It had been days since Cassian first saw her. Days since his entire world tilted, since a forgotten past came rushing back with the force of a tidal wave. Cassian knew her—he knew her. Yet she walked past him like he was nothing more than another stranger on the street, another lost soul muttering nonsense.

She thought he was mad. He could see it in her eyes every time he caught up to her, the way she quickened her step, avoided his gaze. Maybe he was mad. Maybe he had spent too long living with these fragmented memories, unsure if they were real or the workings of a mind unraveling.

But then he saw her, and it all snapped into place.

“You can’t just walk away from this,” he said, keeping pace beside her, his voice low and steady. “You don’t remember, but I do.”

She ignored him.

Cassian let out a dry, humorless chuckle. “Enemies. That’s what we were, at first. You hated me, and I had every reason to hate you, too. But we—” He exhaled sharply. “We never could seem to kill each other, could we? No matter how many times we tried.”

His hazel eyes darkened, memories clawing their way to the surface. “I remember the battles. The betrayals. And I remember the moment we finally gave in. When we realized it didn’t matter who won because we’d already lost each other.”

A sharp gust of wind cut through the street, sending a chill down his spine. The last time, it had been a blade. The time before, a betrayal.

And now? Now, he didn’t know.

But he would find out.

One way or another, he wasn’t letting her slip away again.