The moon was a silver slit in the sky, barely enough light to guide Aira through the tangled woods. Her heart beat with a rhythm that wasn't entirely her own.
She was meeting Sareth.
Alone.
She didn't tell Kael. She couldn't.
He was watching her more closely than ever. There was desperation in his touch now—like he feared she might vanish if he blinked. And maybe he was right.
The glade where she and Sareth had first met was cloaked in mist again.
He was already there, leaning against an old oak, arms folded, eyes glowing faintly in the dark.
"I wasn't sure you'd come," he said.
"I wasn't either," she admitted, stepping closer.
"You felt it, didn't you?" His voice dropped. "The truth in that vision."
"I don't know what I felt," she said. "But I need answers. Mirelle came."
Sareth's expression darkened. "Of course she did. Blood Moon always draws her out. Like a wolf to wounded prey."
"She said I can end the resets. But it means binding myself… to both of you."
Sareth stepped forward, gaze intense. "And Kael didn't take that well."
"He said you tried to destroy me once."
Sareth smiled bitterly. "Of course he did."
"Is it true?" she asked.
He was silent a moment, then looked away. "The truth is complicated, Aira. I've been your lover. Your enemy. Your executioner. And your savior. Time isn't kind to those who love too deeply."
She flinched.
"Why do I feel this… pull to you?"
"Because your soul remembers mine," he whispered. "Because in one of the timelines, we didn't just fall in love—we burned the world down together. And Kael… rewrote it."
Aira blinked. "What?"
"He killed that version of you. The one who loved me. He trapped your essence in the timeline you now live in. That's why your power exists—to keep you from remembering what he stole."
Aira stumbled back. "No. He couldn't…"
"He did."
Tears stung her eyes.
Sareth moved closer, brushed her cheek. "But it doesn't have to stay that way. You can take control. Bind us all—and choose what to keep."
Their lips were so close.
She didn't mean to lean in.
Didn't mean to kiss him.
But she did.
And the kiss was fire and longing and eternity all at once.
In that moment, she remembered how it had felt to love him without fear. To be wild, unbound, and wholly herself.
But then—
A scream.
Kael.