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It was important to her. Whoever had done this had cost her months of her life.

“Why was I unconscious?”

Erasing a person’s memory only knocked them out temporarily.

The Highmage continued writing things down in her file, and she wanted to snatch it from his hands and read every last word of it. “We’re trying to figure that out,” he said. “Perhaps it has to do with the forcefulness of the spell or the number of memories that were erased. I don’t believe it was the person’s intent to erase all your recent memories.”

“How long was I out?”

Obryn studied her with concern. This wasn’t good. Had it been a full day? She was hoping only hours. The Highmage looked back at her chart and read: “Three weeks, five days, and seven hours.”

“A month?” she shrieked, and looked at Ella for help, but her friend just stared back at her with worry.

“We’re slowly going to reintroduce memories from the last few months to you,” Obryn explained.

Her head hurt even more now. Pain splintered her brain. She placed the palms of her hands against her eyes. Different images popped up only to break, like ice. If she focused, she was sure she could make sense of it all. She was just so confused.

“I was afraid that might happen,” Obryn said, and then a healer cast a calming spell. The throbbing pain in Mira’s head eased a bit, but she also lost her focus and the images slipped away. “Give her direweed.”

No, she had to remember.

It was right there. She knew it. She was just too exhausted and overwhelmed, but then her body relaxed, her worries drifted away, and everything felt cloudlike.

—

She woke to Ella and a man talking in hushed voices by the foot of her bed.

“Still no news from Dawson?” Ella asked him.

“Nothing. He disappeared.”

“Obryn said he asked him for daily updates about Mira.”

The stranger scoffed. “He deserves the heartache he gets from this. If there is a heart in that vacant chest of his.”

Dawson. She knew that name. Arthur Dawson. Financier during the war. What did he have to do with this?

Ella looked over. “Thank the spheres!” She rushed to Mira’s side and took her hand. “How are you?”

“I feel like I got hit over the head with a large object. How long was I out this time?”

“Just an hour,” Ella said. “Obryn had to sedate you because it became too much for you, so let’s just take it easy.”

The man with honey-gold hair and glasses smiled at her as he handed her a cup of water.

“You probably don’t remember me,” he said. “I’m Oliver. But I’ll let you two catch up.” He squeezed Ella’s shoulder and walked away.

“Why were you talking about Dawson?” Mira asked, sitting up, and Oliver stopped mid-walk.

“Well,” Oliver began, “he is the one who made you forget.”

She almost spat out her water. “Arthur Dawson? Isn’t he in prison?”

He cleared his throat. “Not him. His son. Aidric Dawson.”

“Oh.” It caught her off guard that she apparently knew this person yet had zero recollection of who he was. “Okay, so why did the younger Dawson use the spell on me?” Ella and Oliver exchanged glances again. “You can tell me. I need to know what happened.”

Ella nodded. “You two were somewhat of an item.”