Caspian's POV
I wake up in a hospital bed with no idea how I got here.
My head feels empty. Hollow. Like someone scooped out parts of my brain and left behind only echoes.
A woman I don't recognize is sitting beside my bed, crying. She has silver eyes and dark hair, and when she sees me wake up, her face crumbles.
Caspian? she whispers.
Who are you? I ask.
She flinches like I slapped her. My name is Aurelia. Aurelia Cross. Do you... do you remember anything?
I search my mind. I remember my childhood. My sister dying. Becoming a curse-breaker. But there's a huge gap years of my life just... gone.
I remember my name, I say slowly. I remember my work. But I don't remember you.
Aurelia nods, wiping her tears. That's because you gave me your memories. To save my life. You sacrificed everything you remembered about us so I could survive.
Us? I repeat. We knew each other?
We were in love, Aurelia says, her voice breaking. For ten years. Seventeen different times. And you just forgot all of it to save me.
This sounds insane. But looking at this crying woman, I feel something. Not a memory just a pull. Like my soul knows something my brain doesn't.
Tell me, I say. Tell me our story.
For the next three hours, Aurelia tells me everything. She has my memories now transferred during some kind of ritual and she describes our relationship in vivid detail. Every meeting. Every kiss. Every heartbreak.
It's the most beautiful, tragic story I've ever heard.
And apparently, I lived it.
So I've fallen in love with you seventeen times, I say when she finishes. And forgot you every time.
Yes.
And now you remember everything, but I remember nothing.
Yes.
I lean back against my pillow, processing. That's really messed up.
Aurelia laughs through her tears. You said that exact same thing the third time we met.
Did I?
Yes. After I showed you my journals and you showed me yours. You said, 'This is the most messed up love story I've ever heard.'
I study her face the way her eyes crinkle when she smiles, the silver color that's somehow familiar even though I'm sure I've never seen it before.
Do you still love me? I ask. Even though I don't remember you?
Yes, Aurelia says without hesitation. I have your memories now. I know what we went through together. I know how you fought for me, how you sacrificed for me. How could I not love you?
But I'm not the same person you remember. I don't have those experiences anymore.
I know, Aurelia says quietly. But you're still you. The same soul. The same heart. And if I have to make you fall in love with me for the eighteenth time, I will.
Something warm spreads through my chest. You're really confident I'll fall for you again?
You've done it seventeen times already, Aurelia points out. The odds are in my favor.
I laugh, and it feels good. Natural.
Then Dr. Isla Novak enters the room, her expression serious.
How are you feeling, Caspian? She asks.
Confused. Empty. But physically okay.
Good. I need to examine Aurelia now. The memory transfer stopped her deterioration, but I want to make sure the secondary curse is completely gone.
She runs tests on Aurelia while I watch. After thirty minutes, Dr. Isla frowns at her tablet.
What's wrong? Aurelia asks nervously.
The secondary curse is dormant, Dr. Isla says. But not dead. It's like it's... waiting for something.
Waiting for what? I ask.
I don't know. But as long as it's in Aurelia's system, there's a risk it could reactivate.
How do we kill it completely? Aurelia demands.
Dr. Isla hesitates. There's a theory. The curse was created by your mother to punish you for breaking free. It's designed to erase you if you ever found happiness. So theoretically, if you could confront your mother and make her remove the curse willingly
My mother tried to steal my powers and destroy my mind, Aurelia says flatly. She's not going to help us willingly.
Then we make her, I say.
Both women look at me.
I'm a curse-breaker, I continue. Even without my memories of you, I still know my job. If Seraphine created this curse, I can force her to break it.
She's extremely powerful, Dr. Isla warns. She nearly killed all of us last time.
Then we'll need backup, I say, looking at Aurelia. You said my friend Riven helped fight her before?
Yes. He saved our lives.
Then let's call him. And anyone else who's willing to help.
Over the next day, we assemble a team. Riven brings three other fighters people who specialize in magical combat. Dr. Isla provides medical support and curse-breaking equipment.
And Aurelia stays by my side the entire time, telling me stories about our past. Filling in the gaps. Making me understand who I was who we were together.
I don't remember any of it. But I'm starting to feel it.
The way she laughs at my terrible jokes. The way she anticipates what I need before I ask. The way she looks at me like I'm the most important person in her world.
I'm falling for her. Again. Already.
On the eighteenth time.
Are you scared? Aurelia asks me the night before we're supposed to confront Seraphine.
Terrified, I admit. I'm about to fight a woman I don't remember, to break a curse I don't understand, for memories I don't have.
You don't have to do this, Aurelia says. You could walk away. Start fresh. Live a normal life without all this chaos.
I take her hand. I could. But I don't want to.
Why not?
Because even without memories, I know one thing for certain: you're worth fighting for. You've told me our story. I've seen the evidence. And I feel it here. I press her hand against my chest, over my heart. I feel it in every part of me. So no, I'm not walking away. I'm going to help you break this curse. And then I'm going to spend however long it takes falling in love with you properly. With full memories this time.
Aurelia's eyes fill with tears. You really mean that?
Every word.
She kisses me then. Not the passionate, desperate kisses from our past. Just a soft, sweet kiss that feels like a promise.
When we pull apart, I'm smiling.
Was that our first kiss? I ask.
Technically, it's our eighteenth, Aurelia says. But yes. Your first one with full awareness.
It was perfect.
They always are.
The next morning, we prepare to face Seraphine. Riven has tracked her to an abandoned building on the edge of the city some kind of old magical research facility.
She's been hiding here since the fight at your office, Riven tells us. Recovering her strength. But my sources say she's planning something big. Something that involves Aurelia.
Of course she is, Aurelia mutters.
We approach the building carefully. Too carefully. It's too quiet.
This feels wrong, I say. Where are the guards? The protective wards?
She wants us to come inside, Dr. Isla realizes. It's a trap.
Before anyone can respond, the building's doors slam open.
Seraphine stands in the entrance, looking completely healed and terrifyingly powerful.
But she's not alone.
Beside her stands Thorne supposedly unconscious and memory-wiped.
Except he's awake. And smiling.
Hello, sister, Thorne says to Aurelia. Did you really think a simple memory curse would stop me? I've been working with Mother for years. I have protections you can't imagine.
Aurelia goes pale. You've been faking it. This whole time.
Of course, Thorne says. Mother needed me functional to complete her plan.
What plan? I demand.
Seraphine steps forward, her smile cruel. The plan to make Aurelia the most powerful memory keeper in history. Whether she wants to be or not.
She snaps her fingers.
Suddenly, I can't move. None of us can. We're all frozen by some kind of paralysis spell.
You see, Seraphine continues, the secondary curse I planted in Aurelia wasn't meant to kill her. It was meant to transform her. Every memory she absorbs makes her stronger. And now that she has your memories, Caspian seventeen lifetimes of love and pain she's almost ready.
Ready for what? Aurelia forces out.
To become my vessel, Seraphine says. I'm going to transfer my consciousness into your body. I'll have your youth, your abilities, and all those beautiful memories you've collected. And you'll simply... cease to exist.
No! I shout, struggling against the paralysis.
Oh yes, Seraphine says. The ritual begins now. And there's nothing any of you can do to stop it.
Thorne begins chanting. Dark energy swirls around Aurelia, lifting her into the air.
She's screaming.
And I'm completely helpless to save her.