No. I take a step back. No—that’s impossible. He’s from a witchblood family, but…a witch has to discover their true name. Evlorasin said that much. Has he…? No. There would’ve been some indication. He would’ve told me—

why would he? he can barely trust you.

He’s asking me to abandon Varia to be with him. To choose him over my freedom.

Part of me refuses to believe. But part of me knows, deep down. He’s asking me to abandon Varia to become his Heartless. His thrall.

Not again.

we will never be chained again, the hunger spits.

The kisses, the dance, those tender moments shared between us—all of them come crashing down on me. The girl in the other timeline who loves him and whom he loves back, openly and beautifully, is closing in. I could be her. I could make the choice to be her, here and now.

I could give up my enthrallment, only to be leashed again. Would he give me my heart back? Would he free me? Can I trust him to do that?

trust a human? after what you’ve done to them? The hunger laughs. to him?

Fear grips me, cold and wintery and absolute.

“We can help,” Lucien insists. “Fione, Malachite, and I—we’ve been working on finding a way to free you from my sister. And we came across this. If you say her true name, I can free you.”

They’ve been…working? For me? Putting in effort to try to free me from a bond that cannot be broken? Inane. Pointless.

I force an unaffected smile at Lucien. “You’re all so smart.” I laugh. “Why would you do something as illogical as waste your time on me?”

“Zera—”

The sound of my name on his tongue is poisoned honey.

“I betrayed you,” I snap. “I betrayed all of you! How can you offer me anything, when I lied so much? So terribly? None of you should still care—” I swallow and pivot on my heel.

Enough. I’ve done them wrong. I’ve proven myself unworthy. They need to move on.

coward, the hunger sneers. a coward who won’t trust anyone, who won’t do the hard work of atoning, a cowardly girl who wants only to run away, where things are easy—

Yorl’s green eyes are narrowed squarely on Lucien. He looks over at me, and then mutters, “We need to go.”