Aria dropped onto my bed, pressed her palms against her eyes. "It's worse than we thought."

"What do you mean?" I remained standing near the door, arms crossed.

Isabella moved to her usual chair by the window. "What did you find in those notes?"

"My mother." Aria's hands fell to her lap. "She's always been good at memory manipulation. Memory magic in general. Mnemomancy is the fancy term for it."

"That's normal for succubi her age." Isabella tilted her head. "Makes dealings with mortals easier. Plant a suggestion here, erase a memory there. Standard infiltration techniques."

"Right." Aria's fingers twisted together. "The issue is she's been using it on more than just mortals."

Isabella straightened. "Who else?" Her voice dropped half an octave. "She's not using it on demons. It doesn't work on us. Unless you're implying your mother wields True Magic?"

"No." Aria shook her head hard enough that her hair whipped across her shoulders. "If she could do that, she wouldn't need mnemomancy at all. But she found a way to use memory magic on demons anyway."

My stomach clenched. "You think Sombra manipulated Nyx's memories?"

"It's very possible." Aria pulled her knees up to her chest. "According to what I saw in her notes, she hasn't perfected the method yet. Still testing variables and working out limitations."

"What if she doesn't need it to work perfectly?" Isabella's fingers drummed against the chair's armrest. "Just nudge Nyx toward a specific outcome. Make her care about her father when she wouldn't otherwise."

"Could be." Aria rested her chin on her knees. "Or maybe those notes are old and she already figured it out completely."

I moved closer to the bed. "How does it work?"

"I don't know much." Aria's voice tightened with frustration. "It was way beyond my level. But she wrote something about changing memories in the body the same way she does with mortals."

"How would that work on demons?" Isabella leaned forward. "We'd end up with two sets of conflicting memories. Makes it obvious we've been tampered with. You can't erase or modify memories stored in the soul. And even if she only added new ones, the memories present just in the body would feel unreal. Like dreams instead of experiences."

"There was more about that." Aria pressed her fingertips against her temples. "Something about interference. Destructive patterns maybe? I didn't fully understand it and I didn't have time to copy the notes." She looked up at us. "I couldn't bring them with me either. Sombra would notice if anything went missing."

Silence stretched through the room.

"For all we know." Aria's laugh came out hollow. "This might not even be the first time I've found those notes."

The implications settled over us like ash. If Sombra had perfected the technique, she could have used it on Aria already. Multiple times. We'd never know.

"Shit." I sat on the edge of the bed. "That's terrifying."

"Yeah." Aria dropped her forehead against her knees. "I hate not knowing what's real anymore."

The vulnerability in her voice cut deeper than any blade could.

I thought about Nyx. About how she might be carrying false memories right now, believing things about her father that never happened. Feeling emotions manufactured by someone else's magic.

"We'll need proper evidence to prove this to the teachers." I looked between them. "Something that doesn't implicate Nyx herself."

"The notes would work." Isabella's fingers stilled against the armrest. "But you said you couldn't get them."

"Not without Sombra noticing." Aria lifted her head. "She knows where everything is in that workshop. Down to the last scrap of parchment." Her gaze found mine. "Besides, why do we even care about Nyx? Just tell Moira. She'll listen to you, Lily. She knows who you are."

The callousness in her tone reminded me that demons didn't default to altruism. Protecting Nyx served no obvious purpose.

"Because Nyx is working for me." Isabella's words cut through the moment. "She's conducting research in the ninth circle under Lilitu patronage. My recommendation got her that position." Her jaw tightened. "If she's found implicated with House Viridia, it reflects poorly on my judgment. My reputation suffers."

I stayed silent. Let Isabella's reasoning stand as the official explanation even though my own motivations ran deeper. Something about Nyx being manipulated, controlled through manufactured emotions, didn't sit with me in ways I didn't want to examine.

"We need a different approach." I shifted on the bed. "Something that doesn't require stealing from Sombra's workshop."

"What about convincing Nyx to help us, to testify?" The words came out before I'd fully thought them through.

"Won't work." Aria's response came immediate and flat. "I'm certain my mother made sure of that. Whatever she did to Nyx's memories, it'll include safeguards."

"Then we lure Nyx somewhere and kill her." Isabella's suggestion dropped into the conversation like a stone into still water. "If the fake memories are stored only in her physical form, reformation should purge them. She'll wake up in Hell with her real memories intact."

"That'd take too long." I frowned. "Weeks at minimum for her to reform."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Not if we do it outside Hell." Isabella's lips curved upward. "Kill her on Earth or another realm. She reforms here within hours instead of weeks."

Aria sat up straighter. "We'd need to get her to leave Hell first."

"Easy enough." Isabella stood and moved to my desk, pulled out a blank sheet of parchment. "Tell her we've discovered information about her father. Offer to show her proof on Earth."

"She'd be suspicious." I watched Isabella's hand move across the page, sketching out preliminary notes.

"Not if the message comes from someone she trusts." Aria joined Isabella at the desk. "Or someone she fears."

The three of us leaned over the parchment as the plan took shape.

* * *

Two hours later, the parchment on my desk held crossed-out lines and revised strategies. The plan had evolved through multiple iterations, each version addressing new complications we'd identified.

Isabella set down her quill. "I need to go back to my place."

I looked up from the notes. "Everything alright?"

"I need to think this through properly." She pushed back from the desk, the chair scraping against the floor. "I honestly believe this is above us, Lily."

The admission surprised me. Isabella rarely backed away from challenges.

"You're probably right." I gathered the scattered pages into a neat stack. "Perhaps I'll just talk to my parents about it."

"That's a good idea." Isabella moved toward the door, her footsteps even and measured across the carpet. "They have resources we don't. Experience with this type of manipulation."

Aria sat cross-legged on the bed, her gaze fixed somewhere beyond the walls. She hadn't contributed to the last thirty minutes of planning, hadn't interjected with her usual observations or questions.

I watched the stillness in her shoulders, the way her fingers rested loose against her knees. The energy that normally radiated from her had dimmed to something quieter.

"I'll see you both tomorrow." Isabella paused at the doorway, her hand against the frame. "Try not to do anything reckless before then."

The corner of my mouth lifted. "When have I ever been reckless?"

"Constantly." Isabella's expression remained serious despite the banter. "Goodnight, Lily. Aria."

Aria's head turned toward the door. "Night."

The single word came out flat. Absent of her usual warmth.

Isabella's gaze lingered on Aria for three heartbeats before she stepped into the corridor. The door clicked shut behind her.

Silence filled the room.

I set the notes aside and moved to sit beside Aria on the bed. The mattress dipped under my weight. Close enough that our shoulders almost touched, far enough to give her space if she needed it.

Her eyes stayed fixed on the same invisible point they'd been tracking since Isabella's announcement. Whatever thoughts churned behind them remained locked away.

"Hey." I kept my voice quiet. "You okay?"

Aria's fingers curled against her thighs. The knuckles went white for a moment before relaxing again.

"Just thinking." Her tail moved in slow patterns across the sheets. Back and forth. A metronome counting seconds she wasn't ready to fill with words.

I waited.

* * *

The silence stretched between us. Aria's breathing stayed even, controlled. The kind of control that took effort to maintain.

Her tail stopped moving.

"Honestly?" She turned to face me. "I feel like shit."

The bluntness of it hit harder than if she'd tried to soften the admission. Her violet eyes held mine, and I saw something raw there. Something I'd never seen in Aria before.

"What if I don't remember my past?" Her voice dropped lower. "What if everything I know about myself is just Sombra's fabrication? What if none of it's real?"

My chest tightened. The question carried weight I recognized. The same weight that had crushed me during those first weeks in this body.

"I never thought about it before." Aria's fingers twisted together in her lap. "Because why would I? I had my memories. I knew who I was. Where I came from. But now…"

"I know the feeling." The words came out quieter than I intended. "Not knowing who you are. What's real and what's not."

"How would you kno—" Aria stopped. Her eyes widened slightly. "Oh. Right."

The realization settled over her features. The knowledge of what I'd told her months ago. About being Liam. About waking up in this body with no memories of being Lily, only to have them start returning later. About the uncertainty of which identity was real and which was the illusion.

"Yeah." I let the single word carry all the complexity it needed to.

We sat there, the weight of shared understanding between us. Two people questioning the foundations of their own existence.

"It's terrifying," Aria said, "The thought that I might not be who I think I am. That someone could have just… made me up. Created this personality, these memories, these feelings." Her hands shook as she pressed them against her thighs. "What if the real me is buried somewhere underneath all of Sombra's lies? Or worse—what if there is no real me? What if I'm just her creation from the start?"

I reached over and placed my hand over hers. Her skin felt cold despite the warmth of the room.

"Even if your past was fabricated," I said slowly, choosing each word with care, "the person you are now is real. The choices you've made, the friendships you've built, the way you care about people even when you pretend you don't—that's all you. Not Sombra."

"But how do I know?" A single tear traced down Aria's cheek. She didn't bother wiping it away. "How do I know that anything I feel is genuine when my entire foundation might be false?"

The vulnerability in her question made my throat tight. In Hell, showing this kind of emotion was dangerous. It exposed weakness that could be exploited, turned into a weapon against you. The fact that Aria was letting me see this—letting herself feel this in front of me—spoke to a trust deeper than anything words could convey.

"Because I know you," I said, my own voice roughening with emotion. "I've seen you make choices that had nothing to do with fabricated memories. You risked yourself for me. You stood beside me against Cain. You've been there for Isabella and me, for everyone you care about." I squeezed her hand. "Those actions came from you. From your heart. Not from anything Sombra planted."

"What if my heart is fake too?" The question came out broken.

"Then mine is too." I met her eyes. "Because I don't know if I was Liam who became Lily, Lily who somehow lived as Liam, or both. I don't know which memories to trust. But what I do know is that right now, in this moment, I'm here with my best friend. And that feels more real than anything else."

Aria's breath hitched. She turned her hand over in mine, our fingers intertwining. The tears flowed freely now, streaking black makeup down her cheeks.

"Thank you," she whispered.

I pulled her into an embrace. She buried her face against my shoulder, her body shaking with silent sobs. I held her tighter, one hand moving to stroke her hair.

We stayed like that, two succubi allowing themselves to be vulnerable in a world that punished such openness. The moment stretched, precious in its rarity.

Finally, Aria pulled back. She wiped at her face, smearing the black makeup further. A shaky laugh escaped her lips.

"Gods, I must look like a mess."

"You look like someone who just had a breakdown," I said gently. "Which is perfectly reasonable given the circumstances."

Aria took a deep breath, then another. Her shoulders straightened. The familiar spark began returning to her eyes.

"Bellas!" she called out, her voice carrying across the room with renewed energy. "Get your gorgeous ass over here. I need a good fuck to clear my mind."

I couldn't help but smile. "That's my Aria."

She turned to me, grabbed my face between her hands, and pulled me into a kiss. Her lips pressed hard against mine, demanding, fierce. The taste of salt from her tears mingled with the rich sweetness that was uniquely hers.

When she pulled back, her grin had returned. Not quite as bright as usual, but getting there.

"You're not getting out of this either, Princess."

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