Serpent Lake enjarocharse

Silence spanned before them only moments—tears wet her cheeks throughout the weaving of the stories he knew, testing his resolve to continue or stop, as if each time he inflicted more pain upon her. What was it like to forget who one was? To hold nothing of so much of your past, and only remember one pinnacle point?

To erase the death of Ibis in his mind—of Lilitu, Arielle. Nicodem, Jakub, Mae… To eradicate his love for the woman before him—the dalliances of so many others. The failings, one after another.

His breath hitched—knowing that even if he erased it from his own mind, the pain he inflicted on everyone else would still live within their very breast. What a cruel twist.

She grazed gently along the line of his scar—eyes searching, as if she tried to pull the memory from the darkest depths within. He stilled—his own pale eyes tracing over her—brow furrowed as she questioned him now—this reaction a far cry from the wailing torment within the chambers of Akashingo… such a cursed place.

“Mo anam cara,” he tried to remind her—“You are my soul mate. I am not meant to be free of you… I never want to be free of you.”