June 19, 447 A.R. – Morning (Past Timeline)
Rei stood in his room, staring at the small wooden box hidden beneath a loose floorboard under his bed.
His emergency fund. Money he'd saved over years, coins earned from odd jobs, small repairs, favors for neighbors who pitied the quiet Ashborne boy. In his previous life, he'd never touched it. Had been too afraid to spend it, too anxious about needing it for some undefined future emergency.
That emergency never came. He'd died with the money still hidden, untouched, worthless.
This time would be different.
He pulled out the box and counted: Forty-three silver coins. Two small gold pieces. A handful of copper.
Not fortune. But enough to work with if he was smart. If he was ruthless. If he remembered everything from the ledger he'd stolen last night in a future five years away.
The Gilded Serpent. Still operational in this timeline. Still running high-stakes games for people stupid enough or desperate enough to bet everything.
And I know exactly who's going to be there today. Know exactly which games are running. Know exactly who wins and who loses.
He pocketed thirty silver, leaving the rest as backup, and grabbed his jacket.
The morning training had gone well. His body was starting to remember the movements Darius had described in theory. Stance, footwork, weight distribution, it was becoming instinct rather than conscious thought.
But today required a different kind of skill.
Today required him to lie, cheat, and manipulate with the confidence of someone who'd already seen how the story ended.
The Gilded Serpent in this timeline was everything its future self wasn't, polished marble floors, crystal chandeliers that actually worked, the subtle scent of expensive tobacco and even more expensive perfume. The kind of establishment where desperate nobility and ambitious merchants came to pretend their vices were sophisticated entertainment.
The entrance was guarded by two men in tailored suits that didn't quite hide the weapons underneath.
And standing at the door, checking invitations and credentials with the self-importance of someone given the tiniest bit of power, was Marcus Vrell.
Rei stopped, recognition hitting him like a physical blow.
Marcus. Gods, I haven't thought about him in years.
In his previous life, the one where he'd been invisible and pathetic, Marcus had been one of the casual cruelties of Rei's existence. Not quite a bully in the traditional sense. Worse. The kind of person who'd made Rei feel small with looks and dismissive comments, who'd laughed when Rei couldn't afford to join them at cafes, who'd made sure everyone knew Rei didn't belong.
Nothing actionable. Nothing you could point to and say "this is abuse."
Just a thousand small cuts that bled dignity instead of blood.
Marcus was older now, mid-twenties probably, working security at a gambling house. Not exactly the glorious future he'd bragged about achieving.
Which means something went wrong for him. Something that made him desperate enough to take work checking IDs at a place like this.
And Rei, who'd died once and stolen records from the future, knew exactly what that something was.
He approached the entrance with more confidence than he felt.
Marcus looked up, his expression the same dismissive sneer Rei remembered too well. "Members only. If you don't have an invitation, turn around and"
He stopped, squinting. "Wait. I know you. You're... Ashborne's kid, right? The quiet one from the academy?" A laugh that was more bark than humor. "What the hell are you doing here? This isn't a place for broke students playing at being adults."
Rei met his gaze steadily. "I'm here to play. Let me in."
"Yeah, that's not happening." Marcus crossed his arms, clearly enjoying this. "Minimum buy-in is ten silver. You probably don't have ten copper. So do us both a favor and go home before you embarrass yourself."
Rei pulled out his coin pouch and let it drop heavily into his palm, thirty silver coins making a very satisfying sound.
Marcus' expression flickered, surprise, then suspicion. "Where'd you get that? Steal it?"
"Does it matter?" Rei pocketed the coins again. "I have money. I want to play. That's how gambling houses work, isn't it?"
"It's how they work for members," Marcus emphasized. "You're not a member. So unless you've got an invitation or a reference from someone respectable, you're not getting past this door."
This was the moment. The leverage point.
Rei leaned in slightly, voice dropping just loud enough for Marcus to hear but not the other guard. "How's Elira doing these days?"
Marcus went very still. "What did you just say?"
"Elira Thorne. The merchant's daughter. The one you've been courting for... what, six months now?" Rei's smile didn't reach his eyes. "The one whose father thinks you're a 'promising young man with excellent prospects.' Would be a shame if he found out about your little gambling problem. Or the debts you've racked up at three different establishments. Or the money you borrowed from her younger brother and never paid back."
The color drained from Marcus' face. "How do you"
"I know things," Rei interrupted softly. "I know you're working here because you need money to pay off those debts before Elira's father does his background check. I know you've got about two weeks before he starts asking questions you can't answer. I know you're one bad week away from losing everything you've been building with her."
Marcus' hand twitched toward his weapon. "You threatening me?"
"I'm offering you a choice." Rei's voice was calm, matter-of-fact. "Let me in. I play my games, win or lose, and leave quietly. Your secrets stay secret. Or you turn me away, and tomorrow I have a very interesting conversation with Merchant Thorne about the kind of man his daughter is involved with."
The silence stretched between them, thick with threat and calculation.
"You're bluffing," Marcus said, but his voice lacked conviction. "You don't know any of that."
"Try me." Rei met his gaze without flinching. "See what happens."
In the future, Marcus' gambling debts destroyed his engagement to Elira. Her father found out, severed all ties, and Marcus spiraled into worse and worse situations until he ended up working for loan sharks who broke his legs when he couldn't pay. I watched it happen from the margins, too afraid to care, too broken to feel sympathy.
Now I'm using it as blackmail. Funny how perspective changes when you've already died once.
Marcus' jaw worked silently. His hand fell away from his weapon.
"You're a bastard, Ashborne," he said finally. "Didn't think you had it in you."
"People change." Rei stepped forward. "The door?"
Marcus stepped aside, his expression poisonous. "Fine. But when you lose everything in there, and you will don't come crying to me."
"Noted."
Rei walked past him into The Gilded Serpent, leaving Marcus seething in the doorway.
One obstacle down. Now for the hard part.