They reached the edge of the Dead Marches on the night the fourth moon began to wane.
The land here was wrong: black soil that drank water, trees twisted into screaming shapes, air thick with the smell of old graves. No birds sang. Even the wind sounded like weeping.
Star dismounted first, boots sinking into the soft earth. His birthmark had been burning since dawn, a steady throb that matched his heartbeat.
Elandor came to his side, hand on the small of his back.
"You feel it too," Star said. It wasn't a question.
"The pull," Elandor answered. "Like something's calling your name from under the ground."
Duchess Calera scanned the horizon, face grim. "The Cairn is three miles north. We camp here tonight. No fires."
Lila nodded, already unpacking bedrolls. Thorne stood apart, mask reflecting the dying light like a shard of ice.
Star couldn't settle. He walked the perimeter alone, sword loose in his hand. The hollow places in his chest ached worse here: the farm gone, the first "I love you" gone, and now a third emptiness he couldn't name but felt like a bruise on his soul.
He stopped at a dead tree, pressed his palm to the bark. It was warm. Pulsing.
A voice spoke behind him—not sound, but inside his skull.
Little star.
Come closer.
I have something that belongs to you.
Star spun, sword up. Nothing but mist.
Elandor was there in seconds. "What is it?"
"He's calling me," Star said. "Cassian. He has… the next memory ready."
Elandor's face went hard. "Then we don't give him the chance."
They didn't sleep.
At the first hint of false dawn, they rode.
The Cairn appeared suddenly: a perfect circle of thirteen standing stones, each taller than a house, carved with symbols that hurt to look at. Green fire burned in a ring at the center. Cassian waited alone, hands folded, smiling like a patient tutor.
The Dreaming Queen was nowhere in sight.
"Welcome," Cassian said. His voice carried without effort, beautiful and terrible. "I thought you'd come early. Eagerness is so charming."
Elandor dismounted, sword drawn. "Give back what you stole."
Cassian tilted his head. "I could. For a price."
Star stepped forward. "Name it."
"One memory freely given," Cassian said. "Not taken in dream. Offered while you're awake. In exchange, I return all three I hold."
Star felt Elandor tense beside him.
"What memory?" Star asked.
Cassian's void eyes gleamed.
"The moment you realized you would die for him."
Star's breath stopped.
He knew exactly which moment Cassian meant.
The instant the arrow left the bow in the forest. The split-second choice: step aside and live, or step in front and maybe die. The calm that had flooded him when he chose Elandor over his own life.
That certainty was the deepest part of who he was now.
Elandor's hand found his, grip bruising.
"Don't," Elandor whispered. "We'll find another way."
But Star looked at Cassian and saw the truth.
There was no other way.
If he lost that memory, he would lose the core of why he fought. Why he loved. Why he had changed from a boy who wanted a quiet farm to a man who would burn the world to keep Elandor safe.
He would lose himself.
Star pulled his hand free and stepped forward.
"Take it," he said.
Elandor lunged to stop him. "Star—no!"
Too late.
Cassian's smile widened. He lifted one pale hand.
The memory tore away.
Not gentle. Not clean.
Star screamed as the moment ripped out of him: the arrow's whistle, the calm choice, the fierce joy of stepping in front of death for love. Gone. A gaping wound in its place.
He fell to his knees in the black dirt.
Elandor caught him, roaring Cassian's name.
Cassian opened his hand. Three glowing threads hovered above his palm: the farm, the first confession, the moment of sacrifice.
Then he closed his fist.
The threads vanished into the void of his sleeve.
"Payment declined," he said softly. "I lied."
The green fire flared high.
The standing stones screamed.
And the Dreaming Queen stepped out of the flames, smiling like a mother proud of her cruelest child.
"Four memories left," Cassian said. "But now you know I don't bargain."
Elandor stood, sword raised, Star cradled against his side.
"Then we stop bargaining," Elandor said, voice deadly calm. "We end you."
Cassian laughed, beautiful and empty.
"Try," he invited.
The fire roared higher.
The fourth moon set.
And the war for Star's soul truly began.