Flora blew softly into my face.

“Let me borrow your soul.”

I couldn’t move.

Lucian appeared before me, lying in his hospital bed.

She walked toward him.

As she moved, she changed.

Into the woman I had been before I died.

She entered his dream.

I was taken with her.

In the world he refused to leave, I was alive.

Still in Fairhaven.

Traffic moved through familiar streets. Outside the Whitmore tower, a huge screen played one of my interviews.

I was still CEO.

Everything seemed unchanged.

Then I saw myself come out holding my mother’s hand.

Everything I had wanted and never had, he had given me here.

The scene changed.

Rosehaven.

A garden filled with yellow roses.

My favorite.

Lucian stood among them, sunset surrounding his figure.

He looked like a gentle shadow made of light.

“Daddy!”

A little girl ran through me and into his arms.

A red beauty mark sat beside her eye.

Like mine.

I stopped.

Our daughter?

She nestled against him.

“When are Mommy and Grandma coming back? I’ll be angry if they don’t hurry. It’s my birthday.”

“They’re preparing your surprise, Estelle.”

His voice was warm.

Estelle.

Another name for a star.

I tasted bitterness in my throat.

He picked two roses for her.

“Mommy will be here soon. Go and wait at the entrance for her.”

He coaxed the child away.

When she was gone, he slowly stood.

The tenderness on his face froze.

The sky changed.

Sunset vanished beneath dark clouds.

This was his dream.

He knew it better than anyone.

He had simply chosen to stay in the paradise he made.

Refused to wake.

The fool.

Tears filled my eyes.

“Come out.”

His voice was cold.

Flora appeared wearing my face.

“Luc.”

Even the voice was mine.

His pupils trembled.

“Stella…”

I tried to shout.

Tell him it wasn’t me.

No sound came.

I was trapped where I stood.

He couldn’t see me.

“It’s me.”

Flora approached and stroked his face with apparent concern.

“You can’t stay here. If you don’t wake within three days, your body will die.”

“But you aren’t in the real world.”

He sounded calm.

He understood what he was doing.

He had already chosen.

I hadn’t imagined he loved me enough to follow me into death.

Especially after the cruel things I said.

I regretted every word.

I should have told him I didn’t hate him.

That I didn’t love Julian.

That I wanted him alive.

“An earthbound spirit can bring me back,” Flora said urgently. “If you help it with one thing, I can live again. Be with you.”

“Really?”

He seemed to believe her.

“My body died, but my soul remains. The spirit has a hundred years of power. Enough to bring me back if you fulfill its wish.”

She kept tempting him.

“Don’t you want us together in the real world? Married? Children? A happy life?”

He brushed the back of his hand over her face.

“Of course. If it brings you back, I’ll do anything.”

Joy escaped through Flora’s expression.

“It wants someone found. Gabriel West. There’s an eclipse in seven days. Bring him to the ancient tree at Starlight Academy, and I can return.”

Lucian’s fingers moved to her neck.

“So the tree is what binds you here.”

His voice softened dangerously.

“You’re the earthbound spirit.”

We both froze.

His hand closed around her throat.

His face turned murderous.

“You come into my dream wearing her face to deceive me?”

His grip tightened.

“Looking to die again?”