If my desperate plan is to truly work, it is not enough for Memnon to outlive the enchantment. Eislyn must forget her fevered fixation so she might never come back for him. And those who could remind the fairy of Memnon’s existence, their memories must too be expunged.

I think of the soldiers pouring into the palace and the many cities Memnon has violently conquered. There are thousands who would want to kill my slumbering husband if they ever learned the truth. One whispered word into the wrong ears—it wouldn’t even have to be Eislyn. Other supernaturals could access the ley lines and end the king while he lies vulnerable.

Everyone must forget my sorcerer, so that none may come searching.

Only I shall have that power.

That insidious dark force closes in on the last of me, and my heart seizes again.

One…two…three…

Sluggishly, it resumes beating.

I take a shuddering breath and gather together all that I can of the power at my disposal.

“With all that is left in me, I demand this world and everyone in it forget Uvagukis Memnon. Every last person who carries a memory of him shall lose them, beginning with Eislyn.”

I give the last of myself up to the curse.

Pure, raw power bursts from me, sweeping out across the jungle until I can no longer see it. I sense when the first mind has been struck. It must be Eislyn’s. I take a perverse amount of pleasure knowing I’m peeling away her memories.

She’s the first, but it’s only the beginning of the curse.

Across the world, a thousand upon a thousand people carried some memory or awareness of Memnon. One by one, my magic devours every last memory of him. Memnon the Indomitable simply becomes some vague, cruel commander of legions who came and went.

In my mind’s eye, I can see the petroglyphs bearing his name chip away until the recordings vanish. The ink on papyri rearranges itself to remove Memnon; where his presence is too frequent, the papyri simply burn up.

Across every land he conquered, his name disappears, cast from the record.

I take the memory of Memnon from everything and everyone. I scream as my magic and that foreign essence consume me. The years of my life fall away like a fever dream as the magic leaving me thins out to just a wisp.

My heart stutters as that last thread of magic darkens, then doubles back on itself, moving back toward me.

Must hold on until the curse is finished. For this to work, no one can remember him.

No one…

Not even me.

My magic strikes then, sinking into my flesh and closing in on my memories. With a final, choked cry, my heart stops, and the last mind is wiped.

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CHAPTER 8PRESENT DAY, SOMEWHERE NORTH OF SAN FRANCISCO

SELENE

The last memory of my previous life fades away. I blink several times as Memnon comes back into view. His cheeks are soaked as though he’s been crying while reliving most of the past, and his hands tremble against my cheek.

“No.” The ragged word tears from his throat. His eyes search mine, his expression desolate. “No,” he says again, this time more broken.

Memnon’s legs give out, and his hands drop from my face as his knees hit the ground.

For several long seconds, all I hear is the sound of his heavy breathing as he bows his head, his hand pressed to his heart. I can feel the sharp blade of his grief through our bond, and I catch a few of his fragmented thoughts.

…watched her die…alone…protecting me…powerless… What have I done?

He makes a sound that is somewhere between a sob and a moan.

“Roxi,” he says quietly, his voice thick with anguish. He looks at me then, horror written all over his face. “What have I done?” he says, echoing his earlier thoughts.

I stare down at him dispassionately. “A lot, Memnon. You’ve done a lot.”

He draws in a shuddering breath. “You died.”

“I did.”

“You were alone in the palace when they came—” His voice breaks off, and he rubs his eyes. “My mother, my sister—” He presses his lips together, and his expression nearly crumbles again. “You and Ferox had to fight your way out alone.”

Memnon bows his head again and covers his eyes with his hand, and the man who has done so much and felt so little now weeps, overcome with emotion.

“Eislyn…you had warned me about her. I didn’t listen. She almost…she destroyed everything. If you hadn’t…” He draws in a shuddering breath. “If you hadn’t placed the curse—if you hadn’t given your life…” His voice breaks on that word. “I would’ve surely been damned to some awful fate. Instead, you did something miraculous. You bought us another life together.”

I gaze down at him as the shadows around Slain Maiden’s Meadow grow longer and darker.

“I see everything now,” he says. “I understand. I punished the one person who tried to save my wretched life. My best friend and soul mate, the love of my life. I have treated you like an enemy and made you hate me, and I relished it all in the name of vengeance. But this whole time you were my savior.” He turns his face up, his glittering eyes rising to mine. “I’m sorry, est amage. It is not enough, but I am sorry.”

I study him for several moments, and then I do something I didn’t think I was capable of doing, given all that Memnon has so recently done to me: I reach out and wipe away his tears. The action makes him close his eyes tightly, and a few more unbidden tears slip out.

I’ve only seen this man cry a precious few times, and the sight of him broken and vulnerable twists my gut.

Memnon catches one of my hands and cups it between his. “I have committed too many evils against you to repair with a few simple words or actions. They will never be enough to repay the debt I owe you. There is only one thing I can offer you.”

Still kneeling, Memnon unsheathes his gold-hilted dagger from his side. I tense at the sight of it, my palm still stinging from the memory of that blade cutting through my flesh last night when I made my unbreakable oath.

Memnon offers up his own healed palm, and faster than I can follow, he slices it open once more.

“What are you doing?” I ask, alarmed.

His smoky eyes are steady on mine as he says, “With blood I bind, with bone I break. Only in death shall I at last forsake.”

Birds take flight from the trees around us as he finishes, “Your bidding be done, under moon and sun. My will is yours until your heart is won.”

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CHAPTER 9

I stare in horror at the proffered hand.

He’s giving me far more than a simple apology. This is a bond he’s offering up.

I don’t know much about bonds besides the fact that some are fated and some are chosen, and Memnon and I share the former connection.

But if I heard him correctly, he’s now offering me one that will grant me control over his…free will.

My heart beats fast. I was hoping for his help, but this is so much more than that. If the sorcerer were bound to me, he would very literally have to follow my orders.

Memnon stares at me with those steady, calculating eyes, waiting on me as his blood drips to the grass. I know he knows all this. The powerful, vengeful Memnon, who’s wiped out entire armies with his magic, is handing all that control over to me.

He wants to tie you as close to him as possible. This is just one more way. Even defeat he uses to his advantage. And then there’s the terms of the bond.

My will is yours, until your heart is won.

The bond would break if I ever fell in love with him.

I gaze at his hand a little longer, debating, debating…

It’s a mistake to think Memnon’s a tamable thing, but I’m discovering that I’m not what I appear to be either.