Maybe it was just his imagination, but Joshua could swear this headache was worse than any he'd had before.

Even now, fully awake, the pain throbbed relentlessly.

He reached up, almost without thinking, and his fingers brushed against a bandage wrapped around his head.

In that instant, memories came flooding back-rushing in like a tidal wave.

Joshua's mind cleared, and it all returned to him.

That stubborn illness, passed down through the Gardner family like some ancient curse etched into their very bones.

When the episodes hit, he'd lose all sense of himself. Had no idea what he was doing.

But once the haze lifted, the memories always returned. Every single thing he'd done.

Some in his family, in those lost moments, had killed the people they cared about most.

And when the reality hit them-when the memories snapped back into place-it drove them past the brink. They'd lose their minds completely, never to return.

Others, fearing that madness, had ended their own lives before it could claim them.

It seemed every head of the Gardner family was doomed to this fate.

The brighter, sharper the mind, the more likely it was to break. There were no exceptions.

features hardened. Instinctively, he scanned


had stopped,

beside him, bathing her in a gentle glow that made

Her eyes were closed, her head nodding as she drifted in and out of sleep. Except,

notice the dark circles under her eyes and the exhaustion

hadn't rested

the sleeping woman at his

time passed before Stella's arm, locked in that position for

before he could, Stella's eyes

met, and for a moment, both were caught

130

up the lamp on the table a gentle voice

you

belongs to s


are

and couldn't help but touch the bandage on

twitching

at her the wrong way

would come crashing

feeling better, Star... You can put the lamp

Stella studied his expression.

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