The woman's scream sliced through the ballroom like a blade.
Duke Kieran's grip on my hand turned crushing. "Stay. Right. Here."
"Someone's hurt—"
"Someone's dead. And in ten seconds, you're getting blamed."
Before I could process that, the crowd around the refreshment table parted. A woman in green silk convulsed on the marble floor, foam bubbling from her lips.
Lady Mercedes. Minor noble. Lily's former rival for Theodore's attention.
"POISON!" someone shrieked.
My stomach dropped.
"The glass—it was meant for the SAINTESS!" A nobleman pointed at Lily, who stood frozen, a wine glass trembling in her hands. "Lady Mercedes took the wrong glass!"
No. No, no, NO—
"SERAPHINA NIGHTINGALE!"
Theodore's voice boomed across the ballroom. Every single eye snapped to me.
"You were near the refreshment table," he snarled. "GUARDS! Arrest her!"
"I JUST ARRIVED!" Panic clawed up my throat. "I haven't touched ANYTHING—"
"I saw her hovering near the drinks!" A noblewoman I'd never seen before pointed at me with a shaking finger.
"So were forty other people!" I shot back.
Didn't matter. I could see it in their faces—the jealous ex-fiancée had struck. Case closed.
This was wrong. In my original story, Seraphina didn't poison anyone until the Spring Ball—SIX MONTHS from now. This was too early, too public, too SLOPPY.
Someone else did this.
Royal guards shoved through the crowd, hands on sword hilts.
"Lady Seraphina was with me when it happened." Kieran's voice cut through the chaos like ice. "We were speaking near the terrace. She touched nothing."
Total lie. We'd talked for maybe twenty seconds.
Theodore's eyes narrowed. "Duke Valerius. Your testimony is noted, but witnesses—"
"Will say whatever creates the best scandal," Kieran interrupted smoothly. "Arresting a Duke's daughter without investigation? Bold political move, Your Highness. The noble houses will be VERY interested in that precedent."
The threat hung in the air.
Theodore's jaw clenched. "Fine. Lady Seraphina is confined to her estate pending investigation." His cold eyes locked on mine. "Pray I find you innocent, Seraphina. For both our sakes."
As guards moved to flank me, Kieran leaned close and whispered: "The journal in your study. Burn it. Tonight. I'll find you."
Then he released my hand and stepped back like nothing happened.
How does he know about the journal?
---
**NIGHTINGALE ESTATE - 11 PM**
The moment Marie left my room, I tore through my belongings.
The journal—Seraphina's murder diary—was exactly where I'd hidden it. Pages of poison recipes, guard schedules, detailed plans to kill Lily.
If investigators found this, I was dead three times over.
I flipped to the last entry, dated this morning in Seraphina's handwriting:
*"Six months until the Spring Ball. Six months to make that commoner disappear..."*
Except there was a NEW entry below it. Different handwriting. Written TODAY.
*"You're being framed. Widow's Tears poison—only 3 people in the capital have access: Royal Alchemist, Duke of Crane, and YOU. Check your study. Southeast drawer. Third compartment. You'll find yours missing. Burn this journal. Tomorrow noon, Rusty Dagger tavern, east side entrance. Come alone. -K.V."*
My hands shook.
Kieran had been IN MY HOUSE. Added to the journal.
When?! HOW?!
I ran to the study. Southeast drawer, third compartment—
Empty.
A locked wooden box SHOULD be here. Seraphina's memories told me she kept rare poisons as "insurance."
Gone.
Someone stole it. Used MY poison to kill Mercedes. Perfect frame job.
Footsteps thundered up the stairs.
"BY ORDER OF THE CROWN! SEARCH EVERY ROOM!"
They're here. NOW.
I sprinted back, threw the journal into the fireplace, watched Seraphina's murder plans curl and burn—
Marie burst through the door. "My lady! The guards, they're—"
"Tell me someone delivered flowers today."
Her eyes went wide. "How did you know? Black roses came this afternoon—"
Black roses. Duke of Crane's signature flower. One of the three people with Widow's Tears access.
I grabbed the crystal vase from my vanity, flipped it over.
A small glass vial taped to the bottom. Half-empty. Label: *Widow's Tears*.
"PLANTED EVIDENCE!"
The guards were in the hallway. Maybe fifteen seconds.
Can't hide it—they'll search everywhere.
Can't break it—poison gas.
Can't throw it—guards outside.
"Marie." My voice came out surprisingly steady. "When they ask, tell them I drank this before you could stop me."
"WHAT—"
I uncorked the vial and swallowed half the contents.
Marie SCREAMED.
The door exploded inward. Three guards rushed in, swords drawn—
I stumbled backward, clutching my throat, the empty vial falling from my fingers.
The world tilted. My vision blurred.
Wait.
This wasn't acting.
The poison was REAL.
Widow's Tears. Fatal in six hours without antidote.
*I'm such an IDIOT—*
Darkness swallowed everything.
---
**UNKNOWN LOCATION - HOURS LATER**
I woke up breathing.
Wrong. Should be dead.
"Finally. You've been out for four hours."
Kieran sat in a chair beside the bed, reading like this was perfectly normal.
Small stone room. Single candle. Definitely not my estate.
"WHERE—" My throat burned like fire. "—AM I?!"
"Safe house. And you're welcome."
"FOR WHAT?! I DRANK POISON!"
"Widow's Tears. Lethal dose." He turned a page calmly. "You should absolutely be dead right now."
"THEN WHY AM I NOT?!"
"Because I poisoned you two hours earlier."
Silence.
"...What?"
"The wine. At the ball. Before the murder." He finally looked up. "I laced your glass with Serpent's Mercy—a preventative antidote. Rare, expensive, and the only reason your heart's still beating."
He KNEW. He knew someone would poison me.
"How?" I whispered.
Kieran set down his book and walked to the window. Moonlight carved shadows across his face.
"Because I've watched you die three times, Seraphina."
The room went silent.
"What?"
"Three timelines. Three deaths." His voice was flat, emotionless. "First: executed at the Spring Ball for poisoning Lily. I did nothing—didn't know you yet. Second timeline: I tried to help you escape. Assassinated on the road north. Third timeline: I changed the early plot entirely. You were poisoned at a tea party two months from now."
He turned, obsidian eyes burning with something dangerous and desperate.
"This is my fourth attempt. And I'm NOT watching you die again."
My mind reeled. "You're a regressor."
"Three times over." He moved closer. "And every timeline, you die before your twenty-first birthday. Different killers. Different methods. Same result."
He pulled a folded paper from his coat. "Until I found this."
I unfolded it with shaking hands.
A hit list:
**1. Lady Mercedes - COMPLETED**
**2. Saintess Lily - IN PROGRESS**
**3. Seraphina Nightingale - IN PROGRESS**
**4. Duke Kieran Valerius - IN PROGRESS**
"Found it on a hired assassin," Kieran said. "He 'committed suicide' in his cell before I could question him. Poison capsule in his tooth."
Four targets. One dead. Three hunting each other.
"Why US?" I demanded. "What connects these four people?"
"That's what I've spent three timelines trying to figure out." He pulled out more papers—maps, timelines, notes. "Mercedes was Lily's romantic rival before you. You're Theodore's ex. I'm..." He paused. "I'm investigating the Saintess."
My heart stopped. "Why?"
"Because she's FAKE."
The words hung in the air like a bomb.
"Impossible. I wro—" I caught myself.
Too late.
Kieran's eyes sharpened like a predator spotting prey. "You WHAT? You 'wrote'?"
Shit.
"Nothing."
"Don't lie." He was suddenly RIGHT THERE, hand slamming the wall beside my head. "You've been different since the engagement broke. You talk wrong. Act wrong. The Seraphina I watched die three times would have SCREAMED at Theodore—you humiliated him strategically. You're not her."
His face was inches from mine. "So I'll ask once: WHO ARE YOU?"
Cornered. No escape.
"I'm the author," I blurted. "I WROTE this world. This story. All of you. I died and woke up as Seraphina six months before her execution and NOTHING is going according to the plot I created!"
Silence.
Then Kieran started laughing—genuine, slightly unhinged relief.
"An AUTHOR." He pushed back, running both hands through his hair. "That—that actually explains EVERYTHING. The personality shift. Your shock when I appeared early. Why you looked at me like I was supposed to be somewhere else."
He grinned, wild and desperate. "I've lived through three apocalyptic death loops. Finding out I'm fictional doesn't even crack my top three existential crises anymore."
Despite everything, I almost laughed.
"So." Kieran's expression turned deadly serious. "If you wrote this story—who's the villain?"
"Seraphina. She poisons Lily at the Spring Ball, gets executed. Classic villainess ending."
"And Lily's role?"
"The heroine. Pure, innocent, genuinely blessed by the Goddess—"
"WRONG." Kieran threw a thick folder on the bed. "Three timelines of investigation. Lily has ZERO divine power. Her 'miracles' are alchemy and stage tricks. Her 'prophecies' come from a communication artifact someone feeds her information through. She's been faking it since day one."
I grabbed the folder. Witness statements. Alchemical formulas. Bank records showing payments to "miracle" witnesses.
"No," I breathed. "I wrote her as genuinely blessed—"
"Then either you wrote it wrong," Kieran said quietly, "or someone's been changing your story since you died."
Before I could respond, someone pounded on the door.
We both froze.
"Expecting company?" I hissed.
"No."
Kieran drew a dagger in one fluid motion, moved to the door, cracked it open—
And went completely still.
"Impossible."
"WHAT? Who is it?!"
He opened the door fully.
Saintess Lily stood there, soaking wet from rain, clothes torn, covered in BLOOD.
She looked up with terrified doe eyes and collapsed forward into Kieran's arms.
"Please," she gasped. "Please help me. They're trying to kill me too. I didn't want—I never wanted any of this—"
Tears streamed down her face as she looked at me.
"Seraphina, I'm so sorry. About Theodore, about everything. But they MADE me. The Temple said they'd kill my family if I didn't play the Saintess role and now they're trying to kill me because I know too much and you're the only one who might understand because they're framing you too and—"
She grabbed my hand desperately.
"Please. I know you have no reason to trust me. But we're both on that list. We're both targets. And I have PROOF of who's really behind this."
Kieran looked at me, silent question in his eyes: *Believe her?*
I stared at Lily—the heroine I'd written, the girl who stole my fiancé, now begging ME for help.
Three possibilities:
**One:** Truth. Someone's controlling both of us.
**Two:** Lie. Elaborate trap.
**Three:** Partial truth. The deadliest kind.
"Who?" I asked coldly. "Who made you fake being the Saintess?"
Lily's voice dropped to a terrified whisper:
"Crown Prince Theodore and the High Priestess of the Goddess Temple."
The world stopped.
"THEODORE?!" I couldn't breathe. "Theodore is behind this?!"
"He needs a Saintess to legitimize his throne claim—his mother was a concubine, the nobles don't fully accept him. But marry a Goddess-blessed bride?" Lily's words tumbled out frantically. "Unquestionable divine right. I'm an orphan from the slums. They found me, trained me in the 'miracles,' threatened to burn down my orphanage if I refused."
She pulled a small journal from her torn dress with shaking hands.
"The High Priestess's private ledger. Assassin payments. The hit list. Everything." She thrust it at me. "Mercedes saw me without the holy glow makeup—she KNEW I was fake. So they killed her and framed you. Two problems solved."
I grabbed the ledger. Same four names, but with notes:
*Mercedes - Knows the truth. ELIMINATE.*
*Lily - Dispose after coronation.*
*Seraphina - Perfect scapegoat. Frame then ELIMINATE.*
*Kieran Valerius - Investigating. ELIMINATE.*
"They were always going to kill me," Lily whispered. "After the wedding. After I gave Theodore legitimacy. I'm a witness who knows too much."
Kieran studied her. "Heartbeat erratic. Genuine fear response. She's either telling the truth or the best actress alive."
"What do you WANT from us?" I demanded.
"Help me expose them ALL. Theodore, the Temple, the conspiracy." Her eyes blazed with desperate determination. "I have evidence—ledgers, letters, recorded conversations. But alone, I'm dead. Together?" She looked between us. "Maybe we survive."
"You're asking us to commit TREASON," I said slowly. "Against the Crown Prince. Based on the word of a confirmed LIAR."
"Yes."
"Who might be leading us into a trap right now."
"Yes."
Silence.
Then I laughed. Couldn't help it.
"What's funny?!" Lily looked terrified.
"I wrote a simple story," I said. "Villainess poisons heroine, gets executed, done. Instead I'm in a death game with a time-looping yandere and a fake Saintess, trying to expose royal treason while framed for murder."
I grinned, slightly unhinged. "You know what? FUCK IT. I'm in."
Kieran raised an eyebrow. "Just like that?"
"I'm dead if we do nothing. Might as well take them down with me." I looked at Lily. "But one betrayal—ONE—and I poison you myself."
She nodded quickly. "Understood."
"Good." I grabbed the ledger. "Let's plan how to destroy a Prince."
Kieran smiled, sharp and dangerous. "Now you're thinking like a proper villainess."
CRASH.
We all froze.
Voices outside. Torches. Boots. LOTS of boots.
"SURROUND THE BUILDING! THE SAINTESS WAS TRACKED HERE!"
Lily went white. "No. No, I was careful, I SWORE I wasn't followed—"
"HOW MANY?" Kieran was already moving, grabbing weapons.
More crashes. Breaking glass.
"Twenty. Maybe thirty." Lily's voice shook. "Temple guards AND royal soldiers."
Thirty trained fighters. Three of us—one recovering from poison, one possible traitor, one regressor with a sword.
The math was BAD.
"SERAPHINA NIGHTINGALE! SAINTESS LILY! SURRENDER FOR CONSPIRACY AND MURDER!"
I looked at Kieran. "You've done this three times. ANY ideas?"
His grin was feral as he threw me a sword.
"Yeah. We fight our way out."
The door exploded inward.
END OF CHAPTER 2
Next Chapter: The moment swords clash and Sera realizes she's TERRIBLE at action scenes. Thirty soldiers, three fugitives, and one very bad plan. Sometimes survival isn't about knowing the plot—it's about setting everything on fire and running.