Chapter 104 - The Memory Returns
Sleep took Athena gently.
No fear.
No tension.
Just exhaustion and quiet.
But the moment her eyes closed, the darkness didn't stay dark.
It filled with light.
Soft, warm, golden light.
She was small again.
Not in fear.
In memory.
She stood in a wide stone courtyard she somehow recognized without knowing how. Wolves moved calmly through it, some injured, some laughing, some training. And at the center-
Her mother.
Kneeling beside a wounded wolf, hands glowing faintly with soft white light as torn flesh mended beneath her touch.
Athena remembered the feeling in her chest as she watched.
Pride.
Safety.
Love.
"You must never use this carelessly," her mother said gently, looking at her. "Healing is not just power. It is responsibility."
The scene shifted.
Her father now, tall and strong, kneeling in front of her with a map spread between them.
"Ruling is not control," he told her. "It is knowing when to protect and when to stand back."
She remembered nodding seriously, even though she had been too young to fully understand.
Then-
Her brother.
Older. Smiling. Tossing her into the air as she squealed with laughter.
"You'll be stronger than all of us one day," he teased.
The warmth in her chest tightened painfully.
The memory flickered.
Smoke.
Fire.
Her father shouting.
Her mother pushing her toward someone.
"Go!"
And then-
Victor's face.
Calm.
Watching.
Waiting.
Taking her.
The memory snapped like a branch breaking.
Athena bolted upright in bed, breath ragged.
Her heart pounded violently in her chest.
But she wasn't scared.
She was aware.
She remembered.
Her hands trembled as she pressed them to her face.
"He didn't come for me," she whispered into the dark.
Her eyes lifted slowly.
"He came for something else."