"This makes no sense," I whispered to myself.
I stared at my reflection in confusion; long copper hair, fuller chest, clear pale skin and gorgeous long legs- whose body did I wake up in?
The stranger continued looking at me like I was crazy and I knew I had to say something or risk exposing that I was a dead woman in a new body.
"My name is Marcella," I lied confidently. "I have no memories of how I got here…. I only remember my name"…
"This is Velaris and maybe somebody at the royal wedding would be able to recognize you," he declared.
"Royal wedding?" I inquired.
"Yes, my brother, Damian, is marrying some rich heiress," he shrugged.
"Brother?" I murmured.
"Yes," he nodded as he helped me get on top his horse. "The sun is setting, we need to hurry back. Your human scent can be picked up from miles away"..
"Hold on tight," he instructed as he wrapped my arms around his torso.
I was itching to ask questions but I knew it would be better to remain silent till we arrived.
The streets were lined with tasteful decorations and men and women from various sectors of the city flocked around in groups as they engaged in drunken conversations and danced with careless abandon.
We arrived at my family's large garden and from the look of things, it seemed like they had been partying for days. What was worse was that this was supposed to be my wedding to Damian but he had gone ahead to marry my sister and everyone moved on like my death meant nothing.
It angered me to my bones as I watched the guests and my family act like nothing had happened.
"Stay here, I'll go get help from the Lady of the house," Damian's brother instructed before disappearing into the crowd.
As much as I knew stepmother would never see past my new look, it still scared me to stand face to face with her. She was known to be very observant and she had the special ability to sniff out a lie.
I needed to contact Dassy as soon as possible. If I was going to be around my stepmother, I needed to be sure there was some sort of spell to prevent her from recognizing me.
I recalled she had mentioned the garnet on my neck was for communication so I locked the small crystal between my fingers and rubbed on it, hoping it would maybe glow or summon Dassy.
I strayed from the crowd, seeking a little bit of privacy in case I was able to successfully summon Dassy.
I followed the bush path that led to a more secluded part of the garden. It was quiet and the smell of decay and moss filled the air- quite fair considering it was autumn and most of the gardeners had escaped after stepmother beat one of them with an iron rod.
I drifted far away from the crowd till I arrived at a small stone cut bench. I remembered reading and watching the birds from here. It used to be my favourite spot in the entire house; far enough from the entire house but close enough to see when stepmother moved around with her entourage.
I continued rubbing the crystal until my fingers became sore. I lay supine on the bench and tried to think of what else to try.
The corner of my eye caught sight of bunched up lace fabric beside the foot of the bench. I rolled over, squatted and examined the fabric.
It was stuck to something and I pulled harder until the entirety came rolling out from underneath the bench accompanied with dead leaves, food scraps and my decaying body.
I screamed in terror, I felt extremely light headed and my last memory was knocking my head against the hard stone bench as I fell unconscious.