Eloise's POV
The world around me was shifting.
I felt it the moment the last page settled in my hands. A pull—deep, relentless—like the tide dragging me away from the shore.
No.
Not now.
I turned to Caius, my heart pounding. He was still holding my hand, his grip strong, but I could feel it—his warmth slipping away from me. The colors of the world blurred, darkened, like ink bleeding across a page.
"Eloise?" His voice was sharp with concern, his other hand reaching to steady me.
I gasped, suddenly light-headed. The pull was growing stronger, clawing at me, demanding me back.
Back to where I came from.
Back to the life I had forgotten.
"No," I whispered, shaking my head. "No, no, no—it's not supposed to be like this."
Caius's brows furrowed. "What's happening?"
Tears welled in my eyes as the realization crashed over me like a wave. "I'm being pulled back," I choked out. "Back to my world."
His expression darkened, panic flashing across his face for the first time. "Then fight it."
I laughed bitterly, even as tears slipped down my cheeks. "I can't." My voice broke. "This was never meant to be forever, was it?"
His grip on me tightened, desperate now. "No." His voice was low, fierce. "I won't let you go."
My body trembled as the force pulling me grew unbearable, my vision flickering between this world and the one I had left behind. Shadows of my old life bled into the edges of my sight—my apartment, my books, the hum of the city beyond my window.
This was real.
He was real.
But I was losing him.
I reached for him with both hands, fingers digging into the fabric of his tunic, memorizing the warmth of his body, the scent of steel and earth that clung to him. "Caius, I—"
He crushed me against his chest before I could finish. His arms wrapped around me, strong and unyielding, as if he could hold me here by sheer will alone.
And then, before I could even think—
His lips were on mine.
Desperate. Fierce.
A kiss that was everything—anger, sorrow, love, and the unbearable ache of goodbye.
I kissed him back just as hard, pouring everything into it—every unsaid word, every moment we had shared, every piece of my heart that would never belong to anyone else.
The pull became unbearable.
My fingers slipped from his tunic. My body became weightless.
The last thing I saw was Caius's face—his golden eyes burning with unspoken words, with pain, with love.
And then—
Darkness.
Silence.
Nothing.
————-
Caius's POV
She was gone.
One moment, she was in my arms—warm, trembling, so heartbreakingly alive. The next, she vanished like mist in the morning sun.
My arms were empty.
The silence was deafening.
I stood frozen in place, my breath ragged, my heart pounding as if it hadn't realized she was already lost. My hands reached out, desperate to pull her back, but there was nothing to hold.
Nothing.
The air where she had been was still warm. Her scent still lingered—faint, fleeting. But she was gone.
I staggered back a step, then another, my legs weak beneath me. My vision blurred, my mind screaming at me to do something. Find her. Bring her back. Fix this.
But how?
How do you fight against something that isn't meant to be changed?
A sharp pain shot through my chest, worse than any wound I had ever endured. Worse than any battle, worse than death itself. I had lost her once before when I thought I could never love again. But this—this was cruel.
Because I had dared to love her.
And she had loved me too.
I sank to my knees, hands clenching into fists, digging into the earth as if I could somehow anchor myself. My breath was uneven, broken. I had promised myself long ago that I would never break again. But I did.
A choked sound escaped me—a guttural, raw cry that no one would hear.
Eloise was gone.
And this time, I had no way to bring her back.