“That’s how he knew to use the blood magic,” Brianna said. “He sliced open his hand. Together, we held the keystone between our bleeding palms. And…” She hiccupped a breath. “The Triple Goddess was there and they…spoke…through me.”
Chloe’s head snapped up to Evie. “Like when we were trying to escape the MacDonald keep?”
“It happened to you both, too?” Brianna asked.
“It did. And it was a strange feeling. Like theywere within us and we were speaking for them.”
“Yes.” Brianna’s heart pumped as she nodded emphatically. “There was a chant. Something about mending time forever. I can’t remember now. But at the time, Iknewthe words. I said them and watched the portal to the Realm of Chaos close.”
She bit her lower lip, trying to recall. Evie started to say something, but Brianna lifted her hand to stop her.
“Oh! I remember now.Threads of time I weave together as Past and Future stitch forever. Now shift this timeline to what once was; forever mended with no more flaws.”
Chloe pressed shaking fingers to her lips as she stared, wide-eyed at her. Evie remained perfectly still.
“The brand on our hands. That’s why the lines are faded to almost nothing,” Evie said.
Brianna held up her hand to show her the same. The two stared at it for a long, quiet moment.
“Then the world started to spin. I don’t remember much after that. How did I get here?”
“I don’t know,” Evie said. “The same happened to us. We woke up on the great hall floor.”
“And the roof is mended?”
“As if there never were a hole in it,” Chloe said.
With Jamie’s and the others’ memories erased, how was she supposed to go on? Did he remember their relationship? Or was that gone, too?
The crushing weight of it pressed down on her chest. Was this it? Was she supposed to accept this was her life now—stranded in the past, bound to a future that wasn’t hers to choose? She pulled in a slow, shaky breath, but it did nothing to ease the raw ache inside her.
Everything was gone. Erased.
Jamie. Callum. Malcolm. Every moment, every battle, every whispered word between them—ripped from their minds as if it had neverhappened. As if she had never happened. As if there had never been a prophecy at all.
Her voice wavered as she broke the silence. “Do they… remember us?”
The quiet stretched between them before Chloe answered. “That’s the strangest thing of all. Malcolm remembers we’re handfasted. Callum remembers Evie is pregnant with their first child.”
Her pulse pounded, a painful, desperate rhythm in her ears. And Jamie?
Did he remember the nights they spent tangled in each other’s arms, the way he whispered her name like a prayer? Did he remember the fire between them, the love that had bound them together, stronger than time itself?
Did he remember her standing in the wind, shouting that she loved him?
Or had that, too, been lost to the void?
“And Jamie? Does he…?” Her words trailed off.
She was never the type of person to share her feelings freely with anyone, even her sisters. But it was hard to deny the love she had for Jamie. She could not imagine her life without him.
The twins exchanged a knowing glance.
“He has feelings for you. Of that I’m sure,” Evie said. “He kept a vigilant watch over you since the moment we found you in the middle of the bailey. He refused to leave your bedchamber for his and only took meals once in a while.”
She paused, as if there were some unspoken exception hanging in the air.
“But?” Her insides jangled with nerves.
