Page 49 of Hex and Scales

“I chose Ren then.” She advanced as George retreated, his shadows withering under her light. “I chose him now without even remembering why. I’ll always choosehim.”

The final blast of purified energy obliterated George completely. As the barrier shattered, Ren burst through the door in human form, dragon fire still crackling around him in ribbons of gold and crimson. The raw power of his magic made the air shimmer with heat, but Sabine only noticed his eyes.

Those beautiful golden-brown eyes that had haunted her dreams for so long - eyes she now remembered gazing into across candlelit dinners, during moonlit flights, in stolen moments between royal duties.

They stared at each other across her ruined shop where blackened crystals mixed with scattered frost. Past and present collided in her mind as centuries of memories clicked into place. Every casual touch that had made her magic spark. Every shared smile that had felt so achingly familiar. Every moment her heart had recognized his soul even when her mind couldn’t remember why.

“Ren.” His name fell from her lips like a prayer. How many times had she whispered it in that other life? In quiet moments when he held her close, his wings creating a private sanctuary for just the two of them. During formal ceremonies where they had to maintain proper distance, communicating only through subtle glances and hidden smiles. In their final moments together as poison stole her breath.

He took a halting step forward, hope and fear warring in his expression. “Sabine?”

But she saw the question in his eyes. The desperate need to know if she remembered. If she was truly both - the woman he’d loved and lost, and the one who’d captured his heart again despite his best efforts to keep it locked away.

“I remember everything.” Her voice broke on a sob. “The first time we met - you were so stoic and proper, but I caught you smiling when I teased you about your formal robes. Our first flight together when you showed me the sunset from above the clouds. The day we created our mating amulet, weaving our magic together...”

She pressed a hand to her chest where the locket had rested. “All these centuries, you kept your promise.”

A sound escaped him - something between a growl and a whimper. Two long strides brought him to her, his hands cupping her face with infinite tenderness. His thumbs brushed away tears she hadn’t realized she’d shed.

“I’m so sorry.” The words tumbled out as she gripped his wrists, needing to touch him, to anchor herself as two lifetimes of emotions crashed through her. “You were alone for so long. You carried that pain for centuries while I forgot everything. You had to watch me fall in love with you all over again without knowing why, when you never stopped loving me at all.”

“Shiara.” Her old name in his voice made her shiver. “Sabine. My mate - in any life, in any form. I would have waited millennia for you to find your way back to me.”

His forehead pressed against hers as dragon fire merged with ice magic in the air around them. The familiar way their power danced together brought fresh tears to her eyes. How many times had they done this before? How many spells had they crafted together, their magic harmonizing as perfectly as their hearts?

“I chose you.” She slid her hands up to frame his face, thumbs tracing the sharp line of his jaw. “Even without remembering, my soul knew yours. My magic reached for you. My heart...” Her voice caught. “My heart recognized its home.”

A tear slipped down his cheek. In eight hundred years, she wondered if anyone else had seen him cry. She brushed it away as he had done for her, remembering all the times she’d been the only one allowed to witness his vulnerability.

“When you walked into my shop that first day, my tigress recognized you instantly.” She smiled through her tears. “She kept trying to tell me ‘mate’ while I argued it couldn’t be possible. But she knew. Just like my magic knew. Just like my heart knew. I was always meant to find my way back to you.”

His hands slid into her hair, cradling her head as if she were infinitely precious. “I fought it so hard,” he admitted roughly. “Told myself it was impossible. That I was betraying your memory by feeling anything for another woman. But you were never another woman. You were always you - my brave, brilliant mate who chose me across lifetimes.”

She rose on her toes, barely a breath between them now. “I’m here.” Her fingers traced the line of tension in his jaw, soothing eight centuries of grief. “I remember everything, and I’m never leaving you again. No force in any universe could keep me from finding my way back to you.”

When their lips met, it was both familiar and new - the taste of his kiss unchanged across centuries, but now flavored with the relief of remembrance, the joy of reunion, the promise of a future unclouded by forgotten pasts. Their magic swirled around them in a dance of fire and frost, celebrating the reunion of two souls who had defied time itself to find each other again.

FORTY-THREE

Sunlight streamed through Witch’s Brew’s stained glass windows, painting rainbow patterns across their corner table. Sabine stirred her lavender-honey tea, very aware of Clover and Romi staring at her over their drinks. Neither had touched their pastries - a sure sign they were processing something major.

“So.” Romi tapped her fingers on her mug. “You’re telling us you’re actually the reincarnation of Ren’s dead mate?”

“When you say it like that, it sounds ridiculous.” Sabine couldn’t help smiling. After the intensity of the past few days, their familiar banter soothed something in her soul.

“It does sound a bit far-fetched,” Clover said carefully. Her emerald eyes studied Sabine with the same focused attention she gave rare magical plants. “Are you sure the trauma didn’t cause some kind of... hallucination?”

Sabine glanced around the café. At this hour, most tables sat empty except for a few regulars who wouldn’t bat an eye at magical displays. She held up her hand, calling on magic that felt both new and achingly familiar.

Golden light spiraled from her fingers, taking shape of a miniature dragon that flew circles around their heads. Its wingsscattered sparkles that transformed into tiny butterflies before fading away.

Romi’s jaw dropped. “That’s not ice magic.”

“No.” Sabine let the illusion dissolve. “That’s old magic. Witch magic. The kind I used when I was Shiara.”

“Holy sugar cookies.” Romi leaned forward, nearly knocking over her cinnamon latte. “You really are her. But how? When did you remember?”

“When Linus - George - stabbed me with that poisoned blade.” Sabine’s hand drifted to her birthmark. “The same way he killed me before. But this time, the magic in my father’s locket protected me. It held part of an amulet Ren and I created in my past life, plus all the protection spells both of them wove into it. When it shattered, everything came back.”

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