Mira's POV
I can't stop shaking.
My hands won't stop trembling, even though we've been sitting in Kael's apartment for what feels like hours. Every time I close my eyes, I see her face changing—Aunt Vivian's features melting like wax, revealing the stranger underneath. The woman who raised me. The woman who killed my real aunt and pretended to love me for eighteen years.
"Mira, you need to eat something." Leo's voice sounds far away, even though he's sitting right next to me on the sleek black couch.
I shake my head. My stomach feels like it's full of rocks.
"At least drink some water," Rowan urges gently. The dryad has made herself small again, a potted plant on the coffee table, but her voice fills my mind with warmth.
I can't. I can't do anything except sit here and remember every lie.
Every birthday cake Morgana baked for me—a lie.
Every time she said "I love you"—a lie.
Every sacrifice she claimed to make, working late hours at the flower shop to pay our bills—all part of the plan to trap me.
"Tell me about my parents." The words come out hoarse. I haven't spoken since we arrived. "Please. I need to know something real."
Leo exchanges a glance with Kael, who's been standing by the window like a dark statue, watching the city lights below. Kael nods once, barely moving.
"Your mother's name was Elena," Leo begins softly. "She had silver hair, just like yours is starting to turn. And your father was Daniel—he could make people laugh even in the darkest times."
"What else?" I whisper.
"They loved each other completely. And they loved you more than anything in this world or the next." Leo's amber eyes shine with old grief. "Elena used to sing to you every night. This lullaby in the old language, about stars remembering the names of every child born under their light."
Something inside my chest cracks open. "Sing it."
"Mira—"
"Please."
Leo's voice, when he sings, sounds nothing like his usual playful tone. It's ancient and beautiful and sad:
"Stellae memorant, memorant omnia,
Nomina parvulorum sub luce noctis..."
The melody wraps around me like a blanket I didn't know I'd been missing. My eyes burn with tears, and suddenly I'm sobbing—huge, gasping sobs that shake my whole body. Eighteen years of loneliness, of being told I was too sensitive, too strange, too much. Eighteen years of a love that was never real.
I barely notice when the couch dips beside me. Kael doesn't touch me, doesn't offer empty comfort. He just sits there, solid and real and quiet. His presence is like an anchor in a storm I can't escape.
"I don't know who I am anymore," I choke out. "Everything I thought I knew—my whole life—it was all fake."
"No," Kael says, his voice rough. "Morgana lied about who she was. But your kindness? The way you care for every broken thing you find? That's real. That's all you."
I look at him through blurry eyes. "How do you know?"
"Because people like Morgana can fake love. They can't fake compassion." His dark gray eyes hold mine. "I've spent fourteen years hunting monsters. I know the difference."
"What if I become a monster too?" The fear spills out before I can stop it. "My powers—they're getting stronger. What if I lose control? What if I hurt someone?"
"Then I'll stop you," Kael says simply. "But you won't."
"You don't know that."
"I do." He shifts slightly, and I realize his hand is resting near mine on the couch—not touching, but close. "You risked everything to save a stray cat. You cried when your friend betrayed you instead of getting angry. Even when Morgana revealed herself, you looked heartbroken instead of hateful." His jaw tightens. "Trust me, Mira. Monsters don't worry about becoming monsters."
The words settle something inside me, even though the pain doesn't fade.
Leo curls up in cat form on my lap, purring loudly. Rowan's leaves rustle with a sound like gentle rain. And Kael stays beside me, this terrifying man who kills for a living, sitting in uncomfortable silence because I need him to.
I don't remember falling asleep. But I must have, because I wake up to shouting.
"—can't keep her here forever!" A woman's voice, sharp and angry. "The Council will find this place eventually."
"Let them try." Kael's voice, cold as ice.
I sit up slowly, my neck stiff from sleeping on the couch. Someone draped a blanket over me—probably Rowan. Through the doorway to the kitchen, I can see Kael facing a tall woman with white-blonde hair and violet eyes. She's beautiful in a scary way, like a knife.
"You're being reckless," the woman hisses. "You know what Marcus will do when he finds out you're harboring her instead of bringing her in."
"Marcus can try to stop me."
"He'll kill you, you idiot! You think your shadows can stand against the entire Council?"
"I don't care."
The woman's laugh is bitter. "Since when does the Huntsman care about anything? Oh." Her violet eyes narrow. "Oh, you're falling for her. How wonderfully pathetic."
Kael's hand moves to the blade at his hip. "Get out, Lyssa."
"Fine. But when Marcus comes for both of you—and he will—don't say I didn't warn you." Lyssa turns to leave, then pauses. Her gaze finds me hiding in the shadows of the living room. "Poor little Memory Weaver. You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into."
She vanishes in a swirl of purple smoke.
The silence that follows feels heavy and dangerous.
"She's right, you know," I say quietly. Kael spins around, surprise flickering across his face. "You should turn me in. Before Marcus hurts you too."
"No."
"Kael—"
"I said no." He crosses the space between us in three strides. "I've spent fourteen years following the Council's orders. Fourteen years believing their lies. I'm done."
"But—"
A sound cuts through the apartment. A chime, clear and terrible, that makes Leo yowl and Rowan's leaves curl inward.
Kael's face goes pale. "No. That's impossible."
"What? What is that sound?"
He looks at me, and for the first time since we met, I see real fear in his eyes. "It's a summoning bell. The Council uses it to call Enforcers for emergency meetings." His hand is shaking as he reaches for his phone. "But this frequency—they only use this for one thing."
"What?"
Kael's phone lights up with a message. I watch the blood drain from his face as he reads it.
"Kael, what's wrong?"
He looks up at me, and his next words make my heart stop:
"Marcus has your friend Elena. And he's offering a trade—her life for yours."