to look at Queen Rhea. She'd been nagging me, telling me that I needed to get my memory now. Was she insane? How could she ask me to leave right now when my soulmate's life was in peril?

Her hand tightened around my arm and her face showed no room for argument. "You have to get it now. He won't be finished in an hour or two. You shouldn't waste your time here." Watching my face show no initiative of following her wish, she sighed. "Be smart, Sienna. Make a priority."

I couldn't believe she'd said that. After all her talk about how losing a soulmate was so unbearable that she even took her own life because of it, how could she say something like that? "You're a hypocrite." I shook my head in disbelief. "If you were in my shoes and he was your soulmate, would you leave him?" Her face confirmed it. "That's what I thought."

"But, Sienna-"

I cut her off before she could throw another argument. "No. My name is Avery and the man on the other side of that door is my soulmate, Vladimir. I'm sorry but you have to accept the fact that I'm no longer your sister. She had died centuries ago. I've gone through so many lives after that. I'm not the same person I was back then." I hated saying things that might hurt someone but it was better than telling lies. I breathed in and swallowed. "And to be honest, I don't think I will immediately turn into Sienna after I regained my memory. I was reborn many times and I was never the same as in my previous lives."

It was true. My personality and behavior constantly changed even though in previous lives I'd always ended up betraying my soulmate, but I was never the same person. With or without the memory, I'd still be Avery.

Queen Rhea turned and wrapped her arms around Zeus, sobbing as if I had slapped her. And maybe I did though it wasn't literal.

I felt someone's hand on my arm and turned. It was Adrian's. He'd been keeping his mouth shut once he realized the handsome man holding me earlier was Hades and the young man with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes was Zeus. "Go, Montgomery. I'll stay here and wait for him. If anything, I'll call you." His hand reached for his back pocket and pulled out a white iPhone. "It's my phone, take it. I'll call you using Renata's. She went to visit her father on the fifth floor but she should be back any minute now."

I took the cell phone hesitantly and shoved it into the front pocket of my jeans. Should I really leave him here? Could I? What if something happened and I wasn't here? What if he woke up, expecting to see me by his side, but I wasn't?

I gave in. "Fine." More than anything, I wanted to get this over with.

"You have to go with her," said Zeus all of a sudden.

"What?" Adrian blinked. "I mean, pardon?"

"You're that person she was supposed to betray her soulmate for, right? I made you the key to open the door." Zeus shrugged. "You have to come or else the door won't open."

Giving him a pointed look, I folded my arms. "Seriously?!"

He answered with another shrug before resting his head on Queen Rhea's and whispering soothing words to her.

I glanced about the hallway and saw Persephone clinging to my father's arm and glaring at every female who gazed at him. "Seffie, could you wait here and let me know if something is up?" I cursed under my breath. Whose phone she'd be using? I didn't even know if Persephone knew how to use a cell phone or not.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Renata walking towards us. Her brow raised slowly as she took in the view in front of her. Adrian followed my gaze and nodded. He walked towards her and explained the whole thing. In minutes, we were all set and on our way to High Royal Court with Spyridon following close behind. He'd said that we might need protection.

"How're you, Montgomery?" asked Adrian as we walked on the left side of the road, trying to avoid the crowd.

"I'm fine," I answered curtly.

He chuckled. "You're still a bad liar."

I didn't comment on that and asked him instead, "where did they find him? Did they catch those people who did this to him?"

"The CG swept the whole area including the woods. They said he was crawling his way to the road when one of them saw him." A frown formed on his forehead as he tried to recall something. "He wasn't alone. They said he was dragging someone along with him. I think his name is Klaus or Nicolas. The dude was unconscious though he wasn't injured as bad as Vlad yet Vlad insisted they took care of him first." Adrian shook his head. "He's noble to the point of absurdity."

A tear slipped out of one corner of my eye and I brushed it off with the back of my hand. Now was not the time to cry.

We arrived at High Royal Court five minutes later. Four guards stood in the front with one hand resting on the firearm inside the holster clung to their belt. After what had happened with the faction attack on the palace, they sure raised their security and stayed alert.

Spyridon flicked his hand and the guards opened the door for us to walk through. He was still their boss even when they didn't know he was a god in disguise.

I remembered the plain ivory wall and the two doors in front. An indigo blue on the left and deep red velvet on the right. "That red door." I nudged my head and the others followed. "There should be some sort of a box on the wall."

Adrian found it almost immediately. "I know this. I've dreamt of this before," he mused. Turning his head to Spyridon, he asked, "can I?"

Spyridon nodded his approval. Without wasting any time, Adrian punched long digits of numbers. I stared at him, amused. "How did you even remember?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. I just do."

The door swung open and I stepped inside. There were four more doors inside, but unlike the previous doors with nothing on it, these doors had the Pure Royal crest engraved on each one of them. A cloud with a lightning bolt in the middle on the Christoulakis' door while on Ambrosia's door, the crest was engraved to look like ocean waves with Poseidon's trident in the middle.

I walked past those doors and reached the last door. Hades'. I remembered my earlier thought, how I was not a fan of Hades, and thought that he was an evil god who managed the world of death.

How wrong I'd been?

In the middle of what looked like chaos, there was Hades' Helm of Darkness. I knew what I had to do next, I had to clean it up. My eyes searched for something that I could use to wipe the dust and spiderweb.

"Here." Adrian offered his handkerchief that I didn't even know he had.

"Thanks."

Once I wiped it clean, the door swung open. I hadn't been afraid the whole trip here but right now, with the door wide open in front of me, I felt nervous. I bit my bottom lip and closed my eyes briefly. Taking a deep calming breath, I walked inside. A sudden electric charge shot through my whole body the second my foot stepped inside.

Everything was pitch black. I braced myself and took another step inside. Each step I took was getting lighter and lighter. I only stopped when the front of my shoes hit something solid. I crouched down and picked up something round. Holding it tightly against my chest, I closed my eyes.

By the time my eyelids fluttered open, I remembered my whole life as Lady Sienna Rose Stavros.

And boy, it was a painful memory.

* * *

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