Could it be?
The color drained from my face. My heart dropped into my gut. My stomach churned. My hands shook.
The déjà vu was so violent Inearly fainted.
“Danny?” I could barely say his name, terrified to give voice to something I knew wasn’t possible. Like if I whispered it too clearly, the illusion would shatter.
I brushed his hair from his eyes with trembling fingers, like moving one tuft would make it easier to recognize him, and this would all make more sense somehow.
“Yes,” he murmured. “At least… I used to be.” I shattered.
My heart burst and reformed. My legs turned to jelly. I threw myself into him and sobbed, raw and guttural, beyond control. Beyond anything sane or normal.
“I thought I’d never see you again,” I cried into his chest. He held me just as tight.
“How is this possible?” I whimpered. He brushed my hair back.
My vision wavered. The impossibility of it tilted the world. I sat on the cot to steady myself.
He sat beside me and squeezed my hand.
“I’ve read about this,” he said, shaking his head. “But I thought it was myth.”
I could see it now so clearly, the similarity between Danny and Titus. Their looks, their personalities.
Tears welled in his eyes. He rubbed them away.
“It’s called the memory veil,” he said. “Some kind of spell the Guardians place on souls every time they’re born into a new life. It blocks past-life memories.”
“Why would they do that?” I asked.
“No one knows,” he said. “But my guess would be keeping memories from every life could fracture a mind.”
“The spell can be broken by recognition of a trigger. Once both parties recognize their trigger, the veil is lifted.”
“So our trigger is… our matching tattoos?” “Yes.”
“But how did you get Danny’s tattoo on this body?” I asked, overwhelmed. “Were you born with it?”
“Of course not.” He huffed a breath that almost sounded like a laugh. “I had a wild night with Aurelius and Cercies in Coralis Falls when we were young. We ended up in an ink parlor and picked random tattoos. I was drawn to this one for a reason I didn’t understand—until now.”
“Why?” I asked, breathless.
He brushed a thumb along my lips.
“Because subconsciously I must have had memories of you. Of us,” he said softly. “Nothing is ever a coincidence, Pickles. All my life I have never taken a mate—because on some level, I knew I didn’t have one.”
“Until I saw you in my dining room. I knew you were significant. I just didn’t understand until now.”
Panic flashed across his face.
“There’s another part I just remembered,” he said quickly. “We can’t tell anyone about the trigger, or we’ll lose the memories again. It has to stay between us.”
His voice cracked. “I can’t lose you again, Pickles. Promise me. Promise you won’t tell a soul.”
I grabbed him tighter. “I promise. I’ve missed you so much, Danny.”
He held me and whispered, “Thank the Guardians we got a second chance.”
