The mont stretched, trembling on the edge of sothing unreal.
My mother stared at as though I were a ghost pulled from the depths of her own mory. Her hand tightened instinctively around Aiden’s frozen fingers, and for the first ti since the world had stopped breathing, she looked afraid.
"Jasmine?" she asked again, her voice barely louder than a whisper. "What are you doing here?"
The sound of my na on her lips shattered sothing in .
"I.... I don’t know," I said, my voice shaking. "I think... I think I’m dreaming. I’ve dreamt of you before. More than once."
Her brows knit together slowly, confusion turning sharp, alert.
"This isn’t a dream," she said carefully. "Not yours, at least."
The words slid down my spine like ice.
"What do you an?" I asked.
She glanced around us.
The figures, the suspended light, the paused mont of her life and then looked back at .
"You’re standing inside my mory," she said. "This already happened. Every word. Every choice."
My breath caught painfully in my throat.
"That’s not possible," I whispered.
"And yet here you are," she replied softly.
A chill settled deep in my bones.
"I wasn’t supposed to see you," I said suddenly, panic rising. "I was told that if I did... if I kept seeing you... you might be a wraith."
The word felt wrong in my mouth. Poisoned.
Her expression changed instantly.
Shock flashed across her face, raw and unguarded.
"A wraith?" she echoed. "Who would tell you sothing like that?"
I hesitated.
Her eyes widened slightly, sothing like recognition dawning.
"...Aiden," she said.
It wasn’t a question.
I took an instinctive step back, my heart hamring.
Her gaze flicked to him, still frozen mid breath, and then back to .
"No," she said firmly. "No, Jasmine. I am not a wraith."
I wanted to believe her.
Gods, I wanted to.
"There’s only one way you can prove it," I said, my voice trembling despite myself.
She didn’t interrupt.
"There was a song," I continued. "I sing. I don’t know where I know it from. But I believe it’s from you. If you are my mother you would sing it."
Her lips parted.
Then she smiled.
Not wide. Not triumphant.
Just... knowing.
"Of course I know it," she said softly.
She stepped closer, and the air around us seed to hum, as though the world itself leaned in to listen.
Then she sang.
Her voice was nothing like I rembered sound ever being. It flowed, low and haunting, threaded with sothing ancient and aching. The words unfurled slowly, carefully, wrapping around like a tide pulling ho.
Every note landed exactly where it was ant to.
Every word was right.
My knees nearly gave out.
Tears stread down my face unchecked as the last note faded into the frozen air.
"It’s you," I sobbed. "It’s really you."
She opened her arms just as I fell into them.
I clung to her like a child afraid to let go, burying my face against her shoulder, breathing her in warmth, salt, life. She held just as tightly, her hands trembling as they pressed into my back.
"My baby," she whispered. "I’ve waited so long."
"I thought you were gone," I cried. "I thought I imagined you. I thought sothing was trying to trick ."
She pulled back slightly, cupping my face.
"I am so sorry," she said. "For everything you’ve endured. For how alone you’ve been."
I laughed weakly through tears. "At least now I know I wasn’t losing my mind."
Her expression softened, but only for a mont.
Then it hardened into sothing grave.
"Jasmine," she said gently, releasing . "There’s sothing you need to understand."
My chest tightened.
"Your father is not who you think he is."
The words landed wrong. Crooked.
"I don’t understand," I said quickly. "He’s been kind to . He protected . He saved ."
"He was kind," she said quietly. "Once."
Was.
The past tense echoed painfully.
"What happened?" I asked.
Her jaw tightened.
"He found sothing," she said. "A stone."
My breath caught.
"A stone?"
She nodded. "One that should never have been touched. It carried power ant to create, not to rule. It corrupted him."
I shook my head. "That doesn’t make sense. He told stories about stones, about balance.....
He told you what suited him," she interrupted softly. "He was a good man, Jasmine. I loved him. Truly. But corruption doesn’t arrive as cruelty. It arrives as certainty."
The image of the ring flashed through my mind.
Jagged.
Red.
Broken.
"I saw it," I whispered. "A ring. With a red stone."
Her eyes widened in alarm.
"Oh no," she breathed.
"That’s it, isn’t it?" I asked. "That’s what you’re talking about."
She nodded slowly.
"That stone is cursed," she said. "It doesn’t just twist the mind. It convinces you that everything you do is necessary. That anyone who opposes you is an obstacle."
My head spun.
"That’s why you ran," I said numbly.
"Yes," she replied. "And because I realized what he was becoming. I couldn’t raise you in the shadow of that."
"I don’t understand," I whispered again, overwheld. "Why now? Why am I seeing all this?"
"Because you’re pregnant," she said. "Because your power is awakening. Because you are standing at the sa crossroads I once stood at."
Ti was waking.
The frozen people were slowly moving.
"There isn’t much ti," she said urgently. "I can’t explain everything. But you must listen to ."
I grabbed her hands. "Then tell what to do."
"Reach out to Bale," she said. "Your uncle."
I frowned. "Bale? But he....
"He will always choose you," she said firmly. "No matter what he’s done. No matter what he’s beco. He loves you."
The room trembled again.
The sound of breath returned.
A gasp.
Aiden’s fingers twitched.
"She’s waking up," my mother said quickly. "This mory can’t hold much longer."
Before I could explain to her that Bale was a monster.
I woke up.
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