Caspian's POV
The young couple won't stop crying, and it's killing me.
Thank you, the woman sobs, throwing her arms around her boyfriend. Thank you so much. I remember now. I remember everything.
I just broke the curse that made them forget they loved each other. It took me six hours of intense magical work, and I'm exhausted. But watching them hold each other, watching them cry happy tears because they finally remember their love it makes my chest feel like someone's squeezing my heart.
I want what they have. I want to remember.
Mr. Vale, how can we ever repay you? The boyfriend asks.
The payment we agreed on is fine, I say, forcing a smile. Just take care of each other.
They leave my office holding hands, and the moment the door closes, I collapse into my chair.
Another successful curse-breaking. Another couple reunited. Another reminder that I'm alone with a mystery I can't solve.
I grab my keys and head home. It's 2 AM, but I know I won't sleep. I never sleep well anymore.
My apartment is quiet and dark when I walk in. I go straight to my bedroom, push aside the painting on the wall, and open the safe hidden behind it.
Inside are my secrets. My obsession. My madness.
Journals at least twenty of them all in my handwriting. Photographs of a woman with silver eyes. Letters addressed to My Aurelia, my always.
I pull everything out and spread it across my kitchen table like I do almost every night.
The first letter I ever found is the one that started everything. I discovered it three years ago, hidden in a book I didn't remember owning.
My Aurelia, my alwaysEven though I can't remember your face, I know I love you. I know it in my bones, in my blood, in the way my heart aches when I wake up feeling like I've lost something precious. Whoever you are, wherever you are, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I can't remember. I'm sorry I failed you.
My own handwriting. My own words. But I have no memory of writing them.
I've hired investigators to find her. I've paid psychics and memory witches. I've even tracked down people with the last name Cross, hoping one of them would be her.
Nothing. No one named Aurelia Cross exists in any database I can find.
Which means either she's hiding, or I imagined her.
But you can't imagine someone this vividly. I have years of evidence. Photographs of us together at restaurants, at the Midnight Market, at places I don't remember going. Journal entries describing conversations we had, jokes we shared, plans we made.
In one photo, she's laughing at something, her head thrown back, her silver eyes sparkling. My arm is around her waist. We look happy. We look like we belong together.
I trace my finger over her face in the picture. Who are you? I whisper.
The lock on my front door clicks, and I don't even flinch. Only one person has a key to my apartment.
You're doing it again, Riven says, walking in and seeing the journals spread across my table. Torturing yourself.
Riven Shaw is my best friend and business partner. He's half-fae, which means he can sense lies and emotional truths. He's saved my life more times than I can count.
He's also watched me fall apart over a woman I can't remember.
I found another letter, I tell him, holding up a page dated six months ago. Look at this. Six months ago, I wrote that I'd just seen her again. That we talked for hours. That I was going to help her with something. And then nothing. The next entry is three months later, and I'm back to square one. Trying to find her all over again.
Riven sits down across from me. Cas, you need to consider the possibility that finding her is what makes you forget her.
What do you mean?
What if you're stuck in some kind of loop? Riven says carefully. What if every time you find this Aurelia person, something happens that makes you both forget? A curse, maybe. Or a spell.
The idea makes my skin crawl because I've thought about it before. Many times.
Then I'll break the curse, I say.
You're the best curse-breaker in the city, and you can't even figure out what curse is on you, Riven points out. Maybe it's time to let this go.
I can't. My voice comes out harder than I intended. You didn't write these letters. You don't know what it feels like to wake up every morning knowing you've lost something someone important, and you can't remember what or who.
Riven's expression softens. I know. I'm sorry. I just hate watching you suffer.
I'm not suffering. I'm searching.
My laptop pings with an email notification. Normally, I'd ignore it at 2:30 AM, but it's connected to my business account, and the subject line catches my eye.
URGENT: Curse-Breaking Services Needed
I click it open.
Mr. Vale, I need your help with what I believe is a memory curse. I'm experiencing severe gaps in my memory that I can't explain. I've tried everything, but nothing works. Please, can we meet as soon as possible? I'm desperate. Aurelia Cross
The room tilts.
Riven must see something in my face because he's on his feet immediately. What? What is it?
I can't speak. I just turn the laptop around so he can see.
Holy shit, Riven breathes. That's her. That's actually her.
My hands are shaking as I click on her email signature. There's a phone number listed.
I grab my phone.
Cas wait, Riven says. Think about this. What if calling her triggers the forgetting again? What if
I don't care, I interrupt. She's real. She's looking for help. And maybe this time will be different.
I dial the number before I can change my mind.
It rings once. Twice. Three times.
Then a voice answers soft, cautious, beautiful.
Hello?
My heart stops. I know this voice. I don't remember it, but I know it.
Is this Aurelia Cross? I manage to say.
There's a long pause. Then: Yes. Who is this?
My name is Caspian Vale. You emailed me about curse-breaking services.
Another pause. Longer this time. When she speaks again, her voice is shaking.
Caspian Vale, she repeats slowly. I... I have a journal full of entries about you. And I don't remember writing any of them.
The world stops spinning.
I have journals about you too, I whisper.
Silence on both ends. We're both trying to process what this means.
Finally, Aurelia says, we need to meet. Right now. Tonight.
Yes, I agree immediately.
There's a coffee shop on Fifth Street. It's open all night. Can you be there in thirty minutes?
I'll be there in twenty.
Caspian? Her voice cracks slightly. Do you feel it? This pull? Like I'm supposed to know you?
Yes, I breathe. I feel it.
Okay. Twenty minutes then.
She hangs up.
I stare at my phone, my heart racing so fast I think it might explode.
Riven is watching me with an expression I can't read. Be careful, he finally says. Whatever happens when you two are together it's powerful enough to make you both forget. That's not normal magic. That's dangerous magic.
I know, I say, already grabbing my jacket. But I have to try.
I'm halfway to the door when my phone buzzes with a text from an unknown number.
Caspian Vale, if you meet with Aurelia Cross tonight, you'll forget her again by morning. This is your last warning. Stay away from her, or the seventh time will destroy you both.
My blood runs cold.
I show the text to Riven.
Someone knows, he says quietly. Someone knows what's happening to you two. And they're trying to keep you apart.
I delete the text and head for the door.
Where are you going? Riven calls after me.
To meet my destiny, I say. Or my doom. Maybe both.