"Credence...Credence! Wake up, child!"

The Queen's voice roused her from a dreamless void.

Credence was still inside the vault, behind the third door. Galeia's statue stood over her with the black orb nestled in her hand.

The last of Ajo's secrets was revealed, and all his memories, both beautiful and horrifying, were known to Credence. She had lived his entire life and his journey had become a part of hers.

How long had she been inside the vault? Minutes? Days? More?

The thought of time made her feel uneasy.

The thought of anything else made her stomach threaten to empty.

She could not stop the sobs that escaped her, and she wept for a long while as the image of Ma's corpse remained vivid in her mind.

Those gray eyes, identical to her own, staring ahead...

Credence yearned to see the sky again but was hesitant to leave.

Ajo was waiting outside the vault, ready to begin their life together. He warned her not to go inside. He begged her to remember that he loved her. She had given her word, and now, no matter what she had seen, she had to accept him.

But she could not endure a future where she carried his suffering alone.

"Credence," the Queen softly called, startling the girl who had almost forgotten the monarch was there. "Tell me your thoughts."

Credence swallowed. "I knew he killed her, but..."

"It's another thing to see it."

"Yes." Credence winced. "Why didn't you stop him? Why did you allow everything to happen?"

"Their mistakes were their own. I was angry with Galeia and Ajo, and horrified by what had passed between them. But they were no longer children, and I believed they would come to understand what they had done and see reason. I was certain I had raised them to...I thought they would learn from their failures." The Queen shook her head. "I never imagined Ajo would be capable of taking her life."

"Galeia took his first," Credence answered in a low, bitter voice. "She was just as much a villain in their story."

"Do her mistakes justify her death?"

"Of course not, but he's trying to make things right."

"If he could do that to the woman he loved—"

"He didn't love her, not really." Credence considered her next words carefully before speaking them. "Ajo cared for her, strongly, but his feelings had no compromise. He couldn't hear her refusal without growing vengeful. That's not real love, your majesty. Real love weathers the storms and sun together. Ajo's heard my refusal many times, but he's remained understanding and gentle. My love gave him the capacity to become more than a monster. That is why I know what he feels for me is real."

"You will marry him after what you've seen?"

"I promised I would leave as his bride."

"You couldn't have known what a difficult promise that would be."

"I have no intention of breaking it. Ajo said I would hate him for what I found in this vault. But I don't. I feel...pity. I mourn the prince who had the world taken from him. I even mourn the creature who was driven to..."

She could not finish the thought.

"It may sound foolish to you, but I love him. What I've seen has not diminished that, or it would have been a fragile love. I will marry him, not because I promised. Because I want to. I believe in our love."

The Queen gave a solemn nod.

"Allow me to impart one last piece of advice: Have all or none of him. The memories in this vault are who he is, whether he admits it or not. Ajo will have all of you, won't he? He should give you the same."

"What will he become when he takes them back?" 

"What are you afraid of?"

"He locked these memories away for a reason. I do not wish for him to be consumed by grief."

"Shouldn't your love be enough to overcome it? Or are you afraid of what might happen if he remembers all of Galeia? If he refuses to know himself, you might as well give your heart to a puppet, for you will not have the true Ajo, but a façade."

Ajo had begged her to leave what she found in the vault behind her, but she could not do that. She could not forget, no more than she could pour her mind into bottles and bowls.

"There should be no doubt in your heart."

The Queen was right. If Credence gave all of herself to Ajo, he should do the same—and her love would give him the strength to conquer his regrets. Ajo did not love Galeia, but the great shame of what he had done to her still held him captive. It was well past time, Credence decided, for Ajo to come to terms with it. And there was still the question of how he would atone for his sins, but Credence was sure that together they would find an answer for that, too.

"There is no doubt in my heart," Credence answered.

She glanced at the black orb in the statue's hand.

"I may require help, your highness."

"I will give it once I am free."

"I'll see to that, but I ask you to keep your own revenge from surfacing, so Ajo may prove himself a changed, repentant king."

The bells sang under the movement of the Queen's solemn nod. Credence left the room and began to ascend the stairs, murmuring as she went.

"All of Ajo or none of him."

***

The night air hit Credence's face. She took a deep breath of it, welcoming its chill in her lungs.

Ajo was waiting, his face filled with worry, like he expected Credence to confront him with rage. 

It was a bewildering thing for Credence to see him after her venture into the vault. He looked different, almost unreal—

In a way, he's isn't real, she thought.

She knew him better than anyone, and this wasn't him.

It was a piece.

Ajo cleared his throat. "Credence?"

There was caution in his voice, ready to tip into elation or sorrow depending on her next words.

He expects me to hate him, Credence thought.

"Your mother is still imprisoned," she said.

Ajo waved his hand and noise rose from the bowels of the vault, the clink and clank of chains and bells.

The Queen appeared from the door in the ground, shaking the last of the vines from her body.

Ajo bristled. A palpable tension was born in the air as mother and son regarded each other. The Queen had cause to attack, but she remained still, her focus trained on the man before her.

"I apolo—" Ajo began but the Queen held up her hand, uninterested in hearing what he had to say.

Ajo's mouth closed and his brow furrowed in frustration. His mother did not thank him for her release, but produced a gem no bigger than a grape. 

"At the request of your bride," she said as she offered it to him.

She pinched the gem and it split with ease, pouring light from the fissures.

Inside were tiny images blurring together in frantic swirls.

"It's you, Ajo," Credence explained, though she needn't have, for Ajo was instantly aware of what the gem contained.

He did not move to accept the Queen's gift, and both women thought he would reject it.

"Please, take it," Credence pleaded. "And maybe your mother will remove the bells from you as a sign of peace."

The Queen raised her eyebrow but did not argue against the unplanned addition. There was no love in her eyes, only a mild curiosity. With great uncertainty Ajo took the gem, and when his fingers brushed against his mother's hand she grabbed him.

"We will have a reckoning."

She dropped his hand and vanished.

Ajo gasped as something detached from him. Experimentally he moved, taking a few steps back and forth.

The ringing that always followed him was gone. Credence breathed a sigh of relief, overjoyed that the Queen had granted her request. Ajo motioned with the gem.

"This is what you want?"

"Yes. You need your memories."

He shook his head. "It's too much. I'll—"

"I will be by your side, and I will share the burden with you. I want to marry you, Ajo. All of you." She smiled. "I know your secrets. It's time you know them, too."

With trembling fingers he slipped the gem between his lips and swallowed.

A shudder ran through his entire being, and Ajo became visibly uncomfortable. He closed his eyes as he was reintroduced to the life that had been locked away.

It must have been unimaginably overwhelming, Credence thought, to become someone else in an instant—the person Ajo suspected he was but had no recollection of being.

His eyelids fluttered open.

He was whole, but what did that mean?

"How do you feel?" Credence asked.

Haunted, her mind suggested.

He shifted, and though his appearance did not change, he was changed. He didn't answer for a long moment, using all his strength to readjust to his own self.

He stood up straight and his demeanor relaxed.

"Credence," he said at last, as if untying her name from around his tongue. "I guess I should say...it's a pleasure to meet you. To really meet you."

"Likewise," she answered. "But we know each other already, don't we? Do you remember?"

"I do."

"You remember everything that has passed between us? Why you allowed me into your vault?"

"We made a promise. We would be wed when you came back to me."

"And...do you wish to marry me?"

He smiled. "Yes, I do."

Relief washed over Credence. She didn't want to admit it, that she had feared once his memories were restored, Ajo would no longer want to proceed with their marriage.

It would have broken her heart to hear it.

"Let us walk to the tree," Ajo said.

He turned to lead the way but Credence stopped him.

"Thank you for allowing me to know you," she said.

He held out his hand.

I'm ready, she thought as she accepted it.

As they walked, Ajo continued to glance at her. She could not tell if his attention was born from excitement or caution, for he seemed oddly hesitant, almost suspicious of her.

She thought he might be afraid she would refuse him at the final moment.

Credence couldn't deny the thread of doubt that lingered in her own heart. There were things Ajo's memories revealed that discomforted her. The poetry, for instance, that he claimed was meant for her had clearly been written about Galeia.

But, she reasoned with herself, if Ajo had no remembrance of such things when he told her that, he must have meant what he said, and now that he was whole he surely recognized the truth: In the past, he assumed he was writing for Galeia when his heart was actually longing for another. He had been mistaken, but now he knew he had found his true love.

After all, he still wanted to proceed with their marriage.

"We begin a new life tonight," she said to ease them both.

"Yes," came the stoic reply.

They reached the tree, empty of prisoners but teeming with new, green life, and Ajo clasped their hands together.

"It's customary to speak vows," he said.

Credence blushed. "I don't know any."

"I will speak them first and you can repeat."

He turned to the woods.

"We have come to marry," Ajo announced though no one was present, "and the trees will witness our union. A husband and wife are made here this night, and a king finds his queen. Now repeat these words: Forever is nothing, for I am yours."

"Forever is nothing, for I am yours."

"From this moment until my first step into eternity."

"From this moment until my first step into eternity."

"I belong to you, and you to me."

"I belong to you, and you to me."

There was power in these words, though Credence knew they held no magic. She felt a pang of sadness that no one she cared for was there to witness their joining.

Ajo was her family now, and she was excited to begin their future. She saw the same longing in his eyes, and a telling glimmer that he was holding back tears.

"We seal our vows with a kiss," he said and leaned down to meet her.

They met in a simple, chaste kiss. It was nothing like the romantic images in his book—it was better. This passion was not confined to words on a page, but was tangible in the softness of his lips. She fell into his arms and, goaded by eager boldness, parted her lips to deepen their embrace, and was rewarded with a pleased gasp from her groom.

Her groom.

She thought of her life back home, sitting on the floor and watching her parents fall in love every night. She would have that too, with Ajo. She would finally know the wonderful gift of marriage.

One day they may even have a daughter, and Credence would teach her to dance under the moon.

She broke their kiss and whispered, "I love you, Ajo."

Credence felt his mouth curl into a smile.

"I love you too, Galeia."