Love, Not Lost To Memory

After giving birth to twins for the powerful Todd family, Vera Bell is drained of her blood in the delivery room to save their chosen heir, Finn Todd—leaving her lifeless, clutching a blood-stained lucky charm. Seven years later, mute and stripped of her memory, Vera survives by scavenging while raising her daughter, Grace Bell.

Love, Not Lost To Memory

After giving birth to twins for the powerful Todd family, Vera Bell is drained of her blood in the delivery room to save their chosen heir, Finn Todd—leaving her lifeless, clutching a blood-stained lucky charm. Seven years later, mute and stripped of her memory, Vera survives by scavenging while raising her daughter, Grace Bell.

The snow bites my fingers as I claw through the frozen grate beneath the old chapel. Inside, candlelight flickers behind stained glass, painting saints in blood-red hues. I press close, breath fogging the stone. There—Grace, small and barefoot, kneeling beside Finn Todd at the altar. His hand rests over her heart. Lydia chants in Low Archaic, the words slithering into my skull: 'By vessel spent, by blood restored, let life renew, let death fall short.'

My chest burns. Not again. Not my daughter. I still wear the cracked locket they missed, the one with Grace’s real birth seal inside. They think I’m just a scavenger. A ghost. But ghosts remember how to burn.

I have seconds before the guards make their round. I can trigger the collapse of the eastern tunnel—trap them all below. Or slip in silent, grab Grace, and run toward the border woods where the trackers can’t follow. Or… I can wait. Steal the ceremonial dagger. Let the ritual complete—and kill Finn when his eyes glow gold with stolen life.