Page 48 of Revenge of the Forgotten

Arlet met Vega’s gaze, grounding her. “Because sometimes we need to talk as bonded friends with no one else around… and this is one of those times.” Arlet steepled her fingers, looking down for only a second. “The men from the redwoods, they’re the commander and general of Tolevarre’s army.”

Vega felt the blood rush to her head. “Bridger is the commander of Marlena’s army?” He had been the one giving orders. Vega knew it wasn’t the other way around. “What… what happened between us?”

Khort’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I’m sorry. What did you just say?” He turned his head to Arlet. “I must be hearing things. How do you know his name?” he asked, pivoting back to Vega.

Arlet filled her cheeks with a bubble of air and deflated them slowly with a puff through her lips.

Vega’s eyes bounced back and forth between them. “Um, I… Arlet?” Her eyes stayed on Arlet, looking for help. Arlet and Khort glanced at each other. His jaw was set, clenched as the muscles in his face danced. His anger was distinct.

“I mean, what did you expect when I told you she was seeing pieces of her life? That Bridger wouldn’t be a part of that?” Arlet’s eyebrows drew together.

Vega couldn’t remember everything, but the things she could felt so real—even after years of telling herself that they weren’t, that her dreams were just a way to escape the past she couldn’t remember.

Khort’s jaw tensed more, and his mouth barely moved when he spoke. “You shouldn’t have left that part out.”

Arlet rolled her eyes so hard only the whites were visible. “Relax. I wanted time to process on my own why she was all of a sudden in this life getting her memories back naturally. Albeit slow and in small pieces, but still seeing bits… At first I thought it was the curse, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore. It’s never allowed her to see her life before, so why would it start now? And wouldn’t it do the opposite if it was the power running out? Wouldn’t it take from her, not give? I think it’s the bond. Our bond is unbreakable, the glue that holds us together. We’ve been changing, evolving over time since the bond was made. It’s like it always knows what we need, when we need it. What makes you think it would suddenly stop after all these years? It’s doing what it can to make us stronger.” Arlet pushed herself off the desk, squeezing Khort’s shoulder as if to give him a little warning to calm down.

“So having Vega remember Bridger is making us stronger?” Khort grumbled.

Her hand left his shoulder, her attention returning to Vega as she crossed the room to her. “Bridger is a bit of a sore subject around here, if ya can’t already tell.” Arlet spoke through the side of her mouth, eyeing Khort, whose lips were pursed in an unmistakable pout. She reached out to grab her hand, the same one with the brand around her wrist. Arlet’s index finger went to the ring on Vega’s hand. “He gave this to you in one of your earliest lives and promised to never give up on you.” Her finger grazed over the gold band. “You threw it into the sea a while back. I had someone find it. I knew we could use it.”

Vega watched as Arlet flipped her hand around to show her the underside of the ring. Arlet tapped the small band once with her finger. “His initials are inside if you look closely.”

Vega took the ring off and noticed the engraving for the first time.

BD.

How did I miss that?

Vega’s throat burned with bile as the ring fell to the cold floor with a tink. “Why would you give that back to me if you knew I didn’t want it?” She stared at the ring until it stopped spinning, settling at the toe of her boot.

“We need Bridger to win this,” Arlet told her, inciting a groan and the start of manic pacing from Khort.

“Bullshit,” he muttered.

Arlet shot a look to Khort. “Whether you want to believe it or not, Khort, it’s true. He’s bonded to us, all of us. Remus wouldn’t have included Bridger if he thought we could do it without him.”

Khort scoffed, shaking his head. “We don’t need him. We’ve never needed him.”

Arlet sighed, a sound of exhaustion. Vega wondered when the last time she’d gotten a full night's sleep was. “Bridger back on our side cripples Marlena.”

Khort fired back. “He can’t be trusted. We knew that from the very beginning.”

Vega listened to them pinball for a moment, taking in any bit of information she could.

Arlet stood up taller. “That’s because Bridger never wanted to have our backs. It was always about Vega. He was with us for Vega. He became our family because of Vega. Once she was gone, once he’d been broken down enough, tortured enough, of course he was easily manipulated. Marlena wanted him. She needed him. She knew what breaking the four of us up would do. I hate him for what he’s done to her, to us, but you can’t be blinded by your own anger enough to deny that Remus didn’t plan for us to be apart. To win, we need Bridger.”

“Wait, stop.” Vega took a step towards the two bickering friends. “Hey.” Their argument drowned out her meek interruption.

“Exactly! We don’t need someone so selfish on our side. Someone who’s only looking out for himself. Let him dig his own grave. Leave him where he belongs—with Marlena, where his soul will continue to rot until there’s nothing left of him.” Khort flicked his wrist, the one with his matching brand.

“We can use him, Khort.”

“Hello?” Vega waved her hands at them. The two continued to go at it, unaware she was even there. Vega crossed the room and picked up a ruler from the whiteboard’s rim, then slammed it against the board with a whack that echoed through the room. The flimsy wood snapped in two, splintering down the middle from strength Vega didn’t know she had.

Khort and Arlet jumped, their argument ceasing instantly.

“Thank you.” Vega smiled as she dropped the useless ruler to the floor, glad to have their attention. “Just because I can’t remember anything doesn’t mean either of you is going to make decisions for me.” Her eyes bounced between them now that she had their undivided attention. “Stop arguing and answer my question. Why did you give the ring back to me?”

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