below, more soldiers are gathering in the street.
"There." He points to the roof of the building next door, about ten feet away. "We jump."
"Are you insane?" I stare at him. "I can't—"
"Yes, you can." He looks at me with absolute certainty. "Trust me, Lyra. I won't let you fall."
Footsteps thunder up the stairs. Voices shout orders. They're coming.
Kade climbs onto the window ledge and offers me his hand.
"Jump with me," he says. "Choose to trust me. Choose to live."
I can hear them pounding on the door now. In seconds, they'll break through.
My curse mark burns hot against my skin, spreading faster, climbing up my jaw toward my face. If I don't break this curse soon, it won't matter if they arrest me. I'll be dead anyway.
I take Kade's hand.
His fingers close around mine, warm and solid and real. For just a second, I swear I remember this feeling—his hand in mine, jumping into danger together.
"On three," he says. "One—"
The door explodes inward. Soldiers pour in.
"Two—"
I see Seris's terrified face. Isla drawing a weapon to hold them off.
"Three!"
We jump.
For one perfect, terrifying moment, we're flying through open air, the wind rushing past, Kade's hand the only thing keeping me tethered to reality.
Then we hit the opposite roof hard, rolling across the tiles. Kade pulls me to my feet immediately.
"Run!" he shouts.
We run.
Behind us, I hear soldiers shouting, giving chase. But Kade knows these streets better than they do. He pulls me through alleys and over rooftops, moving with the practiced efficiency of someone who's done this a thousand times.
We're almost to the edge of town when disaster strikes.
An arrow whistles past my ear and slams into the wall beside us. More follow—a dozen arrows, all aimed at me.
"Down!" Kade tackles me behind a cart just as another volley hits.
We're pinned. Trapped. The soldiers are closing in from all sides.
Kade looks at me, his face grim. "I'm going to draw them off. When I do, you run for the forest. Follow the north road to the temple."
"What? No! I'm not leaving you—"
"You have to." He cups my face in his hands, and the touch sends lightning through my veins. "Listen to me. You're more important than you know. The fate of everyone depends on you breaking that curse. So you run, and you survive, and you remember. Promise me."
Tears stream down my face. "Kade—"
"Promise me, Lyra."
"I promise."
He presses his forehead to mine for one brief, devastating moment.
Then he's gone, leaping over the cart and charging straight at the soldiers with a battle cry that makes them scatter.
I run.
I run until my lungs scream and my legs give out. I run until the village disappears behind me and the dark forest swallows me whole.
Only then do I collapse against a tree, sobbing and shaking.
My curse mark is glowing so bright it lights up the darkness around me. And as I sit there alone, I hear it—a whisper on the wind that shouldn't be possible.
Kade's voice, though he's miles away: "I'll find you. I'll always find you."
And beneath it, another voice. Older. Colder. Furious.
"Run all you want, little Lyria. We're already inside your head. And this time, there's nowhere to hide."