acred. There was so much unsaid in the quiet between us, I could've drowned in it. The firelight caugh

l still trying to find her place in this shattered world, or the sou

ed. "What are y

ough my body felt heavy with t

en me after the blood vow. The room thrummed with dormant magic, thick with stories e

rived, only watching me like he expec

u come with me," he mutt

nked.

"every step you take deeper into this world, i

nk I am isn't the tr

e him lo

o be afraid of th

its of memory wrapped in regret and war. He spoke of the Shadow Court, the blood oath that bound him to se

staring at the carvings in the wall like the

," I said, frustrated

upposed to remember like this. You were me

Maybe I st

dn't

't look hop

nto a dream half-remembered. I was alone, standing near the outer courty

n

. Just s

of being called

new. But it didn't feel foreign either. It felt

in. White-hot, clawi

lutching at the mark on my should

his hands cold as they grippe

hink someone's

led.

ered. "But they remembe

d of the Wraith lands. We traveled for days in silence, sleeping beneath stars that flicker

saw something move tha

him, hand on his blade

t... w

membering," he sa

the

ally th

to the side of a mountain. A place w

," Lucien warned a

an hav

like I'd said

man. Not really a being. Just a presencea v

ave remembered he

ho

half of y

till. "That's

," the Oracle said.

she?" I

r tw

d spun s

ught me a

e," I whispered. "I

replied. "Until she ch

came th

ne bound to light, the other to ruin.

cold stone f

I was the last real

distance,

mi

to say? That I was half of something broken? Tha

e. He watched me like a man counting down to disaster. Li

de, I started wondering

e left the mountai

illed ink, her eyes mirrors of mine. But colder. Older. S

weaker one," she sa

o run. But

ft me,"

I became what they f

hy

rything. And I will nev

d, and flame poure

rk on my shoulder blazin

ready pulling

t coming,

. "What do

already

the sky turned black. Not

e echoed ins

remember everything. And