The blood fell from Lyra’s palm.
One drop.
Then another.
Every drop that touched the floor transformed into a small black flower. The flowers grew rapidly, covering the entire room.
Lyra stepped back. “What’s happening?”
The shadow with her own face smiled.
“Your memories are beginning to return.”
“Then tell me who I am.”
“Not now.”
Elian stood in front of Lyra. He was still holding his sword, but his hand was trembling.
“Don’t come any closer,” he told the shadow.
The shadow looked at Elian. “You always protect her. Even after she killed you.”
“I didn’t kill anyone,” Lyra said.
“Really?”
One of the black flowers opened. Inside it, an image of a room appeared.
Lyra saw herself standing in front of Elian. Elian’s clothes were covered in blood. He was holding a small knife.
Elian knelt on the floor.
“Stab me,” Elian said.
The Lyra in the image shook her head. Tears streamed down her face.
“I can’t.”
“If you don’t, my mother will use my body to control everyone.”
“There has to be another way.”
“There isn’t.”
Elian took Lyra’s hand and pressed the knife against his own chest.
“Listen to me. After I die, take the Black Petal from my body.”
Lyra sobbed. “I’ll lose you.”
“No. You’ll only forget me.”
The image stopped.
Lyra covered her mouth. She was beginning to understand.
She hadn’t killed Elian because she hated him.
She had killed Elian because Elian himself had asked her to.
“No,” Elian whispered.
He stared at the image, his face pale.
“I remember.”
The black lines on his chest began to glow brighter. The black-eyed young man fell to his knees and clutched his head.
“Don’t remember!” he shouted.
But another voice rang out from every corner of the room.
“Let him remember.”
Queen Olyndra emerged from among the black flowers. This time, she wasn’t behind a mirror. She stood directly in front of them.
Lyra immediately pulled Elian behind her.
The queen smiled. “You’re still the same. Always protecting the wrong person.”
“Don’t call me your daughter.”
“Then call me your mother.”
Lyra clenched her fists. “You’re the one who caused all of this.”
“No. This all happened because you loved Elian too much.”
Elian looked at Lyra.
“Is that true?”
Lyra didn’t answer.
The queen walked closer. “You are the guardian of the Black Petal. Your duty is to protect the kingdom’s memories. But you betrayed us for the prince.”
“I saved him.”
“You destroyed him.”
The queen raised one finger. The black flowers on the floor moved like hands. They wrapped around Elian’s legs.
Lyra drew the small knife from her waist and cut through the flowers.
The queen laughed. “You still carry the same knife.”
Lyra looked at the knife. She didn’t remember ever having it.
Suddenly, Elian grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t use that knife.”
“Why?”
“I’m afraid.”
“Afraid of me?”
Elian shook his head. “Afraid you’ll ask me to die again.”
Those words left Lyra speechless.
The queen raised her hand. A black shadow emerged from Elian’s body and stood beside him.
“At last, you remember,” the shadow said.
Elian stared at it. “You’re my pain.”
“Not only that. I also hold one final memory.”
“What memory?”
The shadow pointed at Lyra.
“The memory of who you really killed that night.”
Lyra felt her body freeze.
“I killed Elian,” she said quietly. “No one else.”
The shadow shook its head.
“No.”
Queen Olyndra stopped smiling.
“Silence,” she said.
For the first time, the queen’s voice sounded afraid.
The shadow continued, “Elian didn’t die that night. The one who died was someone wearing his face.”
Elian looked at the queen. “Who did I kill?”
The queen moved quickly. She raised her hand and sent a red beam toward the shadow.
But Lyra stepped in front of it. The Black Petal in her hand opened wider.
The red light struck Lyra’s body.
She fell, but she wasn’t hurt.
Instead, all of Queen Olyndra’s memories entered Lyra’s body.
The queen screamed.
“No! You can’t see it!”
Lyra clutched her head. New images entered her mind.
She saw the night Elian was stabbed.
She saw Elian’s body fall.
She saw herself take the Black Petal from Elian’s chest.
Then she saw something that almost stopped her from breathing.
A young boy stood behind Elian’s body.
His face was exactly the same as Elian’s.
But that boy was Queen Olyndra.
Not as a mother.
But as a little girl who had once been a prince.
Lyra opened her eyes.
“Queen,” she said, “you’re not Elian’s mother.”
The queen didn’t answer.
“You are the first Elian.”
The room fell silent.
Elian stared at his mother with an empty expression.
Queen Olyndra smiled faintly.
“Now you know.”
The black shadow laughed.
“The prince you know has been dead for a long time.”
The queen held out her hand to Elian.
“Come here, my child. Return to the body that should be yours.”
The black lines on Elian’s chest turned into red light.
His body began moving toward the queen against his will.
Lyra tried to hold on to his hand, but Elian’s fingers slowly slipped free.
Elian looked at her.
“I may not remember you,” he said. “But I know one thing.”
“What?”
“I don’t want to go back to her.”
Elian gripped Lyra’s hand with all his strength.
The queen screamed in rage. “You have no choice!”
Lyra looked at the Black Petal in her hand. Her blood continued to flow.
Then she understood how to stop the queen.
She had to open all the memories.
Including the memory she most wanted to hide.
Lyra took a deep breath.
“Then I’ll remember everything.”
The Black Petal opened completely.
From within it came Lyra’s true voice.
“If you remember everything, you’ll also remember that you were the one who killed Elian.”
Lyra looked at Elian.
“I’m ready.”
The black flowers throughout the room exploded into light.
And from within that light came the voice of someone who should have already been dead.
“Lyra, don’t trust yourself.”