Celeste's POV
I ignore Aurora's threat and run.
Luna drives while I sit in the passenger seat, clutching the journal so tight my knuckles turn white. My phone keeps buzzing Aurora calling over and over but I don't answer.
Are you sure about this? Luna asks. Your aunt sounded really angry.
She's not my aunt. She's a liar who's been watching me for three years. I stare out the window at the dark city streets. I'm done being controlled.
Luna reaches over and squeezes my hand. Then let's get some answers.
Damian's building is the tallest one downtown, all glass and steel. Of course he lives in a penthouse. The man's a billionaire.
The security guard tries to stop us, but I blast the elevator doors open with magic. Luna's eyes go wide.
Remind me never to make you mad, she mutters as we ride up.
My heart is pounding so hard I can hear it. What am I doing? I'm going to see my husband a man I don't remember at four in the morning because I found a box and a journal and now my whole life is falling apart.
The elevator opens directly into his penthouse.
I pound on the door with my fist. Damian! Open up! I know you're in there!
Silence. Then footsteps.
The door opens.
Damian stands there looking half-dead. He's in sweatpants and a wrinkled T-shirt, his hair a mess, dark circles under his eyes like he hasn't slept in days. When he sees me, he goes completely still.
Celeste?
I shove the ring at him. My hand is shaking. Tell me everything. Right now. All of it. No more secrets.
He stares at the ring and something breaks in his expression. You found it.
I found everything. The box. The photos. The journal I wrote to myself. Tears are streaming down my face and I don't care. I read what I wrote. About the Council. About the evidence we stole. About how much I loved you.
Celeste
I don't remember any of it! My voice cracks. I don't remember loving you. I don't remember being happy. I don't remember being that person. And I need to know why. I need to know what they took from me.
Damian's composure shatters. He reaches for me, then stops himself like he's afraid I'll disappear. Come inside. Please. I'll tell you everything.
His penthouse is massive windows everywhere, expensive furniture, but it feels empty. Lonely.
Luna stays by the door, giving us space but watching carefully.
Damian leads me to a locked room. His hands shake as he enters the code. When the door opens, I gasp.
It's a shrine to us.
Photos cover the walls hundreds of them. Me and Damian at restaurants, on vacation, at home cooking together. Videos play on screens showing our wedding, me laughing, us dancing.
There are gifts on shelves: a purple scarf I apparently gave him, a coffee mug that says World's Okayest Husband, concert tickets framed like art.
He's kept everything.
I couldn't let you go, Damian says quietly. Even when they made you forget me, I couldn't throw away the proof that we existed. That we were real.
I walk to a screen playing a video. In it, I'm wearing that purple wedding dress, and Damian is spinning me around while I laugh. I look so happy it hurts.
That was the best day of my life, he says, standing behind me. You said you'd never believed in fairy tales until you met me. You cried during your vows. Happy tears.
I watch the video-me kiss video-Damian like he's the only person in the world.
I don't remember being her.
Tell me how we met, I whisper.
So he does.
Damian talks for an hour, and I listen to the story of a life I should remember but don't. He tells me about our first meeting at a supernatural technology conference. How I thought he was arrogant. How he thought I was the most fascinating person he'd ever met.
He tells me about our first date I made him try Ethiopian food even though he hated spicy things. About how we'd stay up all night talking about magic and science and everything. About the day he proposed in the middle of Central Park during a rainstorm because he couldn't wait another second.
About our tiny wedding with just Luna and his best friend Silas as witnesses because we knew the Council wouldn't approve.
We had one perfect year, Damian says, his voice rough. One year where everything made sense. And then we found out about the experiments.
What experiments?
His jaw clenches. The Council was kidnapping young witches' kids who showed unusual magical abilities. They were running tests on them, trying to make them more powerful. Most of the children died. The ones who survived were... broken.
Horror crawls up my spine. Children?
You saw the evidence first. You were doing consulting work for a supernatural hospital and noticed patterns kids coming in with magical injuries that didn't make sense. You started investigating. He looks at me with so much pain. You were so brave. You couldn't stand by and let it happen.
So we stole the proof.
We broke into the Council's database and took everything files, videos, medical records. We were going to go public, expose them to every supernatural authority in the world.
But they caught us.
Aurora caught us. His voice turns bitter. She's one of the most powerful Council members. She found out what we'd taken and brought the full Council down on us. They gave us a choice execution for treason, or they'd erase your memories and exile you from my life.
My chest feels too tight. Why me? Why not you?
I begged them to take mine instead. Damian's eyes are wet now. I told them to erase me, let you keep your memories, let you go on fighting. But they refused. They said my punishment was watching you forget me. That I had to live knowing you were out there, alive, not remembering that I existed.
That's cruel.
It's effective. He laughs, but it's hollow. For three years, I've watched you from a distance. Made sure you were safe. Built your business reputation so you'd be successful. Eliminated threats before they reached you. I've spent every day loving a woman who looks at me like I'm a stranger.
I'm crying again. I can't stop.
And if you told me the truth?
They'd kill you. His voice breaks completely. That was the deal. If I ever told you who you were, who we were, they'd execute you for knowing too much. So I stayed quiet. I stayed away. I died inside a little more each day.
But you came to my shop.
Because I couldn't do it anymore. He wipes his eyes roughly. I thought if I erased my own memories, I could finally move on. Finally stop hurting. But seeing you again... He looks at me like I'm breaking his heart just by existing. I can't do it. I can't forget you, even if remembering is killing me.
I stand there surrounded by evidence of a love I can't remember, and I don't know what to feel.
I should be angry. I should be terrified. But all I feel is grief for something I lost and can't get back.
I don't know who that woman was, I say, pointing at the happy version of me in the photos. I don't remember being her.
Damian steps closer. Then let me help you remember. Stay. Let me show you who we were. Maybe... His voice cracks with hope. Maybe we can find our way back.
He extends his hand.
I'm about to take it when Luna's phone rings. She answers, then her face goes white.
Celeste, she says urgently. It's Silas. Damian's security team. They're detecting multiple magical signatures surrounding the building. Powerful ones.
Damian's expression turns deadly. How many?
Fifteen. Maybe twenty. Luna's hands shake. They're Council enforcers. They're here for you both.
The lights go out. The entire building plunges into darkness.
And then the windows explode inward in a shower of glass and magic.