Bound in the veil

Mara hadn't seen Blackthorn Manor in over a decade, but the moment she stepped through the wrought iron gate, it felt like the house had been waiting.

The air was thick with silence, the kind that settled into your bones. Her wrist itched beneath her sleeve - the mark she'd carried since childhood was warm, pulsing faintly like a forgotten song.

She tried to tell herself it meant nothing.

Inside, the house was as she remembered: tall windows, creaking floors, shadows that didn't always seem still. She wasn't sure why she came back, only that something had pulled her - not just to the house, but to this moment.

Then came the knock.

When she opened the door, her breath caught.

Aiden stood on the porch, older, sharper, but unmistakably him. His eyes searched hers, not for recognition, but for something deeper - remembrance.

Without a word, he unbuttoned the top of his shirt, just enough to reveal the glowing spiral beneath his collarbone.

Her heart skipped. The same mark.

"It's happening again," he said.

She didn't know what he meant - not fully. But deep inside, something old stirred.

Something that never truly left.

It has always been there.