Chapter 127 The hard truth
Maya grabbed her shoulders. "Breathe, just breathe through it. The memories are trying to come back, don't fight them!"
"I… don't think I can, it's too much for me.“
“No, Lila it's not and you need to stay strong. You need to keep reading, you need to know the truth."
Lila shook her head violently. "I can't… It's too much." She pushed back the journal. “Maybe next time.“ Her heart racing rapidly.
"Then when? When you're stronger? You might never feel strong enough for this." Maya picked up the journal, holding it out. "But you deserve to know your own story. Even if it hurts."
Lila stared at the journal like it was a venomous snake. Part of her wanted to throw it away, burn it, destroy this evidence of a past she couldn't remember. But another part, a deeper part, needed to know.
She took the journal with trembling hands.
"Will you stay?" Her voice came out small, frightened. "While I read? I don't think I can do this alone."
"Of course." Maya settled beside her, an arm around Lila's shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere."
Lila opened the journal again. Began reading. Each entry was a piece of a puzzle she didn't know she was missing. Each word brought new pain, new understanding, new questions.
The entries detailed everything. The bond. The longing. The guilt. Lila's desperate attempts to stay away from Adrian while living in the same palace. The slow deterioration of Celeste's marriage. The growing tension between all three of them.
Then the entries stopped abruptly. The last one was dated the day before Celeste died.
"Something is wrong. Celeste has been acting strange. Paranoid. She keeps saying someone is watching her, that she's discovered something dangerous. She won't tell me what. She says it's safer if I don't know.
Adrian is worried too, though he hides it. I see the tension in his shoulders, the way his eyes track Celeste whenever she's in a room.
“I have a terrible feeling. Like something awful is about to happen and I'm powerless to stop it.“
“Moon Goddess, please keep my sister safe. Whatever I've done wrong, whatever sins I've committed by wanting what was hers, please don't punish her for my failures."
That was it. The final entry. The next page was blank.
Lila sat in silence, the journal heavy in her lap. Her mind raced, trying to connect fragments of memory with the written words. Trying to reconcile the person she was in these pages with the person she was now.
"I loved him," she whispered. "Before everything. I loved Adrian."
"And he loved you. Even if neither of you could act on it." Maya squeezed her shoulder. "Lila, whatever happened after Celeste died, whatever made you both forget, it wasn't natural. Someone did this to you. Someone wanted you and the King separated."
"Why?"
"I don't know, but I remember on the night of the rejection ceremony, that Gerrit was there. Despite being banished, he was there." Maya's voice hardened with determination. "I don't know the full details but Keal and Marcus are investigating. They'll find answers. You just need to stay alive long enough to hear them."
Lila closed the journal, holding it against her chest. The pain in her head had subsided to a dull ache. In its place was something else. Anger. At whoever had stolen her memories. At whoever had torn her and Adrian apart. At the years of suffering they'd both endured because someone decided their bond shouldn't exist.
"I want to remember," she said firmly. "All of it. Even if it hurts. I need to know what happened. I need to know who did this."
"Then we'll help you remember. Me, Sydney, Keal. We'll all help." Maya stood, pulling Lila up with her. "But for tonight, you need rest. Your ribs need to heal. And your mind needs time to process what you've learned."
Lila nodded, though she doubted sleep would come easily. Not with the journal's words echoing in her head. Not with the knowledge that she and Adrian had once been meant for each other, before someone tore them apart.
Maya left her alone with her thoughts and her journal. Lila lay back on her bed, staring at the ceiling, her mind whirling.
Somewhere in the palace, Adrian was probably doing the same. Staring at his own ceiling. Remembering things he wished he could forget. Fighting feelings he couldn't control.
They were mates. The Moon Goddess had chosen them for each other.
And someone had decided that wasn't acceptable.
Lila's hands clenched around the journal. She would find out who. She would remember everything. And she would make them pay for the years of suffering they'd caused.
This wasn't over. It was just beginning.