CHAPTER 12 : THE FUTURE CHANGES

I barely slept that night. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw those words carved inside my mother’s pendant.

When the daughter returns, the blood debt must be paid.

Darius left just before dawn, promising he’d look into the inscription. I didn’t thank him. Trusting him, accepting another promise—honestly, I wasn’t sure I could do it.

But I couldn’t just forget what he’d told me: the inscription had been written before my mother died. Someone knew I would come back. Or maybe someone wanted me to think they did.

I sat by the window, turning the pendant over and over. Sunlight glinted off the silver crescent and caught on a tiny scratch near the clasp—my mother’s scratch. I remembered her thumb rubbing that spot when she was worried. She wore it the day she died. Now, here I was, replaying a question I’d spent years avoiding. What had my mother been trying to stop?

A knock wrenched me out of my thoughts.

“Come in.”

A young servant entered with a tray of tea, left it, bowed, and scurried to the door.

“Wait.” She froze. “Did someone send you?”

“Lady Seraphina requested refreshments for your chambers, my lady.”

Seraphina. The name set something cold in my stomach. In my first life, she’d been right beside Lucian when they announced my execution. She looked at me with pity, but did nothing to help. I never knew if her sympathy was real.

“Did she leave a message?”

“No, my lady.”

I waved the servant away and went back to the pendant. Something about my talk with Darius still bothered me. He said my mother was chasing the people behind the black symbol. The archivist mentioned a secret room under her grave. The inscription talked about an unpaid debt.

I needed to know what my mother had found.

I grabbed the papers I’d swiped from the archive before everything went sideways. They were old—most were nearly falling apart, ink barely legible. One sheet caught my eye, a list of names and dates. I read slowly, letting each name sink in.

Then I stopped.

Lord Edric Vale — Blood Moon Eve.

My breath hitched. I knew that name. Lord Edric was one of the council’s oldest members. In my first life, he died during a Blood Moon celebration—a so-called “sudden illness.” I never questioned it at the time. Lucian turned the funeral into political opportunity. Edric’s seat went to one of Lucian’s favorites.

But now, with everything I knew, I wondered—was it really an illness?

I checked the date again. Blood Moon Eve. That was tomorrow.

A chill crept through me. If this list connected to the black symbol, Edric’s death wasn’t fate. It was planned.

I pushed back my chair. I wasn’t about to let another person die while I pretended nothing was happening. Not again.

Lord Edric’s house was on the eastern edge of the royal grounds, tucked behind old trees and high stone walls. The guards stopped me at the gate.

“Lady Seren,” one of them said, “Lord Edric isn’t receiving visitors.”

“Tell him it’s urgent. I have to speak with him.”

“He has a council meeting this morning.”

“He can spare five minutes.”

He hesitated, so I stared him down. “If anything happens to him today, remember that I came here and tried to warn him.”

That got their attention. One guard rushed inside.

A few minutes later, Edric appeared, cane in hand, looking tired and surprised to see me. His hair was silver now, but I remembered that stern, fair face—he’d spoken up for my mother when people whispered behind her back.

“Lady Seren. Has something happened?”

“I need to ask about the royal council.”

His face tightened. “That’s a wide subject.”

“Let’s narrow it down. Have you gotten any threats lately?”

He just looked at me for a long moment.

“Why would you ask that?”

“Because someone wants you dead.”

He didn’t flinch, just glanced at the guards. “Inside.”

He led me into his study, only keeping one aide. I told him as much as I could without mentioning my memories—about the assassination attempt, the black symbol, the shady archive papers. When I mentioned my mother, his face went pale.

“Where did you find that symbol?”

“In one of the royal archives.”

He squeezed his cane. “You never should’ve gone there.”

“Why not?”

“Some records are sealed for a reason.”

“That’s not an answer.”

He sighed. “No. It isn’t.”

I pressed him. “If you know anything about my mother’s death, I need to hear it. People connected to her are dying. You could be next.”

He stared out the window, silent for a while. Then said, “She came to me shortly before she died. She believed someone on the council was selling secrets to our enemies.”

My heart pounded.

“Who?”

“She didn’t say. She wanted proof first.”

“And did she find it?”

“I don’t know. But she left something with me. A document she said must never fall into the wrong hands.”

“What document—”

A bell rang somewhere in the house, and his attendant rushed to the door. “Forgive me, my lord. The kitchen staff says the morning delivery just arrived.”

Edric nodded absently.

I stood up. “Cancel the delivery. Don’t touch anything you didn’t make yourself. Whatever you do, don’t go to the council meeting.”

He gave a tired smile. “You sound so much like your mother.”

It hit harder than I’d expected.

“Then take my warning seriously. You’re in danger.”

He looked ready to agree, but then shook his head. “If I vanish from the council without explanation, I’ll tip off the wrong people. I’ll be careful, Lady Seren. You have my word.”

His word. I wanted to believe him, but words never stopped a knife.

“Please,” I whispered. “Don’t make me watch you die.”

He understood more than he let on. Instead of asking, he rang for his captain of the guard.

“Double the watch. No one comes in without my say-so.”

He turned to me.

“You’ve done your duty, Lady Seren. I’ll do mine.”

I walked out with my stomach in knots. I’d warned him. I’d done what I could. Now all I could do was wait and hope it would be enough.

By midday, all of Bloodmoon territory had heard the news. Lord Edric skipped the council and shut himself in his house. Rumors swirled about illness, but the guards denied it.

I tried shifting my focus to the list, matching names and dates from my first life. Three were crossed off—nobles who’d died suspicious deaths. Lord Edric’s name was third. Someone had drawn a crescent beside it, just like the one on my mother’s pendant.

I was still staring at it when Darius barged into my chambers.

“Do you not understand how doors work?” I snapped.

“Do you not understand assassins want you dead?”

“Concern doesn’t excuse bad manners.”

“And stubbornness isn’t an excuse to march into a noble’s home announcing he’s the next to die.”

My eyes narrowed. “How did you even hear about that?”

“Your name is already making the rounds in the council.”

“Good. Maybe they’ll finally listen to me.”

“Seren.”

The warning in his voice made me pay closer attention.

“What?”

He dropped a folded document onto my desk. “The council got this an hour ago. Someone accuses you of threatening Edric and meddling in royal affairs.”

I stared at the accusation. “So they want to silence me.”

“They want to make you look unstable. If Edric dies, they’ll say you arranged it.”

My stomach turned.

“I went there to save him.”

“I know.”

“Then help me prove it.”

Darius’s eyes scanned the names on my list. He stopped at the crescent by Edric’s name.

“Where did you get this?”

“The archive.”

He frowned, tracing the dates. “These aren’t just names.”

“Then what are they?”

“Targets.”

My mouth felt dry. He tapped the dates. “Someone tracked everyone involved in your mother’s investigation. If these are right, Edric was supposed to die tomorrow.”

“Was supposed to?”

He looked at me. “You warned him. The guards are ready. You might have changed things.”

For the first time since my second chance, I felt a spark of real hope.

“So the future can change.”

“It can.”

He said it too quickly.

I studied his face. “But you don’t think it’s that easy.”

“No.”

“Why?”

He put the paper down. “We don’t know if these events had to happen in this exact order, or if someone is forcing them to happen. Change one thing, and the plan might break…or the person behind it could just pick another victim.”

I thought about the names.

“What if someone else dies because I saved Edric?”

He stayed quiet. That told me enough.

Afternoon sunlight stretched across the floor. In my first life, I watched people die without ever understanding why. I felt powerless—just one woman caught in the crossfire. But I wasn’t going to repeat that mistake.

“Find out who sent that document to the council,” I told Darius. “And I want every record tied to these names.”

He looked at me. “You mean to investigate all this yourself?”

“Yes.”

“That’ll make you a target.”

“I already am.”

For a moment, something like respect flickered in his eyes.

“Then let me help.”

I hesitated. Trusting him felt risky. Every answer led to more questions, but he’d put himself between me and death, more than once.

“Help me,” I said. “No more secrets.”

He caught my gaze. “I’ll tell you what I know.”

It wasn’t the promise I wanted, but it was all he’d give.

Just before sunset, I heard the scream.

I was in the corridor outside the council chamber when a servant rushed toward us, white-faced.

“There’s been a murder!”

The guards grabbed her, but Darius held up a hand. “Let her speak.”

She gasped for breath. “A man—found dead near the eastern watchtower. One of the council messengers.”

Darius and I traded a look.

“Who?” I asked.

“Master Corvin, my lady. He delivered sealed documents to the council.”

Darius’s jaw hardened. “Take us there.”

She led us down old stone steps to a storage room. Two guards kept people out. I smelled blood before I saw the body—he lay near an overturned chair, throat cut, blood spilling across his collar.

I forced myself to look. I didn’t know him—not from this life or the last. That scared me more than it should have. This wasn’t someone I remembered dying. This was new. The future was changing beyond what I knew.

Nobody had touched the body. Darius crouched beside him to examine the wound. I swept the room with my eyes. No sign of a struggle. A window stood open, but the dust was undisturbed. Whoever did this either had a key, or the victim let them in.

I noticed his hand. His fingers were curled around a scrap of parchment.

I pried it out.

A black symbol, drawn across the paper.

My heart thudded. Underneath it: a name. Not the council’s. Not Darius’s.

My name. SEREN.

I stared at the letters. The handwriting… I knew it, but I couldn’t place it. Darius moved behind me.

“What does it say?”

I couldn’t speak. I turned the parchment over. Five words stared back.

You saved the wrong person.

For a long moment, all I could hear was my pulse.

Footsteps pounded down the hall. A guard burst in, breathless.

“My lady! Lord Edric—”

I shot up. “What happened?”

“He’s alive,” the guard said. “But someone was inside his residence. His guards are searching now.”

Relief hit so hard I almost collapsed.

Then I looked at the dead messenger again. Someone knew I’d save Edric. Someone expected the future to change. And they’d killed an innocent man to show me the price.

I closed my fist around the note.

For the first time, I wondered if this second chance was really a gift. Or maybe this was a trap—and the person who gave it to me was watching every move I made.