Chapter 4: Impossible
1037 Words
"What exactly are you hiding?"
The question hung heavily in the air.
My heart pounded so hard it hurt.
Kael's silver eyes never left mine.
Waiting.
Watching.
Studying every reaction.
I forced myself to breathe.
Calm down.
Don't panic.
He doesn't know anything.
Not yet.
I straightened my shoulders and crossed my arms.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
The lie sounded weak.
Kael clearly thought so too.
One corner of his mouth lifted.
"Really?"
"Really."
"Then explain your reaction."
My pulse quickened.
I hated how observant he was.
In my previous life, I had always underestimated him.
I had mistaken his silence for indifference.
His distance for ignorance.
But Kael saw more than people realized.
Much more.
"You said the northern border would be attacked."
I forced a shrug.
"It was a guess."
"A guess?"
His voice dripped with disbelief.
"Yes."
"You looked terrified."
"I overreacted."
"Aria."
The way he said my name sent an unwanted shiver through me.
"No one reacts like that to a random statement."
I remained silent.
Kael took a step closer.
Then another.
The mate bond immediately reacted.
Heat spread through my chest.
My wolf became restless.
I hated it.
Hated how my body still responded to him.
Hated how fate still tried to pull us together.
Even after everything.
Kael stopped only a few feet away.
Too close.
Far too close.
"Who are you?"
The question startled me.
"What?"
His gaze darkened.
"I know who Aria Blackwood is."
My stomach dropped.
"The girl everyone talks about."
His eyes narrowed.
"Kind."
Another step.
"Sweet."
Another.
"Innocent."
Another.
"But that's not the woman standing in front of me."
I froze.
Because he was right.
The Aria he expected no longer existed.
She had died on the execution platform.
The woman standing before him had already lived an entire life.
Already loved.
Already suffered.
Already died.
Kael studied my face.
"As if you've been through a war."
For a second, neither of us moved.
Then I laughed.
A cold laugh.
A bitter one.
"You have no idea."
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
Kael immediately noticed.
His eyes sharpened.
"There it is."
My stomach twisted.
"There what is?"
"That look."
His voice lowered.
"The one that makes me feel like you've already lost everything."
The room fell silent.
Moonlight spilled across the floor.
Neither of us looked away.
Something strange passed between us.
Recognition.
Pain.
Loneliness.
For the briefest moment, I saw confusion in his eyes.
As if he couldn't understand why the sight of me hurt him.
Then—
A sharp pain exploded inside my chest.
I gasped.
My knees nearly buckled.
The mate bond flared violently.
"What the—"
Kael's eyes widened.
He felt it too.
Pain shot through both of us.
Raw.
Brutal.
Almost familiar.
Images flashed through my mind.
A silver dagger.
Blood.
Screaming.
Darkness.
Then another image appeared.
One that didn't belong to me.
Kael.
Standing alone.
His hands covered in blood.
His face twisted with horror.
"ARIA!"
I staggered backward.
The vision vanished.
My breathing became ragged.
What was that?
That memory wasn't mine.
It couldn't be.
Kael looked equally shaken.
For the first time since entering my room, genuine fear crossed his face.
"What just happened?"
I didn't answer.
Because I wasn't sure I could.
The image had felt real.
Too real.
Almost like a memory.
But how?
The mate bond wasn't supposed to do that.
Unless—
No.
Impossible.
The thought was ridiculous.
Yet I couldn't ignore it.
Slowly, I looked up.
Kael was staring at me.
And suddenly I knew.
He had seen something too.
The same realization dawned in his eyes.
A terrible realization.
Neither of us wanted to say it aloud.
Finally, Kael spoke.
"What did you see?"
The room felt colder.
My heart pounded.
I should lie.
I should tell him nothing.
That would be smarter.
Safer.
Instead, the words escaped before I could stop them.
"I saw blood."
Kael went pale.
A chill raced down my spine.
Because powerful Alphas didn't go pale.
Not unless they were terrified.
"What blood?" he asked quietly.
I swallowed.
Then whispered—
"Mine."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Kael looked like someone had punched him.
His hands clenched into fists.
His wolf was dangerously close to the surface.
And suddenly...
I knew.
Not guessed.
Not suspected.
Knew.
The answer hit me like lightning.
"You remember."
The words left my lips before I could stop them.
Kael froze.
My heart hammered.
Neither of us breathed.
Neither of us moved.
Seconds stretched into eternity.
Then Kael slowly closed his eyes.
As though he had been dreading this moment.
When he opened them again, there was no confusion left.
Only guilt.
Crushing.
Unbearable guilt.
The sight made my blood run cold.
Because there was only one reason Alpha Kael Ravenwood would look at me like that.
Only one reason he would recognize the blood.
Only one reason he would remember.
He had lived that life too.
The life where I died.
The life where he killed me.
And judging by the horror on his face...
He remembered every second of it.
"Aria..."
His voice broke.
My wolf whimpered.
But I felt nothing except rage.
Pure.
Burning.
Rage.
"You remember."
Kael didn't deny it.
That was answer enough.
The room suddenly felt too small.
Too suffocating.
Too dangerous.
I stepped backward.
Then another.
Then another.
As far away from him as possible.
Because standing before me wasn't just my mate.
It wasn't just the Alpha.
It was the man who had watched me die.
And now he remembered it too.
The guilt in his eyes shattered something inside me.
Not because I pitied him.
But because I realized the truth.
The nightmare wasn't over.
It had only just begun.
And this time...
The man who ruined my life had come back with me.
---
Miles away, deep within the royal capital, a woman jolted awake in her bed.
Vanessa Kingstone gasped.
Sweat covered her skin.
Her heart raced wildly.
A familiar voice echoed inside her mind.
A voice she hadn't heard in five years.
"Welcome back."
Vanessa's eyes widened in terror.
Because she recognized that voice.
And because she remembered dying too.
- Writer
