Kyrell's solitude: "Heavenfaced" – The National
Lucian's pursuit: "Way Down We Go" – KALEO
Mara's unraveling: "Cellophane" – FKA twigs
---
The moon hung low, bruised like a fading wound.
Lucian rode through the forest like a shadow untethered—eyes wild, scent trailing old blood, old longing.
Kyrell was no longer just missing. He was awakening.
And Lucian could feel it in his marrow.
> "He remembers everything," Renak had warned him.
"Then I'll remind him of why I did it," Lucian had said.
But even now, with his heart in his throat and centuries of restraint cracking, Lucian wasn't sure he could.
He'd taken Kyrell's memories to spare them both. But the truth had teeth.
And Kyrell had always tasted like sin and salvation in one breath.
---
In the ruins of Aylin Chapel
Kyrell sat in silence, knees pulled to his chest, silver pendant clutched in his palm.
His dreams were no longer dreams—they were recollections. The screams, the fire, Lucian's hands—once trembling, then cruel, then trembling again.
> "You told me you'd never lie," he whispered into the darkness.
"But you made a liar out of yourself."
He pressed the chain to his lips and it burned.
Not from magic.
But from memory.
---
Elsewhere: The Courtyard Tower
Mara stood beneath a weeping gargoyle, hair drenched from the storm she refused to escape.
A voice whispered behind her.
> "You let him go."
It was Eline, one of the old blood-keepers. She had been watching.
> "I didn't let him," Mara spat. "He never stayed."
> "Lucian?" Eline tilted her head. "Or Kyrell?"
Mara turned slowly. Her eyes were no longer glassy with longing. They were sharp.
> "Kyrell never belonged here. He was a wound that festered. But I…" she swallowed the rest.
Eline stepped closer.
> "Do you know why Lucian took his memories?"
Mara didn't answer.
Eline's voice dropped.
> "Because Kyrell had power. Old power. Older than Lucian's. And if he remembered everything too soon—"
> "He'd burn the whole council to the ground," Mara finished.
> "Yes," Eline said. "And maybe Lucian with it."
---
Back in the forest
Kyrell wasn't running.
He was circling.
He'd felt Lucian the moment he crossed into the outer rim. The bond wasn't dead—only shattered. And with every memory, it slithered back into place, mangled but alive.
> "I should kill you," Kyrell said when Lucian stepped through the trees.
> "Then do it," Lucian replied. "If that's what you need."
Silence.
Rain dripped from the trees, soft as whispers.
Kyrell's breath hitched. Not from fear. From ache.
> "You could have told me," Kyrell said. "All of it."
Lucian stepped forward, slow, careful.
> "I tried," he said. "You begged me not to."
Kyrell blinked, and behind his eyes, the memory flickered: his voice, desperate, whispering "Take it away, please—if I become like him…"
> "You were turning," Lucian said. "Not like them. Like me."
> "So you made me forget."
Lucian closed his eyes.
> "Because you said you'd never forgive me if you knew what I'd let you become."
The storm broke again, thunder distant but echoing.
Kyrell stepped forward.
> "What did I become?"
Lucian's voice cracked.
> "Mine."
Kyrell's breath stilled.
Then, without warning, he surged forward—grabbing Lucian by the collar, crashing their mouths together in a kiss that burned and bled, wild and grief-soaked.
They stumbled against a tree, lips bruised, fangs dragging skin, hands clinging like they had just remembered the taste of each other.
> "You stole my past," Kyrell hissed between kisses.
"I gave you my future," Lucian gasped.
A pause.
Then Kyrell buried his face in Lucian's throat and whispered:
> "Don't lie to me again."
Lucian didn't promise. He only held him tighter.
---
Far away, beneath the Citadel
Mara stood before a circle of hooded elders.
> "If Kyrell remembers everything…" she began.
> "He's a threat," one said.
> "He's the key," another corrected.
Mara drew in a shaky breath.
> "Then tell me what he truly is."
And from the shadows, Eline answered:
> "He's not just a hunter reborn. He's the one who made Lucian what he is."
Mara paled.
> "No," she whispered.
"That means…"
Eline nodded, cold and certain.
> "Kyrell is older than all of us. And he's remembering."