Lucidity's Fleeting Gift, Madness's Cruel Return

"Mom?" My voice trembled as I knelt beside her. For a moment, I'd seen it—a flash of something real in her eyes. Not the paranoid ramblings that had defined her existence since I was a child, but actual clarity.

"Hazel, my sweet girl." Clara reached out, her hand trembling as it cupped my cheek. Her eyes—so much like mine—were suddenly sharp, focused. "Listen to me carefully. We don't have much time."

Behind me, I felt my bonds shifting uneasily. I glanced back at them, my heart squeezing at the sight of their concerned faces. Kaelen stood slightly apart, his expression guarded but attentive.

"I'm listening, Mom," I whispered, turning back to her.

Clara's fingers tightened on my face. "The name—the name you need to know—is Magnus Sterling."

My blood turned to ice in my veins. "Magnus Sterling?" I repeated, unable to hide my shock.

She nodded urgently. "He's the one who threatened to take you on your eighteenth birthday. I've been protecting you from him all these years."

"But why? Who is he to me?"

"He wants your power, Hazel. He's been searching for you." Her eyes darted to the door, then back to me. "You need to run. Hide. Before he—"

Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the clarity in her eyes began to fade. I watched in horror as the fog of madness crept back in, her gaze growing unfocused.

"Mom, stay with me!" I grabbed her hands. "Please, tell me more about Magnus Sterling!"

But she was slipping away. I felt the tears burning behind my eyes as I recognized the all-too-familiar transition. Desperate to hold onto this rare moment of connection, I gestured frantically to my bonds.

"Mom, I want you to meet some people who are important to me," I said quickly.

The men approached cautiously, forming a protective semicircle around us. Clara's eyes tracked their movement with growing confusion.

"This is Silas," I said, guiding him forward. "He's brilliant and kind. And Rhys, who makes me laugh even on my worst days." Rhys gave a small wave, his usual charm subdued by the tension in the room.

"Ronan," I continued, my voice growing thicker as emotion threatened to choke me. "He's so much stronger than he knows. And Jaxon—" I paused, watching as my mother's eyes widened at Jaxon's imposing figure. "He protects us all, even when he pretends he doesn't care."

Clara's face softened momentarily. "Your young men," she murmured, looking at each of them in turn. Something like recognition flickered across her features. "Are they... are they good to you, Hazel?"

"The best," I answered, hope blooming in my chest. "I love them, Mom."

It was the wrong thing to say.

Clara's face contorted in rage, her gentle features transforming into something wild and unrecognizable. "Love them?" she shrieked. "These filthy demons? These monsters who will steal your soul?"

Before I could react, her hand flew out and slapped me hard across the cheek. The crack of skin against skin echoed in the suddenly silent room.

"Mom!" I gasped, more shocked than hurt.

"Whores who lie with demons bring forth abominations!" she screamed, lunging toward me again.

In a blur of movement, Ronan pulled me against his chest, shielding me with his body. At the same instant, Jaxon's hand shot out, telekinesis freezing my mother in place.

"Let me go!" Clara howled, struggling against the invisible restraint. "Let me save my daughter from you monsters!"

"Jax, don't hurt her," I pleaded, my voice muffled against Ronan's shirt.

"I'm not," Jaxon replied tightly. "Just keeping her from hurting you again."

I turned in Ronan's embrace to face my mother. The woman thrashing against Jaxon's telekinetic hold wasn't my mother anymore—not really. The brief window of lucidity had slammed shut, leaving behind only the tortured shell I'd grown up with.

"Look what they've done to you!" Clara wailed. "Their blue eyes—the mark of the demon! They've claimed you already!"

Silas approached me cautiously, his hand gentle on my shoulder. "Hazel, this isn't helping her. Or you."

"She's too agitated," Rhys added softly. "The doctors—"

"No drugs," I said automatically. It was my standard response whenever the medical staff suggested sedating her during her episodes.

But as I watched her struggle, spittle flying from her lips as she hurled accusations and obscenities at my bonds, something inside me broke. This wasn't kindness. Letting her suffer like this, trapped in her delusions, wasn't mercy.

My eyes found Kaelen's across the room. He stood by the door, rigid and watchful, waiting for my decision.

"Kaelen," I whispered, knowing he could hear me.

He moved forward immediately, stopping just short of Clara's thrashing form. His blue eyes—the same color she feared so deeply—locked with mine, asking a silent question.

I nodded once.

"Sleep," Kaelen commanded, his voice resonating with that unique timber of compulsion.

Clara's eyes widened in terror, then rolled back as her body went limp. Jaxon carefully lowered her unconscious form back into her chair, arranging her as though she'd simply dozed off.

"She'll sleep peacefully for several hours," Kaelen said quietly. "When she wakes, this conversation will be a distant blur."

I stared at my mother's face, suddenly peaceful in unconsciousness. The lines of fear and rage had smoothed away, leaving behind the woman I remembered from brief, precious moments of my childhood—before the paranoia consumed her.

The weight of what had just happened—what I'd just learned—crashed down on me all at once. Magnus Sterling. The same man who had abused Isla. The same man working with Victor, Jaxon's father. He had been hunting me since my eighteenth birthday.

My knees buckled. Five pairs of hands reached for me, but it was Rhys who caught me first, lowering me gently to the floor.

"I can't—" I gasped, struggling to breathe. "She knew. All this time, she knew about Magnus."

"We'll figure this out," Silas promised, kneeling beside me, his hand stroking my hair.

"She was trying to protect me," I whispered, tears flowing freely down my face. "All these years, I thought she was just sick, but she was trying to keep me safe from them—from you—from—"

Jaxon crouched in front of me, his dark eyes surprisingly gentle. "You couldn't have known."

"But I should have listened!" I cried. "I dismissed everything she said as delusions, but she was right. The blue-eyed demons, the monsters hunting me—it was all true!"

Ronan wrapped his arms around me from behind, his solid presence anchoring me as sobs wracked my body.

"I failed her," I choked out. "And now I'm going to erase her memories, take away the one truth she was clinging to—that she was protecting me."

"You're giving her peace," Kaelen said firmly, kneeling to join our huddle on the floor. "You're freeing her from fear and pain. That's not failure, Hazel. That's love."

I looked up at him through tear-blurred eyes, at the man who had upended my world, who had shown me who I really was. The man who, despite his denials, I knew in my soul was meant to be my fifth bond.

"Are you going to take my pain away?" I whispered, voice breaking on the final word.

My question hung in the air between us, loaded with meanings beyond the immediate moment. I wasn't just asking about my grief over my mother. I was asking if he could shoulder the burden of everything I'd learned, everything I feared, everything I felt for him.

The anguish in his eyes told me he understood exactly what I was really asking.