"They cheered when I killed the Hero.
They wept when I died.
Let them choke on both."
The scent of iron clung to her skin like a curse.
Seraphina gasped, her lungs burning as if rising from drowning. She jolted upright, drenched in sweat, hands reaching for the sword that should've been in her grip—only to find soft sheets, velvet pillows, and air too clean to be real.
This wasn't the battlefield.
This wasn't death.
This was a bedroom.
Her bedroom.
"No…" she rasped, heart thundering in her chest. "Not again."
She stumbled out of bed, bare feet hitting cold marble, hands trembling as she reached the mirror. What stared back at her wasn't the scarred, war-worn general she remembered.
It was a girl.
Fifteen.
Untouched by betrayal.
Not yet a killer.
Her lips parted in horror.
"They brought me back…
Before everything.
Before the war.
Before the lies.
Before I killed him."
A flash of memory struck her like a blade to the chest:
The Hero, kneeling before her, his blade driven into his own heart.
His blood had soaked his pristine white tunic, red spilling across gold.
His lips had trembled with her name—not in hatred, but in faith.
He had trusted her. Until the very end.
And she… she had watched him die with dry eyes.
The Empire had demanded his death. She obeyed. And still, they turned on her.
She had died. Branded a traitor. Burned alive at the stake—unrepentant to the last breath.
But now…
Now she was here again.
Alive.
Reborn.
A knock broke the silence.
"Lady Seraphina?" came a voice from the other side of the door. "The crown prince awaits you in the garden."
The garden.
Where it all began.
Where she met the Hero for the first time.
Where the Empire's leash first wrapped around her throat.
She didn't respond. Not immediately. Not yet.
Because something else had come back with her. Something foreign. Something wrong.
Something powerful.
It curled beneath her skin like fire.
Whispered in a language she didn't speak.
Dark. Ancient. Forbidden.
Magic.
A gift. Or a curse.
Either way—it was hers now.
She touched her reflection. Her younger face. Her dead eyes.
"This time, I won't serve.
This time, I won't be loyal.
This time, I won't fall for his smile.
This time… I'll burn the Empire before it burns me."
She turned to the door.
"Tell the prince I'll be there," she said, voice like a blade.
"Tell him…" —a pause—
"…I remember everything he wants me to forget."