Page 51 of Fade With Me

“Sadie, I really need your help,” I pleaded, urgency bleeding into my words, the pull of it squeezing at my heart. “It’s a matter of life or death.”

Her lips parted in surprise, but the hesitation was clear in the way she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her fingers nervously pulling at the hem of her sleeve. Her gaze skated over the ground before finally meeting mine, softening for just a moment, though a guarded look still lingered in her eyes.

She sighed, her shoulders slumping as the tension drained from her, but the sharpness remained. Rubbing a hand over her face, she muttered, “I’ll talk to you,” her voice weary. “But not with him here.”

I looked to Zeke, who raised his hands in an over-the-top gesture of surrender. “Alright, alright. I’ll just wait outside.”

We both watched him leave, the door clicking shut behind him. The sound echoed in the silence, and as soon as his footsteps faded, I turned back to Sadie. “Alright, I’m getting straight to the point.”

I held up my hand, showing her my wedding ring. The room seemed to shrink around me as I watched her face closely. “Do you recognize this?”

Sadie’s gaze zeroed in on the ruby, and her breath caught in her throat. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth, her expression frozen in disbelief. “No…that’s impossible.” The words rushed out, her fingers trembling, still pressed against her lips. “They were destroyed.”

A cold pressure settled in my sternum, and I had to fight to steady my breath. “They weren’t destroyed,” Isaid quietly, my voice tight with unspoken tension. “I’m not…exactly who I appear to be.”

I searched her face, hoping she'd understand, my fingers tracing the edge of the ring in a nervous rhythm. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I’m…” I paused, struggling to find the right words. “I’m like you…magical. I was taken against my will. This ring was forced onto me…and now, I've lost my memories, my powers.” My gaze dulled as frustration crept in. “I'm trapped here, Sadie. With no way out.”

Her expression hardened, jaw tensing as she turned away. Her eyes sank to the floor, arms folding tightly across her chest. “I’m not magical anymore,” she said, her voice low and distant, each word heavy with sorrow, as though the very thought caused her pain.

A knot twisted in my stomach, and I fought to keep the frustration from spilling over. I studied her features, searching for a trace of the friend I remembered—some sign she wasn’t capable of something like this.

“Did you really not notice I was wearing it before?” I asked, disbelief edging my voice. It didn’t make sense. How could she have missed it? It was the very reason she was here in the first place.

Sadie’s gaze dropped to the ring again, guilt flashing across her face before it twisted into something more raw. “I didn’t…I swear,” she whispered, jaw trembling. “After I was banished, everything blurred. My magic was ripped from me. RIPPED from me.” She repeated the word, each syllable jagged, nearly choking her. “Do you have any idea what that feels like? To have everything you are just…torn away? It’s like my soul was shredded. I was just trying to survive, to take care of Elysia…and watch her lose her powers, too. It shattered me, Bryn. I didn’t know…I didn’t know what you were.”

Her pain wasn’t just visible; it pulsed between us, thick and heavy, like heartbreak stitched into the silence. I could almost taste it.

I swallowed hard, the apology barely escaping my lips. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, the words hollow. They felt too small, insufficient to touch the weight of her loss. I struggled to stay grounded, the intensity of her suffering pulling at something deep within me. My thoughts scattered, but I forced them back together, fighting the tremor that threatened to rise. “You must know a way to remove the ring. There has to be something you can do.”

Her gaze drifted toward the window, distant and unfocused, as though she had slipped into a memory. She let out a slow breath, her shoulders relaxing slightly. “Separate the rings, and you break the curse,” she said, steady but with an undercurrent of resignation. “But I’m sure you already knew that.”

I pressed my fingers to my temples, a tight pressure building behind my eyes. “Therehasto be another way,” I muttered, more to the air than to anyone in particular. My voice cracked, a thread of desperation creeping in. “I can’t just fade myself out. I have no powers, and I don’t trust Zeke enough to put my life in his hands yet.”

Her eyes snapped up, sharp and alert, her posture going rigid. A muscle twitched in her jaw as her voice dropped to a low, deliberate tone. “That’s the only way,” she said, each word heavy with warning. Her gaze locked onto mine, charged with an intensity that made the space between us hum. “But listen, Bryn, I don’t know your story, or what history you have with him, but don’t trust anyone.Especiallythe ones who seem charming.”

She cut a glance toward the door. Her body stiffened, her stare settling on Zeke and lingering a beat too long. The sharp lines of her face turned to stone, and a faint curl of her lip was the only sign of the disgust that passed through her.

“My husband was as charming as they come,” she continued, her tone thick with bitterness. Her fingers curled inward, nails biting into her palms as she fought to stay composed. “The most dangerous ones always are. He set me up, betrayed me, and had me banished here. Now I’m paying for his crimes with my life. I’m innocent. Elysia’s innocent. If you let that man fade you, you may find yourself in a new cage, trapped forever.”

My mind was racing, a storm of thoughts tumbling over each other. Sadie’s story, her pain—it was all too familiar. She had been set up, manipulated, just like I had been. No way was she capable of what she was accusedof. If her husband had been anything like Reggie, then her words carried weight. Reggie could be charming, but he was twisted. He had done things to me, made me question myself, warped my sense of reality, and Sadie had likely experienced the same.

And then there was Zeke. Charming, effortlessly so. Could he be capable of the same things? Could he manipulate me the way Reggie had? The thought slipped in like a dark seed, rooting itself before I could stop it. I tried to shake it off, but the more I considered it, the harder it was to ignore. He was helping me, yes, but could I trust him fully? What if his plans for me were worse than Reggie’s? Isn’t it said you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer? The idea lingered, settling uneasily inside me like a whisper I couldn’t silence.

Sadie’s words cut through me, each one sinking deeper than the last. She was paying the price for someone else’s sins. The crushing force of her pain pressed against my chest, suffocating. My vision blurred, tears threatening to spill, but I forced them back, swallowing hard against the lump in my throat. I couldn’t let her see me break. I couldn’t afford to.

I reached across the counter, trembling as I gripped her hands tightly, like I could absorb her pain through touch alone. “Iwillget out of here. I’ll come back for you. For you and Elysia. I promise.”

The words barely held shape, fragile against the weight of what she’d endured, but it was all I had. And I would keep that promise, no matter the cost.

She pulled me close, wrapping me in a warm, tight hug that said everything without the need for words. Her body trembled slightly, and I felt the warmth of her breath against my neck as she whispered into my shoulder, her voice thick with emotion.

“Thank you.” Gratitude wove through her tone, but so did something else. “But please…be careful. This realm is crawling with followers of the Shadow King. They’ll stop at nothing to get what they want.”

I froze. The name struck like a bolt of ice, sending a shiver down my spine.

The Shadow King.

I bit the inside of my cheek, grounding myself in the sting. Little did she know…I was much closer to him than she could ever imagine.

---