Chapter 3

"You're making a mistake," Cael drawled. His voice was smooth. Irritatingly calm. "Mara here isn't a hostage. She's my favorite kind of mistake. You really want to shoot her?"

"Shut up," I hissed. My grip tightened on my blade. I looked at the poster fluttering on the gate—my own face, staring back at me. TRAITOR. Stamped across my forehead in jagged red ink.

"What the hell is this, Cael? Why am I on that list?"

"Welcome to the club, Voss," he whispered. His breath was hot against my ear. He shifted, pressing closer, his shoulder rubbing mine. "The Crown doesn't like loose ends. And you're a very loose end."

One of the guards stepped forward. Boots crunching gravel. "Last warning. On your knees. Hands behind your heads, or we open fire."

I didn't think. I reacted.

I yanked Cael backward, swung my leg, and swept the lead guard's feet out from under him. As the soldier hit the dirt, I slammed my elbow into Cael’s ribs—just to remind him who held the leash—and lunged for the rusted shipping crates.

*Crack!*

A bullet sparked off the metal inches from my head.

"Get down!" I screamed, dragging Cael by the brand.

We hit the dirt hard. I was panting, heart hammering like a trapped bird. Cael sprawled next to me, a smirk playing on his lips while we were five seconds away from becoming Swiss cheese.

"You're surprisingly violent when you're confused," he noted.

"I'm violent when I'm pissed," I snapped. I pinned him down, my forearm crushing his throat. My face was inches from his. I could see the golden flecks in his eyes, his pupils dilating as he looked at me. "Tell me why I'm a traitor. Now. Or I'll let them finish the job."

Cael didn't fight the pressure. He just stared. His gaze dropped to my lips for a fraction of a second before locking back onto mine. "The Crown doesn't care about the truth, Mara. They care about the narrative. In their story, you helped me escape. In reality... well, that's the part you've forgotten, isn't it?"

I froze. "Forgotten what?"

Suddenly, the brand flared. Not a glow—a searing, white-hot spike of pain that shot up my arm and slammed into my skull. I gasped, my grip loosening as I arched my back. A scream caught in my throat.

Images flashed. Not memories. Fragments. A rainy courtyard. My brother's voice. A flash of gold. Then, a void. It felt like a piece of my mind was being ripped out with rusty pliers.

"What's happening?" I gasped, clutching my head. "What is this?"

Cael’s smugness vanished. He looked at me with something darker. Pity. He reached out, his fingers brushing my temple. His touch was cool. A sharp contrast to the burning brand.

"The link," he whispered. "It's a parasitic bond, Mara. It doesn't just tie us together. It sustains us. If one of us is about to die, the brand saves the life—but it takes a payment."

"A payment?"

"A memory. A piece of who you are."

I stared at him, horror dawning. "You're saying... to keep us alive, it's eating my head?"

"Exactly," Cael said. "Every time the brand saves us, you lose something. A face. A name. A reason why you hate me. Eventually, you won't even remember why you're hunting me."

I shoved him away, scrambling back. "I won't let it. I'll break this thing off."

"You can't," he said, sitting up slowly. He looked at his own wrist, the brand pulsing in sync with mine. "Not unless you find the Ash Crown. And the city resets in seventy-two hours. If we're still linked when the clock hits zero, it doesn't just take a memory. It takes everything. We'll be blank slates. Puppets for the Crown to rewrite."

I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. The guards were flanking the crates. Closing in. No exit. No allies. And my own mind was being auctioned off to keep a royal traitor breathing.

"I still want you dead," I whispered, voice shaking. "I don't care if I forget everything else. I won't forget that you killed him."

"Then tell me," Cael said. His voice dropped to a dangerous, low vibration. He leaned in, his chest nearly touching mine, forcing me back against the cold metal. "Tell me his name. Right now. Before the brand decides it's a luxury you no longer need. Say it, Mara. Hold onto it."

I opened my mouth. I searched. I reached into the dark corners of my mind for the name of the brother I'd spent three years mourning. I could see his smile. I could remember the smell of ozone and old books. But the name... it was slipping. Like smoke through my fingers.

"His name is..."

*Sizzle.*

The brand flared again. Nausea hit me. Suddenly, the name was gone. Not forgotten—erased. There was a hole in my heart where a word used to be.

"Dammit!" I screamed, slamming my fist into the crate. "You did this!"

"I'm not the one eating your memories, Voss," Cael said, his voice tight. He grabbed my wrist, pulling me close. His eyes were intense, searching mine. "But I'm the only one who remembers it for you. I'm the only one who knows who he was."

I wanted to rip his throat out. But he was the only anchor I had left in a world that was deleting me.

"We need to move," Cael commanded. "The guards are almost here. Nico is the only one who can crack this bond. He's in the lower vents of the grid. If we get to him, we might save what's left of your brain."

"Why are you helping me?" I spat. "You're a monster."

Cael smiled. It didn't reach his eyes. "Because, Mara, if you forget everything, you'll forget how to find the Crown. And I really need you to find it for me."

He yanked me up just as a grenade detonated ten feet away. The blast threw us sideways into a pile of debris. I groaned, vision swimming, lungs filling with sulfur.

As I struggled to sit up, something cold pressed against the back of my neck. A gun barrel.

"Don't move," a voice rasped. It sounded like he'd been chewing on glass.

I looked up. A man in a tattered cloak. Eyes hidden behind a cracked visor. He wasn't looking at me. He was staring at the brand on our wrists.

"The Resetbound," the man whispered. Awe and disgust. "I didn't think the Crown would actually do it. Chain a hunter to a prince."

Cael stiffened. "Who are you?"

"Someone who knows the price of the contract," the man said. He shifted the gun, aiming it directly at Cael's temple. "And I've been paid a lot of money to make sure neither of you makes it to the Crown."

I reached for my knife, but the man was faster. He didn't fire. He threw a small, flickering device onto the ground between us.

A countdown timer.

*69:59:59.*

"The clock just started," the man sneered. "And you've already lost your first memory. Wonder what's next? Your childhood? Your first kiss? Or maybe just the reason you're still breathing?"

He stepped back into the shadows. Before he vanished, he tossed a piece of parchment at my feet. A new bounty.

I picked it up. My blood turned to ice. It wasn't a poster. It was a contract. And the price for my head had just tripled.

"Wait!" I shouted, lunging forward. "Who sent you?"

Gone. Only the ticking timer and the suffocating heat of Cael beside me remained.

I looked at the contract again. At the bottom, in the 'Authorized By' section, was a seal I recognized. A seal from the one place I thought was safe.

"Cael," I whispered, trembling. "This seal... it's from my father's office."

Cael didn't answer. He just looked at the timer, his expression grim.

"We need to run," he said, pulling me up. "Now."

We bolted into the alley, the brand pulling us in a jagged, synchronized rhythm. But as we turned the corner, a loud, metallic *clang* echoed through the district. The massive iron gates of Sector 4 slammed shut behind us, locking us in with the kill squads.

And then, the brand on my wrist did something new. It didn't burn. It vibrated.

Two words slammed into my mind, carved into my bone:

*FIND THE CROWN.*