Cassian came back angry.
Not at Kaelen. At himself. At the Emperor. At the thread that pulled him down the stairs like a dog on a leash.
He had not slept.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the Emperor's smile. Every time he breathed, he felt the dream-walker's fingers in his skull.
Watching.
Pushing.
Waiting.
He pushed through the vault door. Did not wait for it to dissolve fully. Stepped through stone and shadow.
Kaelen stood in the center of the room.
Waiting.
Like he knew Cassian was coming. Like he always knew.
"You look worse," Kaelen said.
Cassian's jaw tightened. "I need another healing."
"No."
The word hit Cassian like a slap.
"What do you mean, no?"
Kaelen crossed his arms. Leaned against the crystal wall. The blue light made his pale skin glow.
"I mean no. Not today. Not tomorrow. Maybe not ever."
Cassian stepped closer. His hands shook. He did not hide them.
"The fracture is coming back. I felt it this morning. The wolf stirred."
"Then let it stir."
"Kaelen—"
"The bond is already too deep." Kaelen's voice was sharp. Cold. "The Emperor wants us closer. Every healing pushes us closer. I will not give him what he wants."
Cassian's anger boiled over.
"You think I want this?" He grabbed his shirt. Pulled it up. Showed the soulwound. Silver lines glowing across his chest. Spreading. Reaching. "You think I asked for this mark? For this pull in my chest every time I breathe?"
Kaelen looked at the wound. Did not flinch.
"You came to me," Kaelen said quietly. "You asked for the first healing. You knew the cost."
"I did not know this." Cassian dropped his shirt. Turned away. Ran a hand through his hair. "I did not know I would dream about you. I did not know I would wake up reaching for someone who is not there."
Silence.
The crystal hummed.
Kaelen spoke first. Softer now.
"What do you dream?"
Cassian closed his eyes.
"You. In a field. Blue flowers. You are laughing. I do not know what the joke is. But I laugh too. And then I wake up, and the field is gone, and I am alone in a cold room, and the mark is burning."
He opened his eyes.
Turned back to Kaelen.
"That is what the Emperor has done to us. He has turned healing into hunger. He has turned a bond into a cage."
Kaelen pushed off the wall.
Walked toward Cassian. Slow. Measured.
"The Emperor did not make you dream of blue flowers," Kaelen said. "That was you."
Cassian's breath caught.
"Do not."
"Do not what?"
"Do not make this more than it is."
Kaelen stopped inches from Cassian's chest.
"What is it, then? Tell me. What are we?"
Cassian looked down at the Enigma. At the silver-gray eyes. At the pale lips. At the thin wrists that had held so much power and lost so much memory.
We are two drowning people, he thought. Holding onto each other so we do not sink alone.
But he did not say that.
Instead, he said: "Heal me."
Kaelen shook his head. "Not until you answer."
"Answer what?"
"Why do you want the healing? Not because of the fracture. Not because of the wolf. Why do you want to be whole?"
Cassian opened his mouth.
Closed it.
The truth sat on his tongue like a stone.
Because if I am whole, I can protect you.
Because if I am whole, the Emperor cannot use my madness against us.
Because if I am whole, maybe you will stop looking at me like I am already dead.
He swallowed the stone.
"Because I am tired of breaking," he said.
Kaelen studied his face. Long and hard.
Then nodded.
"One more healing. But slower. Gentler. We will not rush."
Cassian's shoulders dropped. "Thank you."
"Do not thank me yet." Kaelen raised his hands. "You will hate me when this is over."
---
They sat on the crystal floor.
Knees touching.
The prison hummed soft and low, like a mother singing to a frightened child.
Kaelen placed his palms on Cassian's chest.
Not over the heart. Over the soulwound. The mark burned under his fingers. Hot. Hungry.
"Breathe," Kaelen said.
Cassian breathed.
The resonance began.
Slow this time. Not a flood. A trickle. Silver light dripped from Kaelen's fingers into Cassian's skin. It moved like water finding cracks in stone.
The fracture was there. Wider than before. The wolf had been pushing while Cassian slept.
The Emperor's dream-walker, Kaelen realized. He is making it worse.
But he did not say that. He just pushed the light deeper.
Stitched the crack.
Thread by thread.
Each stitch cost him.
A memory of rain on a tin roof. Gone.
A memory of a dog that followed him home. Gone.
A memory of a scar on his knee from climbing a tree. Gone.
Small things. Small losses.
Then—
Her face.
She was laughing. Dark hair. Warm eyes. The same silver-gray as his own. She held a loaf of bread. Said something he could not hear.
Mother.
Kaelen tried to pull back. Too late. The crystal demanded payment. The resonance took what it wanted.
Her face blurred.
Her laugh faded.
Her name slipped away like water through fingers.
No.
Please.
Not her.
But the crystal did not listen.
The face vanished.
And Kaelen forgot his mother.
---
Cassian felt the moment it happened.
The resonance stuttered. Kaelen's hands went cold. His breath came sharp and fast.
"Kaelen?"
The Enigma did not answer.
His eyes were open. Staring at something Cassian could not see. His lips moved. No sound came out.
"What did you lose?" Cassian asked.
Kaelen blinked.
Once.
Twice.
"I had a mother," he said. The words were flat. Empty. "I think. I remember the shape of her. The warmth. But her face…" He touched his own cheek. "It is gone. I cannot see her anymore."
Cassian's chest ached.
Not the soulwound. Something deeper.
He forgot his mother for me.
"I am sorry," Cassian said.
Kaelen looked at him. His silver-gray eyes were dry. He had no tears left. Or maybe he had forgotten how to cry.
"Do you know your mother's face?" Kaelen asked.
Cassian nodded. "Yes."
"Then describe her. Please. I want to remember what a mother looks like. Even if it is not mine."
Cassian's throat tightened.
"She had gray hair. Braided. Always. She wore a blue dress. Her hands were rough from working the garden. She smelled like rosemary."
Kaelen closed his eyes.
"Rosemary," he repeated.
"When I was scared, she would hold my face like this." Cassian raised his hands. Cupped Kaelen's face. Gently. "And she would say, You are braver than you know."
Kaelen leaned into the touch.
His eyes stayed closed.
"Say it again," he whispered.
"You are braver than you know."
"Again."
"You are braver than you know."
Kaelen's breath hitched.
The crystal dimmed.
The thread between them pulled so tight it hummed.
Cassian did not let go.
He held Kaelen's face in his hands. Thumbs brushing cheekbones. The soulwound burned. The fracture was healed. The wolf was quiet.
But Kaelen had paid the price.
Another piece of himself gone.
"I will find a way," Cassian said. "To give them back. Your memories. Your mother's face. All of it."
Kaelen opened his eyes.
"You cannot give back what you never had."
"I can try."
Kaelen pulled away.
His hands dropped from Cassian's chest. The resonance ended. The silver light faded.
"The session is over," Kaelen said. "Go."
"Kaelen—"
"Go. Before I forget something else."
Cassian stood. His legs were steady. His mind was clear. The fracture was closed again.
But the victory felt like ash.
He walked to the vault door. Stopped. Looked back.
Kaelen sat on the floor. Arms wrapped around his knees. Staring at nothing.
"Tomorrow," Cassian said. "I will bring food. And a story."
Kaelen did not answer.
Cassian stepped through the door.
The stone re-formed behind him.
He leaned against the wall. Pressed his palm to his chest. The soulwound pulsed.
His mother's face.
Gone forever.
Cassian closed his eyes.
And for the first time in his life, he prayed.
Not to any god. Not to the Emperor.
To the crystal itself.
Take me instead. Take my memories. Take my name. Take anything. Just stop taking from him.
The crystal did not answer.
But the thread pulled.
Soft.
Sad.
Kaelen is crying now, Cassian realized. Even if he has forgotten how.
---
Kaelen sat alone in the blue light.
The prison hummed around him. Warm. Concerned.
He touched his own face.
I had a mother.
He knew that. The words were still there. The shape of her. The warmth.
But her face was a blank space now. A hole where a smile used to live.
What else will I lose?
He did not know.
That was the terror.
He lay down on the crystal floor. Stared at the ceiling. The veins of light pulsed.
Cassian held my face.
Cassian said I am braver than I know.
Cassian's hands were warm.
Kaelen pressed his own hand to his chest.
The thread pulled back.
He is thinking of me too.
It was not enough.
It would never be enough.
But it was something.
It is all I have left.
Kaelen closed his eyes.
And did not sleep.