Chapter 1

The fluorescent lights of the county clerk' s office hummed, a flat, sterile sound.

I stared at the marriage license, my name, Savannah Vance, next to Liam Thorne.

My hand trembled as I reached for the pen.

This was it, the moment I' d defied my family, my community, everything I knew.

The pain from suppressing my blood-bound token was a dull, constant ache behind my ribs, a reminder of the seven days I' d run, hidden, just to be here.

Liam smiled, his handsome face eager. "Ready, Savannah?"

Before I could answer, before the ink could touch the paper, he snatched the license.

Rip.

The sound tore through the quiet office.

Liam' s smile was gone, replaced by a strained, urgent look.

"Savannah," he said, his voice low, "I can't do this right now."

My heart stopped.

"I have to marry Chloe first."

Chloe. His cousin. The memory of her feigned innocence, her manipulations from my first life, flooded back with sickening clarity.

I was reborn. He was reborn. We both remembered.

"What are you talking about, Liam?" I managed, my voice barely a whisper.

"It's to save her," he rushed, his eyes pleading. "From that scandal, from what her family will do. It was my fault. I'll get an annulment in a week, I swear. Then I'll marry you. Your people, they won't track you here for at least that long, right?"

He thought I was still the naive girl who believed his every word.

He thought a week of a sham marriage could erase the agony he'd put me through, the loss of our children, the years in that damp root cellar.

My blood-bound token, the one I' d forced into silence, throbbed.

If I didn't suppress its call, my kinsmen would find me within three days.

I looked at Liam, at the torn pieces of paper in his hand.

Silently, I let go of the painful grip I held on my token.

A wave of relief, sharp and intense, washed over me, followed by the familiar, agonizing pull towards home.

"I understand," I said, my voice surprisingly calm.

Liam' s face relaxed. "Thank you, Savannah. You don't know what this means."

He didn't wait for more, just turned and hurried out of the office, presumably to "save" Chloe.

I watched him go.

This time, I wouldn't run from my people.

I would go home. I would honor my betrothal to Elijah.

Liam had made his choice, again.

Now, I would make mine.