The First Thing I Changed

By noon, I had already learned two things.

The first was that returning to the past did not make it easier to look at the people who had destroyed me.

The second was that knowing the future did not mean I could control it.

Nadia returned from the council meeting carrying a slim brown folder beneath her arm and a smile that was just a little too pleased.

I was sitting near the window with Mira when she walked into my room. Mira had refused to leave since morning, claiming that anyone who woke up asking what year it was clearly could not be trusted alone.

Normally, I would have argued with her.

Today, I was grateful for every annoying second of her company.

“I brought what you asked for,” Nadia said.

She placed the folder on the table.

I looked at it but did not reach for it immediately. “Everything?”

“Everything discussed at the meeting.”

Her answer came easily.

Too easily.

Mira leaned across the table. “You actually brought council documents here?”

“They’re copies.”

Nadia gave her an irritated look before turning back to me. “Kael said Selene should review them once she feels better.”

That caught my attention.

“Kael said that?”

“Yes.”

I wondered whether Nadia had expected me to ask him directly.

In my first life, I never would have.

I trusted her.

That thought alone made my stomach twist.

I opened the folder.

Nothing unusual at first glance.

Then I saw the border rotation sheet.

My fingers went still.

I remembered this.

Not clearly at first. The memory came back in pieces: Mira complaining about being sent to the eastern boundary, me teasing her about finally doing some real work, Nadia laughing beside us.

It had seemed unimportant.

Months later, when Mira began investigating the evidence against me, she had returned repeatedly to that same border.

And eventually, that was where they found her body.

I stared at the paper.

Mira Bennett.

Her name was there.

Assigned to the eastern patrol beginning the following morning.

My chest tightened.

This was it.

Maybe not the moment that killed her, but the beginning of the road that eventually led there.

“Mira.”

She looked up. “Hmm?”

“You’re not going tomorrow.”

She blinked. “Going where?”

I turned the sheet toward her.

Her eyes moved down the list.

“Oh.” She shrugged. “Eastern border. I forgot that starts tomorrow.”

Nadia shifted beside us.

I noticed.

“You forgot?” I asked.

Mira laughed. “It’s patrol duty, not my wedding.”

I could hear her saying almost the same thing three years ago.

Back then, I had laughed too.

Not this time.

“You’re not going.”

Mira’s smile faded.

“Selene, I can’t just skip patrol.”

“I didn’t say you should skip it. I said you’re not going to the eastern border.”

Nadia folded her arms. “Why?”

I looked at her.

There was nothing openly suspicious in her expression, but after what I remembered, every small reaction felt louder.

“I don’t like the assignment.”

Mira frowned. “Since when do you care where they send me?”

Since I saw your dead body.

I swallowed the answer.

“Since now.”

Nadia gave a short laugh. “Selene, you can’t move warriors around because you had a bad dream.”

Mira glanced at me.

The comment should have annoyed me.

Instead, it made something click.

In my first life, Mira had not been permanently stationed at the eastern border. She had only been sent there because another guard had supposedly injured his leg that morning.

I remembered her telling me that later.

A last-minute replacement.

My eyes dropped back to the sheet.

This time, her name was already there.

That had not happened before.

The future had changed before I even touched it.

A cold sensation crept down my spine.

“Nadia,” I said carefully, “who prepared this rotation?”

Her expression remained calm.

“The patrol captain, I assume.”

“You assume?”

“I wasn’t standing over his shoulder.”

Mira picked up the paper. “My name being here isn’t strange. I’ve done eastern patrol before.”

“But not tomorrow.”

Both women looked at me.

I had said it too quickly.

Nadia’s gaze sharpened.

“What do you mean?”

For one dangerous moment, I had no answer.

Then I leaned back in my chair and forced myself to appear bored.

“I mean you told me last week you were expecting southern patrol.”

Mira stared at me.

I prayed she would understand.

After a second, she nodded slowly.

“Right.”

She was lying for me.

Good.

Nadia looked between us but said nothing.

I closed the folder.

“I want the assignment changed.”

“You’ll have to speak to Kael,” Nadia said. “He approved the final rotations.”

Of course he had.

I stood.

“Then I’ll speak to Kael.”

Nadia’s eyebrows lifted. “Now?”

“Yes.”

“You said you weren’t feeling well.”

“I’m feeling better.”

She clearly did not like that answer.

I liked that she did not like it.

The council house was only a short walk from the Vale residence. Mira followed me despite my telling her she did not have to, while Nadia came behind us.

I could feel her watching me the entire way.

Kael was in his office with two senior warriors when we arrived.

His surprise was obvious.

“I thought you were resting.”

“I need five minutes.”

The men glanced at each other.

Kael dismissed them.

Once the door shut, I placed the patrol sheet on his desk.

“I want Mira removed from tomorrow’s eastern rotation.”

He looked at the paper, then at me.

“Why?”

“I don’t trust it.”

His brows drew together. “You don’t trust a patrol schedule?”

“I don’t trust how her name got there.”

Mira shifted beside me.

Kael looked at her. “Did Captain Rhys assign you?”

“I wasn’t told anything about it until today.”

That changed his expression.

He picked up the sheet.

“Everyone is informed before final approval.”

Nadia spoke from behind us. “Maybe someone forgot.”

Kael ignored her.

He opened a drawer and pulled out another copy.

The moment he compared the two sheets, his face hardened.

My pulse jumped.

“What?”

He placed them side by side.

Mira’s name was on the copy Nadia brought me.

It was not on his.

Silence filled the room.

Nadia stepped closer. “That doesn’t make sense.”

No.

It made perfect sense.

Someone had altered the document after Kael approved it.

Three years ago, I never saw this version of the schedule.

Someone had wanted Mira at the eastern border long before she ever started investigating my downfall.

The realization made my skin crawl.

Kael looked toward the door.

“Get the patrol captain.”

One of the guards outside immediately left.

I stared at Nadia.

She stared at the altered sheet.

For the first time since I returned, she looked genuinely unsettled.

Maybe she had not done this.

Or maybe she was simply better at pretending than I remembered.

Kael picked up the false copy.

“Where did you get this?”

Nadia’s head snapped up.

“At the council meeting.”

“From whom?”

“I don’t know. It was with the rest of the documents.”

Kael’s gaze hardened.

Before he could question her further, hurried footsteps approached outside.

The door opened.

One of Kael’s guards stepped inside, breathing heavily.

“Alpha.”

Kael frowned. “What is it?”

The guard bowed his head.

“A royal messenger just crossed the western gate.”

My body went cold.

Royal.

Kael stood.

“What does he want?”

“He carries the seal of King Lucian Cross.”

The room suddenly felt too small.

My fingers tightened around the edge of the table.

Lucian.

The last face I had seen before death.

The guard continued.

“The King is coming here personally.”

Kael’s expression changed. “When?”

The answer made every breath leave my body.

“Tomorrow morning.”

In my first life, Lucian Cross had not come to our territory for another eight months.