The Morning After The Rebirth

Veyra's POV

"Uncle!"

I start awake, my hand instantly covering my chest where there is no wound, where there is no blood.

The ceiling above me is gold-tinged in the sunlight of the morning.

I sit up slowly, my heartbeat loud enough that I can actually hear it in my ears. I search the room quickly, my stomach churning at all the things I see.

My graduation gown sits pressed and waiting on my closet door. My wedding dress waits next to it, safely tucked into its own wrapping of silk. The vanity table holds the exact same jewelry as before-the jewelry that I wore just hours before my death.

"No," I whisper. "It can't be."

I place my palms on my eyelids to even out my breathing. I'm dead. I know that I have died. I remember Cassian's expression and how calm and ruthless he was. I remember the coldness of the warehouse floor under my body, and the utter despair in me when Evren's name tore through my throat after the shot rang out.

But I remember everything.

Why am I here, then?

I remove the covers from myself and approach the vanity, steadying myself on it while staring at my own reflection. There is no wound on my face, no mark on my skin. I look exactly like I did in the morning of my graduation-innocent, optimistic, completely unaware of what awaited me later that day.

"It must be a dream," I whisper. "Some kind of hallucination. Or something."

I pinch the skin of my wrist so painfully that I wince at the sharp sensation.

A knock on the door, and in walks Sable, my maid, with a smile.

"Good morning, Miss Veyra. The graduation ceremony begins in two hours. Do you want me to send your breakfast upstairs, or do you want to have it in the dining hall?"

I stare blankly at her, my brain working overtime. "Sable... what day is it?"

She tilts her head, perplexed by my question. "Fourteenth, Miss. The day of your graduation."

My throat constricts. "But in the evening?"

"In the evening is your wedding, of course," she laughs, "are you feeling alright? You look a bit pale."

"I am alright," I reply swiftly, "just a nervous wreck, I suppose."

She nods and exits to get me breakfast, and I collapse onto the bed. Everything she had said fit perfectly into what I remembered. Same day. Same schedule. Same wedding that ends with my death in an abandoned warehouse.

"What's going on?" I whisper to myself.

Before I have time to ponder about it more, my vision gets blurred, as if something was getting in the way. My surroundings turn into nothing but mist, making me feel like I'm floating in the air.

Once my vision clears, I find myself somewhere other than my bedroom.

I am in an unfamiliar place – it feels like the soft light surrounds me, there are no walls or any floor visible, only warmth. In front of me, stands a woman whom I thought I would never see again.

"Mom," I say to myself, barely able to speak. "Mom?"

Maelis Solenne looked exactly the same as the last time I saw her – warm brown eyes, gentle smile which used to make every storm I had back in childhood go away.

"My dear daughter," she said, holding her arms wide open towards me.

I ran to her and put my hands on her face, afraid that she will evaporate once I touch her. "How is it possible? You are gone for years."

"I know," she whispers. "But you're here now, and that's all that matters."

"Am I dead?" I ask. "Did I just die again? Is this the afterlife?"

"No," she says, shaking her head. "This is no dream, Veyra. This is not death. You've been granted a rare gift. A second chance."

"A second chance." The words echo in my head, but I cannot comprehend their meaning. "What do you mean?"

"You have been given another life," she continues. "Reborn, sent back to the beginning of that day with everything you have been through fresh in your memory. You know what your uncle did. You know what he plans to do tonight."

Tears sting my eyes. "He killed you," I say softly. "He killed you and Dad. He told me so himself before he –"

"I know," she answers, her voice strong in spite of the pain in her eyes. "I know what he has done to us, Veyra. And what he did to you."

"What can I do?" I ask, my voice shaky. "How can I stop any of this from happening again?"

She grasps my hands with her own and for a brief second, I feel the warmth that I once used to feel when I was a child.

"You already know all you have to know," she says. "What happened to you was not in vain. Use it. Learn the truth. Hold those who are responsible accountable. Take revenge on behalf of your father and me, Veyra. Take revenge on yourself."

She raises her hand and I see a crumpled sheet of paper lying in her palm.

"Take this," she says. "Remember everything when you wake up. Remember this moment. It will be a reminder of what you should do."

I stretch out my hand to grasp the piece of paper-

-and I wake up.

I rise up so quickly that I feel dizzy as I take uneven gasps of air. I simply stare at the ceiling, hoping that the dizziness will pass away so that I can think about whether the experience that I just had was another dream within a dream.

Then I feel something that is hard in my hand.

I slowly lift up my hand and unfold it.

It is real paper.

My breath gets stuck in my throat. I stare at it and wonder how my eyes can possibly see what they are seeing; but there it is, real, tangible, and warm from my very palm.

"It is real," I whisper to myself. "It is really real."

I hold the piece of paper against my chest, tears falling from my eyes as everything becomes clear. My mother had been speaking the truth; she had given me a second chance. I am back in the past, having complete information about everything that Cassian had done-how he had killed my parents, how he had deceived me with the love that he had shown me, and how I had died in his hands on my wedding night.

I wipe my eyes and try to breathe evenly.

It won't be happening again.

I get out of bed and go to the window, looking at the dawn light that pours into the courtyard where in less than a day's time, my wedding with Evren would start. Where Cassian would smile at me and congratulate me, only to later kill me without any hesitation.

Not this time.

Now I know what his plans are. Now I know the path the driver will follow, the building in which he will wait, and the destiny he will give Evren and to me if I don't marry Evren. I will not allow myself just not to marry him because then he will become suspicious of me, and he is much too dangerous for that. I need to ruin his plans in some unexpected way.

To do that, I need someone very powerful, who will be able to stand against Cassian. Someone whom he fears and who Cassian will never expect me to turn to.

I know exactly who I am going to ask.

I walk to my desk, grab my phone and call the number of the wedding coordinator. She responds almost immediately.

"Good morning, Miss Solenne! Everything is on schedule for tonight. Is there something you need?"

I take a steadying breath.

"Yes," I say. "We need to make a change to the guest list."