Flashback ( PDFDrive )

mind. “After all the times you swore you’d never go back to their
cause, even if you got your memories back. All the times you swore
you wanted to make them pay for the scars they carved into you. All
the horrors they let you suffer through—you’re just going to fall right
back into the role they want you to play.”
“Never underestimate the power of a total-memory flashback,”
Gethen told her. “It’s the perfect mental reset.
“Okay, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Sophie said,
keeping her focus on Alvar. “This is crazy. You’re not some robot that
needs resetting. You’re a person with a brain and . . . and feelings. And
you know this is wrong. I know you know it—even if you don’t want to
admit it. Just like I know you don’t want to go back to being that
creepy person everyone hated.”
Alvar tilted his chin higher, but she could see the tremble in his jaw
—a tiny crack in his facade. Proof that this truly wasn’t over as long as
the gate wasn’t open.
She leaned closer, holding his stare as she added, “The Council gave
you a second chance—and you haven’t blown it yet. You could stop
this right now and prove you really are the better person you’ve been
claiming to be. Think about the life you could have—how happy you
could be. Think about how happy you would make your family.”
And that was the moment she lost him.
“You want to talk about my family?” he snapped, his features
angling into hard lines. “And I don’t mean the brother who would’ve
been happy to murder me about ten minutes ago—though that was
eye-opening. And I don’t mean the sister who would’ve stood by and
let him do it while shedding a few pretty tears, either. I don’t even
mean the parents who’ve only been so supportive recently because