Genevieve trailed behind Salem and Ophelia in the French Quarter as they headed to a favorite bookstore. Salem teased a street magician while Ophelia laughed against Salem, and Genevieve split off to buy pralines, absentmindedly fidgeting with her bracelet.

At the candy shop door, a beautiful stranger with amber eyes, unruly dark hair, and a gold hoop in his lip opened the door for Genevieve. A thick silver signet ring with an onyx face fell between them. When he picked it up and asked if it was hers, Genevieve dismissed it as something she would never wear, calling it hideous with his agreement. He studied her expectantly, his eyes briefly showing devastation when she did not respond as he seemed to hope. After she declined entering the shop, he wished her well and walked away.

As he departed, Genevieve felt an insistent pull to follow. She ran after him, called out, and claimed she had made a mistake—the ring was hers. Relief flickered over his face as he returned the ring to her. She thanked him and hurried off to find Ophelia and Salem.

Over the next two weeks, Genevieve suffered restless sleep filled with images of labyrinths, mirrors, and a shadowy companion, culminating in a brief vision of a man with gold eyes. Jolted awake after midnight, she retrieved the ugly ring from her vanity and slipped it onto her ring finger.

Instantly, memories surged back in a torrent: arriving at Enchantra’s gates, seeing Rowin’s face for the first time, putting on her wedding dress, their vows, their first kiss, and dying in Rowin’s arms. The rush drove her to her knees with pain as the recollections reknit themselves, but she welcomed the hurt because it meant Rowin had returned to her in memory, vision by vision.