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Silence hung in the air, and none of the Wielders dared to continue the story.

“And then?” Mira prodded.

Amelia cleared her throat. “Well, I had missed what exactly transpired. I only saw the result. Dawson’s face was…well, Sullivan had done quite a bit of damage to it. Again, I didn’t know what happened in the lead-up, but Sullivan didn’t have a scratch on him. As if Dawson didn’t even fight back, which is not like him. Even if he’s in the wrong.”

Oliver seemed like such a gentle soul. Why would he get into a fistfight with an experienced Wielder? Even more so—why did Dawson not fight back?

Evren put a picture back on the wall. “We wanted to help him up, but he refused and just coin traveled away. Once we finally caught up with him, drunk as he was, he told us about transmuting your feelings and you finding out about it. He wanted to make you forget, but something went wrong. He thinks he used too much force with his spell and accidentally put you in a coma.”

“Where is he now?”

Amelia nervously played with her necklace. “We don’t know. During the first few days of your coma, he totally isolated himself at his estate. Drinking—even more than he usually does—and all he wanted was a quick update on how you were doing. When we didn’t have good news, he would kick us out. Then one day, he just disappeared.”

“Why was he so upset about putting me into a coma?” Mira wondered.

It wasn’t like Dawson had actually cared about her.

Amelia scoffed. “If you weren’t in a coma for nearly four weeks, I would smack you for making me talk about Dawson’s feelings. Not that he talks about them openly with us; we have to basically read between the lines, but…I can say he is very much in love with you. And I think that scares him more than anything.”

Aidric Dawson had been in love with her? Hearing those words should feel different, and yet it meant nothing to her. She didn’t even know him.

It all seemed so wrong. Like a sick joke someone was trying to play on her.

“If he actually loves me, then why would he transmute my emotions?”

“He didn’t,” Amelia responded forcefully. “There is no way he would do that.”

“But why would he confess to it then?” Mira wondered.

“Fuck if I know. We’ve been wondering the same thing. It makes no sense.”

Harrington picked up some books and put them back on a shelf. “He is very experienced when it comes to memory erasure. I just don’t understand why he would lie about the reason for erasing your memories.”

Mira bit her lip. “Maybe I found out something. Something he doesn’t want anyone else to know.”

Evren scoffed. “That sounds like Dawson.”

What secret had she uncovered that he would go to such drastic measures to contain? Did he work on a horrible potion like Synth? But then…something else didn’t make sense to her either.

“You said he’s an expert in erasing memories. Why did he erase so much? I read about the spell, and if the Wielder is good at what he does, he can erase specific moments. Take only seconds from your memories. He has wiped everything.”

“It is odd,” Evren agreed. “We’ve talked about that as well. We think he was too emotional. Maybe he was so worried about losing you, he accidentally erased too many memories.”

What had she found out? Maybe that was the key to it all?

“Are you trying to find him?” she asked.

Harrington put his hands in his pockets. “Of course. Obryn is as well. We haven’t been successful so far.” There was a pause, and his lip quirked into a grin. “Once upon a time, you could have found him for us.”

Evren shook his head. “Don’t.”

“What are you talking about?” Mira asked.

Harrington straightened a painting on the wall. “Turns out, when either one of you was on a mind-altering potion and coin traveled home, you would simply travel to each other.”

Dawson, the Wielder with the inhumanly cold eyes, was her home? A shudder went down her spine at the thought of it. He had erased her memories against her will. She wanted to see him face-to-face and yell at him. Most of all, she wanted answers.

“I could try,” she said.