The darkness was warm.
That was the first thing I noticed.
Not the cold stone floors of the Steward residence. Not the rough fabric of my servant dress scratching against my skin. Not the ache spreading through my body from years of exhaustion.
Warmth.
A strange, unfamiliar warmth surrounded me like a blanket.
For the first time in years, I did not feel the need to keep my eyes open. I did not feel the urge to listen for approaching footsteps or prepare myself for another mistake.
I was safe.
The thought startled me.
Safe.
The word felt foreign.
My fingers twitched against something soft beneath me. A bed. A real bed.
I slowly opened my eyes.
A canopy of deep crimson fabric hung above me, embroidered with silver threads that reflected the candlelight. The room was unlike anything I had ever seen. The walls were decorated with paintings of forests, moons, and creatures I did not recognize. Bookshelves covered one entire wall, filled with ancient-looking books bound in leather.
I immediately sat up.
A sharp pain shot through my head, causing me to press my hand against my forehead.
The last thing I remembered was the dining room floor.
Mrs. Steward's hand.
The taste of my own blood.
The hunger.
My breath caught.
My blood.
I looked down at my hands, expecting to see something different. Something monstrous.
But they were still mine.
Pale fingers.
Small scars from years of work.
Nothing had changed.
"You're awake."
I froze.
A woman stood beside the window.
She was the same woman from the dining room.
The one whose finger had touched my forehead before everything faded.
Her appearance was unlike any woman I had ever seen. Her long silver hair fell over her shoulders, and her eyes were a deep violet that seemed almost impossible under the candlelight.
She wore a black dress decorated with delicate silver patterns, making her look less like a noblewoman and more like someone from an old story.
A story servants whispered about when they thought no one was listening.
I pulled the blanket closer to myself.
"Who are you?"
The woman studied me quietly.
"That is a question I should be asking you, Scarlet."
My body went rigid.
"How do you know my name?"
She walked closer, but not in the way the Stewards did.
She did not look at me like I was something beneath her.
She looked at me like she was searching for something she had lost.
"My name is Lady Evelina Veyre."
The name meant nothing to me.
But the way she said my name made my chest tighten.
"You know me?"
"No," she answered softly.
Then she paused.
"But I knew your mother."
The room became silent.
My mother.
A person I barely remembered.
A face hidden behind broken pieces of memory.
I swallowed.
"My mother is dead."
Lady Evelina's expression changed.
Not surprise.
Pain.
"That is what they wanted you to believe."
The candle beside her flickered.
A strange feeling crawled over my skin.
Fear.
Hope.
Both equally dangerous.
"What do you mean?"
Before she could answer, the door opened.
A large man stepped inside.
The same man whose voice I heard before I lost consciousness.
He was tall, with dark hair tied behind his head and a scar crossing one side of his face. His armor was different from the guards I had seen around North Haythens. It was darker, decorated with a symbol of a silver wolf.
"Lady Veyre."
His eyes moved toward me.
"The house has been searched. The Steward family has fled."
Lady Evelina's expression hardened.
"Of course they did."
The man's jaw tightened.
"The servants?"
"Alive."
A strange relief filled me.
Even though most of them had ignored my suffering, they were still people.
"Except for Mint," the man continued.
Lady Evelina looked toward him.
"What about her?"
"She disappeared before we arrived."
The room grew colder.
Something about that name bothered me.
Mint.
The new maid.
The strange maid who never looked afraid of Mr. Steward.
The strange maid who was treated differently.
"Who is Mint?" I asked.
Both of them looked at me.
For a moment, neither answered.
Then Lady Evelina approached the bed.
"Someone who was not supposed to find you."
My heart began pounding.
And then I heard it.
The sound.
A heartbeat.
The man's heartbeat.
Strong.
Steady.
Alive.
My fingers curled into the blanket.
No.
Not again.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Scarlet?"
Lady Evelina noticed.
"What do you hear?"
I did not answer.
Because if I spoke the truth, I was afraid they would look at me the same way everyone else did.
Like a monster.
"I asked what you hear."
Her voice was gentle.
Too gentle.
It made the truth easier to say.
"Your heartbeat."
Silence.
The man immediately reached for the weapon at his side.
Lady Evelina lifted her hand.
"Wait."
"But, my lady—"
"Wait."
Her command stopped him.
She looked back at me.
"And what else?"
I swallowed.
"The blood."
The man's expression changed.
Not fear.
Recognition.
That frightened me more.
Lady Evelina sat beside the bed.
"Scarlet, listen carefully."
Her voice lowered.
"You are not sick."
I stared at her.
"Then what am I?"
She looked toward the window.
Outside, the moon hung above the trees.
The same forest where people had been found dead.
The same forest everyone feared.
"The last remaining descendant of the Crimson Bloodline."
The words meant nothing.
But somehow...
Somewhere deep inside me...
They felt familiar.
Like a memory waiting to wake up.
My head suddenly burned.
Images flashed behind my eyes.
A woman with silver hair.
A house surrounded by flames.
A scream.
Blood covering my hands.
And a voice.
A voice I had forgotten.
"Run, Scarlet."
My breath stopped.
"Run before they find out what you are."
I opened my eyes.
Lady Evelina was watching me.
She already knew.
"You remembered something."
I looked away.
"I don't understand."
"You will."
She stood.
"But first, you need to understand one thing."
The candle flames flickered.
"Those deaths in the Scarlet Woods were not caused by a monster."
My stomach twisted.
"Then what caused them?"
Lady Evelina looked directly at me.
"A monster."
Her eyes softened.
"Just not the one everyone is hunting."
Outside, somewhere far beyond the walls, a bell rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The sound echoed through the night.
Lady Evelina's expression changed.
"They found us."
The man beside her immediately moved toward the door.
"Who?"
Lady Evelina looked at me.
And for the first time since I woke up...
She looked afraid.
"The people who erased your memories."
The room suddenly felt colder.
And somewhere in the distance...
A heartbeat answered mine.