Elena was awakened by the sound of her own heartbeat.
A velvet blanket, silk pillowcases, and the faint fragrance of roses lingering in the air.
She stared at the crystal chandelier overhead for three seconds.
She recognized that chandelier. Red Leaf Manor, the master bedroom in the west wing—the room she had lived in when she was eighteen.
Elena sat up, and the blanket slipped from her shoulders. She looked down at her hands—white, soft, her nails trimmed neatly.
"...Again."
She threw back the covers and got out of bed, her bare feet stepping onto the wool carpet. Three strides brought her to the dressing table.
The mirror reflected the face of an eighteen-year-old girl.
Her skin was almost too flawless, her chin delicately pointed, the lines of her collarbones visible above the neckline of her nightgown.
Her waist was slim enough to circle with one hand, and the curve of her chest stretched two distinct folds into the silk nightgown.
Elena stared at herself in the mirror as memories raced through her mind.
Her previous life—Ginkgo Alley, the cabbage field, that broken bathtub, Saina's pork rib soup, Elonore holding up a rune card with trembling hands.
The palace square, fifth-tier armor, blood on Su Li's shoulder.
That final flash of red light.
Elena braced herself against the dressing table, her knuckles turning white.
She was alive. Alive again. Back in this cursed place again.
A knock sounded outside the door.
"Young Miss? Are you awake? The master instructed that there will be a tea party today—"
"Get out."
Silence lingered outside for two seconds.
"...Yes, Young Miss."
The footsteps receded.
Elena turned and sat on the cushioned stool before the dressing table, crossing her long legs and rubbing her toes against the carpet.
She was thinking about something.
Where