Chapter 3 SILVER EYES IN THE SHADOW

They say when a person from your past life finds you, you feel it like a phantom ache.

What they don't tell you is that it feels like drowning in memories that don't belong to you.

Lucien D'Argent is standing in front of me.

In the flesh. In the bookstore. Like he didn't just crawl out of my nightmares-or my dreams.

And he said my name. Not Raven. Not the name I've carried for twenty-three years.

He said Aria.

---

Casey drops her coffee. It explodes across the floor, dark and steaming, but I don't look down.

I can't look away from him.

He's exactly as he's always been in the visions-tall, lean, a little too elegant to be real. His long coat flutters with a breeze that doesn't exist, and his silver eyes burn like the moon has set them on fire.

"Do I know you?" I ask, my voice cracking halfway through.

He doesn't answer right away. Just watches me like I'm an echo he's trying to trace back to the source.

"You've changed," he says finally. "But not enough to fool me."

My heart stutters.

"What do you want?"

He takes a step forward. I take one back.

And Casey-bless her loyal, chaotic soul-grabs the nearest hardback and holds it like a weapon.

"Back off, Twilight," she snaps. "This is a bookstore, not a brooding immortal reunion party."

Lucien's lips twitch, almost like a smile. Almost.

"I'm not here to hurt her," he says, looking at me again. "Quite the opposite."

"Great," I say, voice shaking. "Because I think I've been hurt enough-this lifetime and the last."

---

We end up in the back room, because apparently if a mysterious man with otherworldly vibes walks into your life claiming to know your soul from centuries ago, you invite him for tea.

Casey insists on staying. Lucien doesn't argue. He moves like someone used to being obeyed, but there's something careful in the way he looks at me.

Like he's afraid I'll break.

"I don't remember you," I say after a stretch of silence.

"That's by design," he replies. "You always make yourself forget. It's safer that way."

"Safer for who?"

"For you. For everyone."

He reaches into his coat and pulls out something small. A ring. Gold, delicate, with a red gem at its center. He places it on the table like it's fragile.

I know it before I touch it.

It's mine.

Or-it was.

Flashes blind me. A ballroom. A fire. Screaming. Blood. His voice shouting my name as I fall, as I burn.

My fingers jerk away from the ring like it's scorched me.

Lucien doesn't flinch. "It's starting again."

"What is?"

"The cycle. You live. You die. You forget. And I..." He trails off, jaw tightening.

"You what?" I demand.

"I watch."

His voice is quiet. Broken in a way I didn't expect. "Every time. I watch you die. I try to change it. I fail. Over and over again."

My stomach twists. "How many times?"

"This is the sixth."

---

Outside, the wind howls. The sky's turned a dirty gray, and the streets shine wet with rain that came from nowhere. Greyhaven doesn't do normal weather. Today feels like proof.

Lucien says I've been hunted. Not just in this life, but in every one.

By them.

He won't say who. Not yet. Just that they're coming again. That I have something they want. Something buried deep inside me that never dies, no matter how many lives I lose.

"You're not just reborn," he says. "You're cursed. Bound. To this place. To me."

"That sounds like a romantic way to say I'm screwed."

He almost smiles. "I forgot how much you talk back."

---

Casey's been quiet for a solid ten minutes, which might be a personal record.

"You're saying Raven's a reincarnated... magic goddess target? And you're what? Her immortal bodyguard?"

Lucien's jaw tenses. "Something like that."

"And the dreams?" I ask. "The visions? They're real?"

"They're memories. Fractured, buried deep-but real."

My hands are shaking. I press them flat on the table to stop it.

Lucien leans forward, voice low. "They'll come for you soon. The fire in the woods was just a warning. They know you're waking up."

"Then teach me," I say. "If this is real, if I'm cursed, if I've died six times already-help me stop it."

He studies me for a long moment.

Then nods. "Meet me tonight. Midnight. Montfaucon Chapel."

Casey frowns. "Isn't that place condemned?"

"Everything worth knowing usually is," he says.

---

He disappears after that, the way he always seems to. One blink and he's gone, leaving me with more questions and an ache in my chest like I've forgotten something important.

I make it home just before the rain turns biblical. The city's swallowed by mist and shadow, and I swear I feel eyes on me every time I turn a corner.

By midnight, I'm standing in front of the chapel.

It's rotting and half-swallowed by ivy, but something pulls me toward it. Like a thread tied around my ribs.

I push open the door.

And find Lucien waiting.

He lights candles with a flick of his fingers. Magic. Real. No parlor tricks. The flames dance in colors I don't have words for.

He doesn't speak. Just takes my hands.

"Close your eyes," he says. "And remember."

I do.

And the world shatters.

---

Flashes.

A burning rose garden. A kiss beneath an eclipse. My hands glowing with light. Screams. Power. Fire.

A voice: "She can't be allowed to live."

Another: "Protect her, Lucien. Even if it kills you."

And then-

My death. Over and over again.

By blade. By fire. By betrayal.

Lucien holding me in every one.

Crying.

Bleeding.

Falling.

---

I open my eyes and collapse. Lucien catches me before I hit the floor.

"I remember," I whisper. "Oh my god. I remember."

His arms tighten around me.

But before he can speak, the air shifts.

Freezes.

And from the shadows of the chapel, a voice cuts through the dark like poison.

"Too late, Silver Eyes."

Lucien shoves me behind him, eyes glowing like the stars have caught fire.

"Run, Aria."