We stood in the center of the Blood Orchard, both alive but changed.
Astro's hand remained solid in mine, his heartbeat steady against my palm where I pressed it to his chest. Proof he was real. Here. Not dissolving back into death.
But the cost lingered between us like a third presence.
I couldn't remember my mother's face.
The realization hit me suddenly, brutally. I knew I had a mother. Knew she'd died. Knew she'd loved me. But when I tried to picture her features, there was only blur. Only absence.
The orchard had taken that.
Traded it for Astro's resurrection.
"Haven." His voice pulled me back. "Your eyes. They're doing that thing again."
"What thing?"
"Going distant. Like you're trying to remember something that isn't there anymore."
I pulled my hand away from his chest, wrapping my arms around myself. The orchard stretched in every direction, trees heavy with glowing fruit. Red petals drifted through air that smelled like copper and roses.
Like blood and longing.
