The falling stopped abruptly. Lin Yue's consciousness slammed into something solid, a body, a mind, a life that wasn't hers but somehow was. Pain exploded through every nerve, but it was different pain. Slowly, agonizingly, Lin Yue opened her eyes.
Red silk canopy. The smell of sandalwood and old paper. Everything was wrong. The ceiling above her was painted with clouds and phoenixes in a style she recognized from history books. The bed beneath her was too hard and flat.
And when she raised her hand to her face, the skin felt like it belonged to someone else.
This isn't real. I'm hallucinating. The poison is making me dream before I die.
But it felt real. The silk sheets were rough against her skin and the air smelled like incense and something medicinal. Somewhere nearby, she could hear voices speaking in rapid Chinese, but it sounded strange. They were using formal grammar that hadn't been used in decades.
No. Centuries.
With trembling hands, Lin Yue pushed herself up. The room spun, but she forced herself to focus. She looked around with growing disbelief at the ancient Chinese furniture, the traditional decorations, there was nothing modern in the room.
On a low table beside the bed sat a bronze mirror.
She picked it up with shaking hands and looked at her reflection.
The face staring back was not hers.
It was young, perhaps sixteen, with delicate features and large, expressive eyes currently wide with shock. The bone structure was different, the nose smaller, the lips fuller. But the expression of horror and shock, That was all Lin Yue.
What is this? What's happening?
Then memories that weren't hers began flooding in. A different life. A different name. Lin Qianxue, eldest daughter of the declining Lin family. The Ming Dynasty. Year 1625.
Betrothed at fifteen to Chen Ziyang, young master of a prosperous merchant family.
Betrayed at sixteen when he broke the engagement to marry her cousin, Lin Huiyin.
And just yesterday, driven to despair by the humiliation, the original owner of this body had drunk poison and tried to end her life.
Lin Yue, no, Lin Qianxue now, gasped as the final memory hit her. The same bitter taste. The same burning pain. The same feeling of the world ending.
She killed herself. And I... I've been reborn into her body. Into a girl who was also betrayed. Who also wanted revenge.
The bronze mirror slipped from her fingers, clattering onto the wooden floor.
A maid's voice called from outside the door: "Miss? Miss, are you awake? Oh heavens, she's awake! Someone fetch the madam! Young miss has survived!"
Survived. Yes. Against all odds, both Lin Yue and Lin Qianxue had survived their poisonings.
Lin Qianxue stood on shaking legs, forcing strength into a body that had almost died just hours ago. She walked to the window and looked out at the curved rooftops and stone courtyards and servants in traditional dress hurrying about their duties.
A world four hundred years before her birth.
But also a world where Zhang Wei and Xu Mei, or their past lives existed. Where betrayal had already happened once and was surely being plotted again.
Where she had been given the rarest gift imaginable: a second chance.
I don't know how or why I'm here, she thought, but I won't waste this opportunity. In my first life, I was too trusting, too kind, too naive. I built an empire only to have it stolen by those I loved.
In this life, I'll be smarter. Harder. More ruthless.
And when I'm done, everyone who betrayed Lin Qianxue will wish they had never been born.
The door burst open and a woman rushed in, Lady Wang, Lin Qianxue's mother, her face pale with fear and relief. Behind her came several servants and an elderly physician.
"Qianxue! My daughter! Thank the heavens!" Lady Wang grabbed her hands. "We thought we'd lost you when you drank that poison! "
"I'm sorry, Mother," Lin Qianxue said softly, testing out her new voice. It was higher, younger, but she could work with it. "I was foolish. I won't make that mistake again."
Lady Wang's eyes filled with tears. "You silly girl. Yes, the engagement ending is humiliating, but it's not worth your life! And now your cousin is here to see you. She's been so worried, hasn't left your bedside, "
"Cousin Huiyin is here?" Lin Qianxue interrupted, her heart rate accelerating.
"Yes, yes. Shall I send her in? She'll be so relieved, "
"Not yet." Lin Qianxue's mind was racing. Huiyin. The cousin who had stolen Chen Ziyang. Just as Xu Mei had stolen Zhang Wei. The pattern was too perfect to be coincidence. "Mother, I need a moment to gather myself. Perhaps... perhaps just tell me. Is cousin Huiyin wearing her jade bracelet today? The one Father gave her last spring?"
It was a test. The original Lin Qianxue's memories told her that Huiyin had three jade bracelets, but only wore the most expensive one, a gift from Chen Ziyang, when she wanted to show off.
Lady Wang blinked in confusion at the odd question. "Jade bracelet? I... I believe she's wearing the one Young Master Chen gave her. Why?"
Lin Qianxue smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "No reason, Mother. Just making sure my memory is intact. The poison may have affected my mind. I need to rest now, please."
As her mother and the physician fussed over her, checking her pulse and forcing her to drink some bitter medicinal tea, Lin Qianxue's mind was already working.
Huiyin. Chen Ziyang. Her own mother who seemed more concerned about reputation than her daughter's life.
But first, she needed to understand exactly what she'd been reborn into and what dangers surrounded her. Who could be trusted and who needed to be destroyed.
The physician pronounced her stable but advised bed rest. Lady Wang finally left, still weeping with relief. The servants attended to her, changing her bedding and bringing fresh water.
And through the open doorway, Lin Qianxue caught a glimpse of a beautiful young woman in an elegant green dress, jade bracelet gleaming on her wrist, hovering just outside with an expression of concern that didn't quite reach her eyes.
Lin Huiyin. Her dear, devoted cousin.
Their eyes met for just a second.
And in that second, Lin Qianxue saw something that made her blood run cold.
Recognition.
Not the recognition of a cousin for a cousin. But something deeper, more knowing. As if Huiyin was seeing not Lin Qianxue at all, but someone else entirely.
As if she was seeing Lin Yue.
Huiyin's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. Her lips parted in what might have been shock. Then she smiled, a slow, satisfied smile, and turned away, disappearing down the corridor.
Lin Qianxue's heart pounded.
Impossible. There's no way she could know. Unless...
Unless Lin Qianxue wasn't the only one who had been reborn.
Unless Xu Mei had also found her way back through time.