Episode 2 - Ashes and Embers

The morning light crept softly across the wide windows of the penthouse, painting the room in pale gold. Raven stirred beneath silk sheets, her lashes flickering as she opened her eyes. For the first few breaths, she lay still, adjusting to the fragile weight of her new body. Emily Hart’s frame felt unfamiliar too delicate, too untrained, the complete opposite of the body she had once commanded.

When she finally rose, her legs trembled. Even standing was a battle. She padded barefoot across the polished hardwood floor, moving toward the tall mirror fixed against the wall.

The reflection that greeted her made her pause.

Emily Hart’s timid features stared back, the soft mouth, the pale skin, the wide eyes that once overflowed with fear. But Raven was the one smiling now. A slow, sharp curve of the lips that had never belonged to Emily.

“You really let them break you,” Raven murmured, running her fingers along the cool edge of the mirror. Her voice was calm, almost amused. “Too soft. Too trusting. Too weak.”

Yet she wasn’t mocking. There was a strange kind of intimacy in her words, a recognition of the girl who had lived and suffered before her. Emily’s memories pressed heavily at the back of her mind, insistent and raw. Raven let them wash over her, one by one.

Stephanie, perfect in her silk dresses, standing at the boardroom table, her honeyed tone disguising knives as she undermined Emily’s every decision. Damien, whispering I love you against Emily’s skin while slipping into Stephanie’s arms hours later. The board’s laughter echoing as Emily dropped papers with shaking hands, cheeks burning crimson while no one stood for her.

Raven inhaled deeply through her nose, jaw tightening. Emily had lived her life drowning in shame and betrayal. Now that shame belonged to Raven, and she had no intention of drowning.

“Don’t worry, little lamb,” she whispered toward the glass, her smirk hardening into something dangerous. “They won’t laugh for long. I’ll make them choke on the taste of their own arrogance.”

The door creaked open. Raven didn’t flinch. She turned slowly, her eyes lifting with cool poise.

“Miss Hart?”

Luguard Jones filled the doorway, tall and steady, the faint scent of cedar and gun oil clinging to him. His suit was tailored to perfection, every line of fabric stretched across his broad shoulders, his tie knotted with soldier-like precision. He studied her silently, those dark eyes of his sweeping the room before settling back on her with sharp attention.

“You’re awake,” he said, his deep voice carrying both relief and restraint.

Raven tilted her head, letting her lips curve. “Stronger than ever.”

He hesitated. The subtle furrow of his brow betrayed him. “Something’s… different about you.”

She stepped closer, bare feet whispering against the floor. Emily’s body swayed with fragility, but Raven held her ground, forcing every step to radiate authority. She stopped just inches away from him, tilting her chin up until her gaze locked onto his.

“Maybe I’ve had a change of heart,” she replied, her voice dropping low, each word brushing between them like velvet.

For the briefest second, she saw it—the flicker in his eyes. Heat, raw and unguarded, before he masked it with the cold discipline of a bodyguard. His jaw tightened, and he stepped back half an inch, as though to reset the distance between them.

“Whatever it is,” he said gruffly, “keep it. It suits you better than weakness.”

Raven’s smirk widened, slow and knowing. Emily would have flushed crimson at such a remark, shrinking into herself. Raven savored it, rolling his words across her tongue like fine wine.

“Duly noted,” she whispered, and brushed past him as though he were just another shadow in her path.

Her shoulder grazed his arm as she passed, a deliberate touch, light but charged. She didn’t miss the way his breath hitched quietly, how his muscles went taut beneath the expensive fabric of his jacket. He recovered instantly, straightening, but Raven had already seen what she needed to see.

Later, she sat at Emily’s desk, the room dim except for the warm glow of a lamp. Papers spread across the polished surface like a battlefield. Contracts, stock reports, board notes all of them stained with betrayal. Stephanie’s fingerprints were everywhere, delicate and poisonous, weaving Emily into traps she had never noticed.

Raven skimmed through them with calm precision. To Emily, these documents had been weapons of humiliation. To Raven, they were blueprints for war.

“Patience,” she murmured, leaning back in the leather chair. “Every empire has cracks in its walls. All I have to do is press until it falls.”

She smiled at the thought, the image of Stephanie’s perfect face crumbling filling her with satisfaction. Damien’s smug grin turning to panic was an image she craved even more.

When her eyes lifted from the papers, she caught sight of the tall figure standing in the hallway just beyond the door. Luguard leaned against the wall, his stance relaxed but his eyes sharp, constantly scanning for threats. A sentinel. A shield.

And hers.

Raven rose from the chair and padded toward the doorway. She leaned lightly against the frame, her robe slipping just enough to expose a bare shoulder.

“You take guarding me very seriously,” she said softly, her voice brushing like smoke against the silence.

Luguard’s eyes flicked to her, and though his face remained impassive, she caught the brief pause in his breath. His gaze dropped for the smallest fraction of a second to her exposed skin before snapping back up with practiced control.

“It’s my job,” he replied evenly, though his voice was rougher than usual.

Raven stepped closer, until the space between them was nothing but a heated thread. She let her fingers trace along the edge of the doorway, her eyes fixed on his. “And if I asked you to protect more than my life?”

For the first time, the perfect mask on his face faltered. Just slightly. His throat worked as he swallowed, his jaw flexing as though he were biting back words that wanted to slip free.

“Don’t play games, Miss Hart,” he said finally, his tone low, almost warning.

Raven smiled, stepping back at last. “Who said I was playing?”

She turned gracefully and walked away, her robe swaying around her legs, leaving him rooted in the hall. She didn’t have to look back to know his eyes followed her, that his steady heartbeat had stumbled just enough to betray him.

For the first time since stepping into Emily’s body, Raven felt a new hunger stir alongside her thirst for revenge. It wasn’t weakness. It was power. Desire sharpened into another weapon, one she would wield just as ruthlessly as her mind.

Stephanie and Damien would crumble soon enough. But Luguard…

He would fall, too. Only not into ruin. Into her.

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