It was a question Aerin had been avoiding, though the evidence was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Her dreams had been filled with memories that weren't her own—Mordaine's guilt and desperate love, her knowledge of fae magic that went far beyond anything Aerin had studied academically. And Leo's presence triggered responses in her that felt less like attraction and more like recognition, as if her soul was remembering someone it had loved and lost centuries ago.
"I think," she said carefully, "it means we need to be very careful about the choices we make and the trust we place in each other."
"Because you might betray me to save me, like she did to him?"
"Because I might already be compromised by the same corruption that influenced her, and not know it until it's too late."
Leo returned to his chair, studying her with the focused intensity that had become familiar over their days of working together. "Is that what you think? That you're being manipulated into some kind of betrayal?"
"I think I'm terrified of repeating Mordaine's mistakes while being drawn to you in ways that feel bigger than choice or logic." Aerin set aside her academic materials, deciding that honesty was more important than professional detachment. "I think the connection between us is real, but I'm not sure how much of it is genuine attraction and how much is magical manipulation designed to recreate the conditions that led to the original binding's corruption."
"So what do we do about it?"
"We stay focused on the research and try not to make any irreversible decisions about personal relationships until we understand what we're dealing with." Even as she spoke, Aerin knew the advice was more sensible than practical. The attraction between them had only grown stronger over the past few days, and the inn's magical amplification made every moment of proximity feel charged with possibility.
Leo nodded, though that he wasn’t convinced than she was about their ability to maintain professional distance. "Speaking of research, I had my own strange dream last night. Different from the usual nightmares about Marcus."
"What kind of strange?"
"I was in a forest clearing beside a natural pool, but everything felt ancient and wild in ways that don't match the current landscape. There was a binding circle made of black stone, and three figures working magic that made reality bend around them." Leo's voice took on the distant quality of someone reliving a vivid dream. "But I wasn't watching the ceremony. I was part of it. And I could feel something vast and hungry fighting against the containment spell, trying to break free."
"That sounds like Kieran's memories of the original binding," Aerin said, her pulse quickening with excitement and apprehension. "If you're accessing his ancestral memories, it means the reincarnation connection is stronger than we thought."
"It also means I'm probably not the most objective supervisor for this research," Leo pointed out grimly. "If I'm carrying Kieran's memories and you're carrying Mordaine's, how do we know we're not being manipulated into recreating their exact mistakes?"
It was a valid concern, one that had been growing stronger in Aerin's mind as the visions became more frequent and detailed. The attraction between them felt genuine, but it alsoaligned suspiciously well with the dynamic between Mordaine and Kieran. The question was whether they were falling into a destined pattern or being manipulated by forces that understood exactly how to exploit their psychological vulnerabilities.
"We make different choices," Aerin said finally. "We communicate instead of keeping secrets. We question our impulses instead of assuming they're trustworthy. And we remember that our primary responsibility is preventing a supernatural catastrophe, not working through the relationship issues of people who died centuries ago."
"Good plan," Leo agreed. "Think we can actually stick to it?"
"Honestly? Probably not entirely. But we can try to be honest about when we're failing and adjust accordingly."
They worked in companionable silence for the next hour, Aerin translating sections of Mordaine's encrypted journals while Leo reviewed incident reports from other founder sites. The domesticity of the arrangement felt dangerous in its appeal—too much like a partnership that extended beyond professional necessity into something more personal and lasting.
It was while Leo was reading about the Salem site failure that he made a sound of recognition that immediately caught Aerin's attention.
"What is it?" she asked, looking up from a passage about magical corruption detection methods.
"The Salem incident report. Listen to this: 'Lead investigator reported experiencing vivid dreams about binding ceremonies for three weeks prior to the containment failure. Dreams included specific details about ritual protocols and founder bloodline responsibilities that were not included in his briefing materials.' " Leo looked up from the tablet, his expression grim. "Sound familiar?"
"It sounds like the same pattern that affected your brother," Aerin said, feeling pieces of a larger puzzle clicking into place."The Mistbound uses the back door Mordaine created to send manipulative dreams to founder descendants, convincing them they need to 'help' or 'fix' something about the binding."
"And then uses their good intentions to weaken the seals from within," Leo concluded. "It's brilliant, in a completely terrifying way. Instead of fighting the bindings directly, it convinces the people responsible for maintaining them to sabotage their own defenses."
"Which means every founder descendant experiencing unusual dreams is potentially compromised," Aerin said, the implications making her stomach clench with anxiety. "Including us."
"Including us," Leo agreed. "Which raises the question of whether we can trust our own motivations for wanting to strengthen the betrayal sigil's defenses."
The question was an accusation, forcing both of them to examine their recent choices and the impulses driving their research. Aerin felt a chill of uncertainty as she considered the possibility that her scholarly enthusiasm might be camouflaged manipulation, her desire to help Mistwhisper Falls actually a carefully planted compulsion designed to serve the Mistbound's purposes.
"Leo," she said quietly, "what if we're being played? What if everything we think we're discovering is actually information the Mistbound wants us to find?"
"Then we're in serious trouble," Leo replied grimly. "But we're also the only people in a position to recognize the manipulation and potentially counter it."
"How do we know the difference between genuine insight and planted manipulation?"
"I don't know. But I think we start by questioning everything, especially the choices that feel most natural or inevitable." Leostood, pacing to the window again as if movement could help him think more clearly. "Including the attraction between us."
