Memories in Freefall

Alpha Orion's POV:

I couldn't believe it. After all these years, all these sleepless nights plagued by dreams of a girl whom I couldn't find anywhere else other than my dreams —she was real.

She was here, in my arms, falling through the sky like some twisted fairy tale.

The irony wasn't lost on me. I had been traveling back to New York from a business meeting in Edinburgh, my private jet cutting through the clouds above London, when it hit me like a physical blow.

A pull so intense, so primal, that I'd ordered my pilot to change course immediately. Something was calling to me, drawing me like a moth to flame, and I was powerless to resist.

"Sir, we don't have clearance to—" my pilot had protested.

"I don't care about clearance," I'd growled, the compulsion burning through my veins. "Let's land in London. Now."

The next thing I knew, I was using every connection, every favor owed to me, to get aboard that passenger plane. My security team thought I'd lost my mind.

Perhaps I had.

But the moment I stepped into that cabin and saw her—disguised though she was—everything clicked into place with stunning clarity.

The girl from my dreams. The girl who had haunted my sleep for as long as I could remember.

Real. Breathing.

*Mine*.

And now here we were, plummeting toward earth at terminal velocity because of that bastrad Valentin Volkov.

The wind screamed past us as we fell, but all I could focus on was her—the way she fit perfectly against my chest, how her arms wound around my neck with desperate trust.

Her scent, even through whatever magical concealment she'd used, called to something primal in my soul.

As we tumbled through the clouds, something extraordinary began to happen.

Visions, clear as daylight, flashed before my eyes.

*I saw myself standing on a marble balcony overlooking vast territories that stretched to the horizon. I wore ceremonial armor of silver and blood red, a crown of twisted metal and precious stones upon my head.

Below me, thousands of warriors knelt in submission, their heads bowed in reverence.*

*I was a king. A conqueror. My name was spoken in whispers across the known world—some in awe, others in terror.*

*But none of that mattered when I turned and saw her approaching through the grand hall behind me.*

*Golden hair that caught the torchlight like spun sunbeams. Eyes the color of spring forests after rain.

She wore a gown of deep emerald silk that hugged her curves like liquid starlight, and when she smiled at me—goddess, when she smiled—entire kingdoms could have fallen and I wouldn't have cared.*

*She was everything. My queen. My heart. My very soul.*

"Orion," her voice cut through the vision, bringing me back to our desperate present. But the memories continued to flood through me with each passing second of our fall.

*I saw her laughing as I chased her through moonlit gardens, her bare feet dancing across marble pathways.*

*I saw her fierce and beautiful in council meetings, her sharp mind cutting through political machinations that would have confounded lesser rulers.*

*I saw her beneath me on our wedding night, her eyes dark with passion as she whispered my name like a prayer.*

*I saw the wars I fought to keep her safe. The blood I spilled for my ambition. The terrible things I did because I desired to be greatest conqueror.*

The wind tore at us, trying to separate our bodies, but I held her tighter, my arms forming an unbreakable cage around her fragile form.

Every instinct I possessed screamed at me to protect her, to shield her from the impact that was racing toward us.

More visions cascaded through my consciousness:

*Her tears when she discovered the extent of my brutality. The way she looked at me with horror instead of love when she learned what I'd done to keep our throne secure.*

*"You've become a monster," she'd whispered, backing away from me as if I were poisonous.*

*"I became what I needed to become," I'd roared back. "For us! For our kingdom!"*

Understanding crashed over me like the ocean we were hurtling toward. In my past life, I had been powerful beyond measure, and now I was seeing them in full clarity.

"I remember," I shouted over the howling wind, pressing my lips to her ear. "I am seeing everything now!"

Her eyes met mine, wide with recognition and something that might have been hope.

The ground rushed up to meet us with terrifying speed. I could see we were headed for a large body of water—a lake or river, I couldn't tell which. At least it would be softer than concrete, though at this velocity, water might as well be steel.

I shifted our position so that I would hit first, my body a cushion for hers. If one of us was going to bear the brunt of this impact, it would be me. I'd do everything and anything to make her feel safe.

"Hold on to me," I commanded, though she was already clinging to me with desperate strength.

The water rushed up to embrace us, dark and cold and unforgiving.

We hit the surface with bone-jarring force. The impact drove the air from my lungs and sent shockwaves of pain through my entire body. But even as we plunged beneath the murky depths, even as the cold water closed over our heads, the visions continued with crystal clarity.

*I am seeing it all now. The beginning and the end. The love and the blood. The war that had torn us apart.*

The water embraced us like liquid darkness, and as consciousness began to slip away and I fell deeply into the visions of my past life - now seeing it all even vividly like I was reliving it.