Bound by moon and flame

THE TEA THAT STOLE MEMORIES**

Elara's hands shook as she hid the crushed moonflower under her pillow. The petals still pulsed faintly, casting silver shadows across the rough-hewn walls of her bedroom. She pressed her fingertips to her temples—the visions from the forest hadn't stopped since she'd returned.

*That silver-haired goddess. The screaming man with golden eyes. The knife—*

A floorboard creaked outside her door.

"Elara?" Aunt Marra's voice carried an unusual edge. "You're late for your tea."

The nightly ritual. Always the same bitter licorice-root tea in the chipped blue cup. Elara's stomach twisted as she opened the door.

Marra stood stiffly in the hallway, her greying braid fraying at the ends. The steaming cup trembled slightly in her work-roughened hands. "Drink it all tonight," she said too brightly. "You looked pale at supper."

Elara accepted the cup, the ceramic scorching her palms. For eighteen years, she'd dutifully swallowed this brew. But tonight—

*The flower's glow under her skin. The stranger's golden eyes. The voice in her head.*

She pretended to sip, letting the liquid pool under her tongue. The taste flooded her mouth—not just licorice, but something metallic, something *wrong*. When Marra turned to straighten the bedclothes, Elara spat the tea into the fireplace.

The flames turned *blue*.

A vision detonated behind her eyes:

_A silver-haired goddess (Lirae?) humming as she stitched glowing threads around a baby's wrist. "Forget," the goddess crooned. "Forget who you are." The threads burrowed into the infant's skin like worms._

Elara gasped back to reality. The fire roared unnaturally high, casting Marra's shadow monstrous against the wall. Her aunt stood frozen, a black-glass vial half-hidden in her apron pocket.

"You weren't supposed to remember," Marra whispered.

The floorboards groaned. Old Thom the baker filled the doorway, his usual jovial smile gone slack. His fingers twitched toward Marra. "The hybrid came, just as Lirae promised."

Elara's cup shattered on the floor.

Thom's skin split open like overripe fruit, revealing molten flesh beneath. The stench of burning sugar filled the room as horns erupted from his forehead.

Elara screamed.

The demon lunged.