The Weight of a Forgotten Love

Evelyn felt as if the walls were closing in on her. The candlelight flickered against Lucien's somber expression, shadows playing across his face. Her fingers trembled slightly as she gripped the arms of the chair, her pulse hammering in her ears.

"I loved you?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. The words felt foreign on her tongue, yet something about them tugged at the edges of her mind, as if a veil had been lifted just enough to glimpse something beyond.

Lucien exhaled, his gaze flickering with something she couldn't quite name. "Yes."

Evelyn swallowed hard. "And you… did you love me?"

Lucien hesitated. It was brief, but she caught it. Then, he spoke, his voice softer than before. "I did. I still do."

The weight of his confession pressed down on her. How was she supposed to respond to something she had no memory of? Her past had been stripped away, yet here was this man—this enigmatic, powerful man—looking at her like she was the one thing in the world that mattered.

She forced herself to breathe. "Why would they erase me for that? What makes our love so dangerous?"

Lucien's jaw clenched, his fingers drumming lightly against the desk as if weighing how much to reveal. "Because love—true love—defies time." He met her gaze, eyes filled with both longing and regret. "And the council fears what it cannot control."

A chill ran through Evelyn. "You mean… if I remembered, it could change something?"

Lucien nodded. "More than you realize. You weren't just erased from this world, Evelyn. You were erased from history. The council made sure no one would ever speak your name again, that no record of you would remain."

Her breath hitched. "Then why do you remember?"

Lucien's lips quirked into a bitter smile. "Because I fought against them. When they took you away, I broke every rule to get you back." His voice darkened. "And they punished me for it."

Evelyn's heart ached at the raw emotion in his voice. "What did they do to you?"

Lucien's gaze drifted toward the window, the moonlight casting a silver glow over his sharp features. "They bound me to this realm, shackled my power, and erased my memories of you… for a time." He turned back to her, his voice barely above a murmur. "But some things, Evelyn, are impossible to forget."

Silence stretched between them, thick with unspoken words. Evelyn pressed a hand to her temple, trying to force clarity into the chaos in her mind. If all of this was true—if she had truly loved Lucien, and he had risked everything for her—then why had she returned now?

And why did it feel like fate was once again pushing them toward something inevitable?

Lucien stepped closer, his presence a comforting warmth despite the storm raging within her. "You weren't supposed to come back," he said. "But now that you're here, the council will do everything in their power to erase you again."

Evelyn met his gaze, determination rising in her chest. "Then I won't let them."

Lucien's eyes flickered with something akin to admiration, a slow smirk ghosting over his lips. "That's the Evelyn I remember."

A spark ignited within her at his words. If she had been erased once, then she would fight to reclaim her past. She wasn't just a lost soul trapped in a world she didn't understand—she was part of something greater, something worth fighting for.

And no matter what the council had planned, she wasn't going to disappear again.