Waking up in someone else's skin
Lior opened his eyes with a start.
The ceiling wasn't his.
Too high.
Too ornate.
Too... golden.
I blinked several times, hoping the image would settle, but instead of disappearing, the details became sharper: carved moldings, silk curtains cascading down, and a soft floral scent I'd never had in my room before.
"Issa..." he murmured, turning his head immediately.
Her hand instinctively moved to the other side of the bed. She found nothing. Only soft sheets, too thin, too expensive.
He frowned.
Then he saw her.
A human silhouette, clearly male, stood out near the door. Dark. Motionless. For a moment he thought it was Issa, but something about the posture... no. That presence didn't belong to him.
"Who...?" I try to say.
Before he could speak, the figure vanished into the shadows, as if it had never been there.
The silence fell suddenly.
Lior tried to sit up and stopped. Her body felt strange. Too light. Clumsy. Alienated.
"Well..." she whispered. "This is a dream. A strange dream. And horribly expensive."
He finally sat down... and something heavy shifted on his chest.
I lower my gaze.
Her mind went blank.
—... ... ... ...
No.
No, no, no.
She brought both hands to her face. They were small. Slender. Elegant. They weren't her hands.
She got out of bed with difficulty, getting tangled up in what looked more like a dress than a robe, and walked awkwardly to the full-length mirror by the window.
And that's when he saw her.
A woman was watching him from the other side of the glass.
Long hair, dark as night, falling in soft waves over her shoulders. Pale, almost luminous skin. And large, pink eyes, wide open, terrified... too alive to belong to her.
It wasn't his reflection.
It was the one about the princess of the West.
"No..." she whispered. "This is an illusion. An illusion caused by strange herbs. Issa always said I shouldn't touch that plant."
He leaned towards the mirror.
"All right, stay calm," he told himself. "Think like a nobleman. Like a rational man."
He touched one of the dark strands with extreme care.
"I have prettier hair than her," she muttered. "That's offensive."
He looked down again.
—And I definitely don't know how to handle this...
The world turned upside down.
"Issa is going to laugh at me," she thought, on the verge of panic. "If I survive this, she's going to kill me."
The scream came out on its own.
—AAAAAAAAAAAA—
His body could no longer endure it and Lior collapsed without the slightest dignity.
He awoke to murmurs.
—Your Highness!
—Call the doctor!
—The princess opened her eyes!
Princess?
She closed her eyes tightly.
Don't look. If you don't look, it's not real.
"Eliza," said a female voice. "Are you alright?"
He opened only one.
An older woman, adorned with jewels and sporting an overly sharp smile, watched him from above.
And then the memories came flooding back.
Ballrooms. Uncomfortable dresses. Endless bows. That woman.
my aunt
"Your fainting spell was due to stress," he continued. "It's understandable, with your engagement so close."
Commitment
The image of a stern man appeared in her mind. Feared, powerful. Loved in silence.
Lior felt a chill.
"I need to be alone," she said suddenly.
The woman hesitated, but nodded.
—Rest. Don't forget who you are... or what your duty is.
When he was alone, Lior collapsed onto the pillows.
"Issa..." he whispered. "Please tell me you're okay."
The memory struck him without warning.
The mountains.
The cold air.
Issa crouched among the grasses, smiling at him as she filled the basket.
Then the attack.
The clang of steel.
Issa's muffled scream as she fell.
Blood trickling from her lips.
Lior fighting a huge man, twice his size. Strong.
Brutal.
His face... I couldn't remember it.
Panic gripped him.
She jumped up and ran towards the door, completely forgetting that the body was not her own.
Far away from there, Eliza woke up with a stifled gasp.
Three bodies.
Three broken destinies.
And a truth that had just awakened.