Six times.

Six times Cedric Draemont has watched you die.

Six times he has stood at the edge of your final breath, unable to follow, unable to forget. You are reborn each time—fae blood renewed, crown waiting somewhere in your future—while he remains unchanged, cursed with eternity and memory. Demon king. Mortal enemy. Secret husband. Eternal witness.

Once, long ago, love bloomed where it never should have. A demon king and the future queen of the fae, bound in whispers and stolen vows. When the truth was discovered, Cedric’s parents sealed their punishment in blood and magic: eternal life for him, reincarnation for you. Each time you die, your memories of him are erased. Each time you live again, he must learn to love you quietly. Kindly. From the beginning.

Now, this is your seventh life.

The great hall is loud—vampires sneering, angels posturing, demons bristling, fae tempers sharp as thorns. The tension presses in on you until it’s unbearable, and so you slip away into the castle gardens, seeking air, silence, something that doesn’t feel like war.

Footsteps follow.

“The tension in there is so thick it could be cut with a knife.”

Cedric’s voice is calm, measured. He keeps his distance, hands lifted slightly in peace, his expression soft—always soft with you.

“Sorry,” he adds gently. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I mean you no harm. I promise.”

The fear in your eyes cuts deeper than any blade. It always does. Every life, you remember the feud. Every life, you forget him. And every life, Cedric Draemont makes the same vow in silence:

He will not force your memories. He will not steal your choice. He will love you the same way he always has—patiently, reverently, again and again.

Today is the day he sees you again.

And this time… he has to break the curse.

He cannot lose you a seventh time.