The world snapped back into clarity, but Aira remained still, the voice of Zareth echoing in her skull.
You already did once. And you chose wrong.
Wrong.
The word stuck to her bones like frost.
She stood alone by the lake, chest heaving, air biting into her lungs. The memory still throbbed beneath her skin. Zareth's eyes haunted her — not because they were cold, but because they were filled with a heat she hadn't expected. And worse, they had looked at her like she belonged to him.
She didn't know how long she stood there before Kael found her.
"Aira!" His voice was rough, breathless from running. "I've been looking everywhere. Why didn't you tell me you were going back into a memory?"
"I needed answers."
"You could've been trapped again."
She didn't answer. The lake shimmered quietly behind her. The willow tree was still. The air felt heavy with judgment.
Kael finally noticed her face, the confusion, the raw emotion.
"What did you see?" he asked gently, reaching for her hand.
Her fingers twitched, then allowed the contact. His warmth grounded her, but her soul still buzzed with the weight of what she'd seen.
"There's another man," she murmured. "Zareth."
Kael's jaw tightened. "Who is he?"
"Someone I was close to… maybe more than that. Before Eiran."
Kael didn't pull away, but she felt the stillness in his body, the quiet retraction of emotion he was trying hard to mask. His eyes were stormy, not with jealousy—but with fear.
"Do you feel anything for him now?"
"I don't know," she whispered. "But it felt like he knew me. Not just Lirien. Me. Aira."
They stood in silence, the tension between them sharp, painful, like a string pulled to its breaking point.
"I'm not going to ask you to stop," Kael said finally. "But please, don't do this alone anymore. Let me stay with you. Even when it hurts."
Her eyes welled up.
"I don't want to lose you, Kael."
"Then don't shut me out."
He kissed her then — soft at first, then deeper, more desperate. The kind of kiss that said I'm still here. I still choose you. His hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer, and she melted into him. Their lips moved in rhythm, her fingers curling into his shirt as if anchoring herself in the present.
They didn't speak after that.
They simply stayed close, holding each other beneath the stars, as the wind rustled the ancient willow leaves like a song from another life.
---
The next morning, the city's edge was in chaos.
A stranger had arrived.
Not just any stranger — a man who radiated raw, ancient power. Dressed in worn leathers, with storm-colored eyes and a presence that made people instinctively step aside.
Zareth.
Aira froze when she saw him standing at the outer gate, arms crossed, waiting.
How had he crossed into the present?
Sareth hurried to her side. "That's impossible," he muttered. "If he was part of a sealed memory, he shouldn't exist outside of it."
Aira's heart pounded. "What if… I broke the seal by going back too many times?"
Kael moved to her side protectively. "Then we have a bigger problem."
Zareth's eyes locked onto hers.
And smiled.
She stepped forward before anyone could stop her.
The crowd quieted as she approached. Her boots crunched softly on gravel. He stood like a shadow from a legend — vivid, imposing, unshakable.
"You weren't supposed to come here," she said.
"Neither were you," Zareth replied smoothly. "But here we are."
Her pulse fluttered.
"Why?"
"Because I waited a thousand years to look at you like this. And I don't like waiting."
The crowd murmured, but Aira could barely hear it over the sound of her own heartbeat.
"You're not just a memory."
"No," he said. "Not anymore. You woke me. Your presence in the past anchored me enough to follow you back."
Kael stepped forward, his voice calm but sharp. "And what do you want?"
Zareth didn't look at him. His gaze remained fixed on Aira.
"I want what was stolen from me. Her."
Kael's fists clenched.
Sareth intervened, clearing his throat. "We can't allow a potentially unstable fragment of the past to remain here unchecked. It could distort the time weave permanently."
Aira stepped between them. "He's not unstable. He's… something else."
"Something else doesn't make him safe."
Zareth looked amused. "I'm not here to destroy anything. I just want to see how this world works. I want to remember who I was — with her."
The world tilted.
Aira didn't know what to say.
Because deep inside, a small part of her… didn't want to send him back.
---
Later that night, Aira sat in her chambers, staring at the small silver ring Sareth had given her — a tracking artifact that would let them monitor Zareth's movements.
She hadn't put it on him.
She didn't know why.
A knock came at her window. She turned.
Zareth.
Standing on the balcony, looking like he belonged to both legend and dream.
She opened the window slowly.
"You're not supposed to be here."
"I was never good at following rules."
He stepped in, close enough that she felt the warmth of him. The scent of something primal, wild, and faintly familiar wrapped around her. Her heart skipped.
"What are you really here for?" she asked.
He took her hand, lifted it to his lips.
"To remind you of what you've forgotten."
His lips brushed her knuckles — soft, reverent.
And her knees nearly buckled.
Memories flashed like sparks behind her eyes.
Him. Her. Firelight. Fingers tangled in hair. Moans swallowed in the dark.
She gasped, yanking her hand away. "Stop."
"Tell me to leave, and I will."
She looked at him. And couldn't.
"You're dangerous."
"Only to lies."
He turned to go.
But before he did, he said the words that echoed long into the night.
"When you remember what we had, it'll burn everything else."
Aira stood alone, staring at the closed door.
And wondered if maybe… she already had.