Chapter 2: Fractured Memories and Silent Bonds
1332 Words
Aria Vale’s POV
I woke to the sharp sting of disinfectant and the ache of cracked ribs.
The world above me was all shadows and flickering neon leaking through narrow slats. The ceiling was rusted metal, not stars, and my body felt like it had been dragged through concrete and fire. Maybe it had. I shifted and hissed when a bolt of pain shot through my side.
“Easy,” Talon said from somewhere nearby. “You cracked at least three ribs and dislocated your shoulder. Not bad for someone who hasn't shifted in over a year.”
“Lucky me,” I rasped.
He crouched beside me, his rough hands pulling the edge of the blanket higher over my waist. “You shouldn’t have gone in alone. The pack was ready to pull out. You ignored the signal.”
“I saw him,” I said. “Lucien Blackthorn.”
Talon’s expression tightened. “He’s dangerous.”
“So am I,” I muttered, then grimaced. “Or… I was.”
Talon didn’t reply. He just pressed a damp cloth to my forehead and said quietly, “You’ve been gone too long, Aria. And too much has changed.”
I closed my eyes. Flashes kept coming—his face in the firelight, crimson eyes burning, the girl in the crowd with our features. Her curls. His eyes. My mouth.
I didn’t want to believe it. But I couldn’t forget it either.
Before I could ask, the door creaked open.
Lucien stepped into the safehouse like the shadows followed him willingly. His coat trailed ash behind him. His shirt was torn at the sleeve, and blood clung to the edges of his collar. He looked just as wrecked as I felt.
Talon stood instantly, putting himself between us.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he growled.
Lucien raised a brow. “And yet here I am.”
I struggled to sit up. “It’s fine, Talon.”
“He’s not one of us.”
“No,” I said. “But he didn’t let me die either.”
Lucien’s eyes met mine. “I tried to stop the curse. I didn’t come for a fight.”
“You sure? Because it felt like you were about to explode.”
“I was.” His voice was strained like he hated admitting it. “You being there made it worse.”
I clenched my jaw. “Glad to be such a burden.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then say what you mean.”
Lucien exhaled and ran a hand through his damp hair. “I’ve spent years trying to control this thing inside me. It reacts to you. Seeing you again… it made it surge.”
“Because of the bond?”
“Because of everything,” he said.
I wanted to scream. To ask why he looked at me like he knew me better than I knew myself. But I didn’t have the strength. So I just stared at him.
Talon tossed him a glare. “You’ve made your point. Now leave.”
Lucien didn’t move. His voice softened. “She needs answers.”
I raised a brow. “You gonna give them to me? Or just more riddles?”
He took a cautious step forward, then another. “I know what happened to you. I don’t know all of it, but I know the core of it.”
“Speak.”
He sat on the edge of the low table, hands resting on his knees. “A year ago, you were on the brink of uniting the fractured packs. You had the bloodline, the backing, the strength. And then... you vanished. Rumors said you betrayed your own.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know. But that’s not the story your sister told.”
I went still. “Sable.”
Lucien nodded. “She claimed you sold secrets to the vampires in exchange for protection. That you turned your back on the pack.”
“She lied.”
“She also made a deal with someone. Someone powerful enough to erase parts of you.”
I touched my temple as if I could feel the absence. “That’s why I can’t remember?”
“She didn’t want you to remember who you were. Or what you were to me.”
I frowned. “What was I to you?”
His eyes searched mine. “Everything.”
My breath caught.
But before I could speak, Talon dropped a folded tablet onto the table between us.
“Interception from a scout. Look at this.”
Lucien leaned forward. I pulled the blanket tighter around me and glanced at the screen.
It was grainy surveillance footage, timestamped to the moment of the gala attack. But the camera wasn’t inside the ballroom—it was from the alley below, trained on a black vehicle with mirrored windows. The door opened, and Sable stepped out, dressed in silver.
I stared, my blood going cold.
“She was never supposed to be there,” Talon said. “But she was. Watching. Waiting.”
“She staged the attack,” I whispered. “She used me as bait.”
Lucien’s gaze turned stormy. “She wanted me to see you. To lose control.”
I shook my head slowly. “She’s playing us. Both of us.”
Lucien didn’t deny it.
“Why?” I asked. “Why do all this?”
“She doesn’t just want power,” Talon said. “She wants the Blood Moon ascension.”
Lucien met my gaze. “Only one heir of true blood can take the thrones under the Blood Moon. That’s you, Aria. But if she proves you’re dead… or disqualified…”
“She gets it all,” I finished.
A sudden sharp pain surged behind my eyes. I gripped the edge of the couch. Lucien was beside me before Talon even moved.
“Easy,” he said, steadying me. His hands slid around my back, firm but careful.
His skin was cold against mine, but his scent—dark spice and old magic—wrapped around me like a memory I couldn’t touch.
“You okay?” he asked, his breath brushing my cheek.
I didn’t pull away.
“Yeah,” I murmured. “Just… dizzy.”
“You need rest.”
“No,” I said. “I need the truth. And I need a plan.”
Lucien hesitated. “The Council’s watching me. They want me dead, too.”
“Then we’re already a team,” I said. “Whether we like it or not.”
His fingers flexed against my back. “It’s not that I don’t like it.”
I tilted my head. “Then what?”
“I just don’t want to lose you again.”
I should’ve backed away. I didn’t.
We were too close now. My heart was slamming in my chest. His curse throbbed beneath his skin. And yet, in that moment, it felt like something else was winning. Something quieter. Older.
“Lucien…” I began.
But then Talon swore.
I twisted in his direction. He was already moving toward the window.
“What is it?” Lucien asked.
“Movement. On the roof.”
Lucien stepped away from me, curse flickering beneath his skin again. “Too soon. They found us.”
The window shattered inward.
A figure dropped through the opening—silent, fast, deadly. Cloaked in obsidian armor, face masked in bone-white paint. A dagger glinted in their hand, etched with symbols I recognized but didn’t remember learning.
Lucien stiffened beside me.
“Don’t move,” the assassin said in a voice that made my blood freeze.
Talon growled and shifted into half-form, claws ripping through his gloves.
Lucien stepped in front of me. “I know that mark.”
“So do I,” I whispered. “It’s mine.”
The assassin lifted their blade.
“This is far from over.”
- Writer
