CHAPTER 6 — THE MAN WHO SAVED ME

The assassin’s body was still warm on the ground when I turned to Darius.

“You knew.”

He didn’t flinch. Just looked straight at me.

The black ring sat in the dirt between us—almost like proof.

“You knew my brother was going to die.”

No change in his face.

“I remembered it.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only answer I have.”

I moved closer, feeling the anger rise.

“You knew when and where it would happen. You knew someone was out to get him.”

“I remembered pieces.”

“Pieces?” My voice was louder now.

“You remembered enough to knock me out of the arrow’s path, enough to recognize the ring, enough to know my brother might die. But you never remember anything helpful when I ask who killed me?”

His jaw clenched.

“Seren.”

“No.” I jabbed my finger toward the dead man. “You knew something like this was coming.”

“I suspected.”

“You suspected?”

“I wasn’t sure.”

“You could have told me.”

“I didn’t know if telling you would change anything.”

“It already changed!” My voice cracked. “My brother’s alive.”

Darius glanced toward Kael, who was being led back to the palace by guards.

“Yes.”

“And now someone tried to kill him.”

“Yes.”

“So tell me everything you remember.”

He went silent.

I let out a bitter laugh. This was typical.

“Of course.”

I turned away, but he grabbed my wrist.

“Wait.” I looked down at his hand, then back at him.

“You keep doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Stopping me whenever I get close to the truth.”

His grip loosened.

“I don’t know the truth.”

“Then what do you know?”

He stared at me—didn’t blink. Just let the silence hang.

“I know that in the first life, I trusted the wrong people.”

That threw me.

“Who?”

“I don’t remember.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“I expect you to understand that remembering something isn’t the same as understanding it.”

He let go of my wrist.

“I remember your execution. The accusations. Trying to reach you.”

His voice dropped.

“But everything before that is broken.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.” He looked toward the palace again. “Sometimes I remember things that never happened. Sometimes I forget things that did.”

I watched him.

“You could be lying.”

“Yes.”

“You could be protecting someone.”

“Yes.”

“You could have been the reason I died.”

He met my eyes, held the gaze.

“Yes.”

That answer hit harder than I expected. He didn’t protest. Didn’t argue. Just accepted it.

“Why?” I could barely get the word out.

Darius looked away.

“Because I don’t know if I was the man who failed to save you…” Then he looked at me again. “…or the man who helped put you on that platform.”

Something cold settled between us. For the first time, I saw how much that idea scared him—not what I thought of him, but what he thought of himself.

After sunset, we made our way back to the palace.

The healers offered to treat Darius’s shoulder and mine. We both refused.

“You’re bleeding again,” I said.

“It’ll stop.”

“It didn’t stop the first time.”

“I’ve survived worse.”

“And you’re still acting like an idiot.”

He looked at me. “You’re pretty bold for someone I could kill.”

“You haven’t killed me yet.”

His mouth twitched, almost a smile. “Dangerous confidence.”

“I’ve died once already.”

He went quiet. I regretted saying it. Darius dropped his gaze.

“Don’t say that.”

“Why?”

“Because I remember.”

My chest tightened.

He turned to the window. I saw the bandage around his shoulder was soaked with blood.

“Sit.”

He ignored me.

“Darius.”

He sighed. “You really like ordering me around.”

“Sit down.”

This time he actually did it. I grabbed fresh bandages and knelt beside him.

When I peeled away the old cloth, the wound was open again.

“You should’ve let the healer deal with it.”

“I don’t like healers.”

“Why?”

“They ask too many questions.”

I shot him a look. “You’re not exactly easy to understand.”

“Neither are you.”

Our eyes met, and something warm passed between us. I looked away first.

I cleaned the wound. Darius didn’t flinch.

“You’re pretending it doesn’t hurt.”

“It doesn’t.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“I’ve been told.”

I wrapped the bandage. My fingers brushed his skin, and his breathing changed. So did mine. We froze.

Then I felt Vesper stir—not with fear this time, but recognition. He hurts.

I stilled. Darius’s eyes narrowed.

“Your wolf.”

“What about her?”

“She reacted.”

“So did yours.”

His expression shifted, and I realized Umbra was close enough for me to feel him. Something dark and warm pressed at the edge of my mind—protective, not threatening.

Vesper moved closer, and I pulled my hand away. Darius caught it.

Neither of us said anything. His hand was warm around mine.

“You’re afraid of me,” he said quietly.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I remember hating you.”

His thumb lightly traced my knuckles.

“And now?”

I couldn’t answer. He held my gaze.

Something changed. The room faded.

Snow. Endless snow.

I couldn’t breathe. I wasn’t in the palace anymore—somewhere else, three years from now.

Screaming, then my own voice.

“Darius!”

He was there, hands covered in blood. My blood. Kneeling in the snow, holding me.

My body was limp in his arms.

“No.”

He was crying. That shocked me more than anything—the sight of his tears. He pressed his forehead against mine.

“Stay with me.”

I couldn’t move or speak. His arms tightened.

“I told you I’d come.”

A man’s voice yelled behind him.

“Alpha! We have to go!”

Darius ignored him. “She isn’t dead.”

“Alpha—”

“She isn’t dead!”

His voice broke.

Then I saw it. A hand, holding a sealed document. A silver crown flashed in the moonlight. Someone whispered:

“She must die before she remembers.”

The vision ended.

I gasped, back in the room.

Darius gripped my shoulders.

“Seren?”

I couldn’t breathe. He looked afraid.

“What did you see?”

I just stared. Blood. Snow. His arms around my body. His tears. The crown. The voice.

I tried to speak—nothing came out.

“Seren.”

I shook my head.

“I…”

My voice wouldn’t work.

Darius’s hands squeezed gently.

“What did you see?”

I looked into his eyes. For once, I didn’t see the ruthless Alpha from my past. I saw a man, kneeling in snow, begging a dead woman to stay.

“You were there,” I whispered.

He lost all color.

“Where?”

“When I died.”

He stopped breathing.

“You saw it?”

I nodded. He searched my face.

“What else?”

I couldn’t say it. Not yet. I’d seen something that didn’t match the story I remembered.

Darius wasn’t lurking in the shadows at my execution. He was holding me afterward. And he cried.

I pulled my hand away.

“Seren…”

I stood up. He reached for me, but I backed away.

“Don’t.”

His hand dropped.

We were quiet.

Darius looked down, voice barely a whisper.

“I failed you once.”

I watched him.

He met my eyes.

“I won’t do it again.”