Chapter 4 Chapter Four

"Lady Eris!"

The voice was shrill, cutting through a thick, suffocating fog that filled my head. I groaned, my neck feeling like it was made of lead as I tried to turn away from the sound. I reached up to cover my ears, but my arms felt heavy, as if they were weighted down by invisible chains.

"LADY ERIS!"

I groaned louder. Who the hell is Eris? And what kind of stupid show was someone watching that was so loud? I just wanted to sleep.

"LADY ERIS! Oh, thank the heavens, she's moving!"

"Turn that TV OFF!" I finally managed to yell, my voice rasping like sandpaper against my throat.

I sat up abruptly or tried to, but a wave of dizzying nausea sent me reeling back against a stack of pillows. My eyes snapped open, but the world didn't make sense. I wasn't at the gala, or on the gravel. I was in a sterile, white hospital room that smelled of bleach and expensive lilies.

Before I could even catch my breath, a sea of people rushed toward the bed. They were blurred shapes at first, a chaotic hum of voices that made my brain throb.

"My daughter!"

"You're finally awake!"

"It's been months, Eris! We thought we'd lost you forever!"

"How do you feel? Speak to us!"

I blinked, the static in my vision clearing. I stared at the faces in front of me, my heart hammering against my ribs. There was a man with thinning ginger hair and a sharp, tailored suit, and a woman with perfectly coiffed blond hair who looked she'd been crying nonstop for weeks.

"Who....who are all of you?" I whispered, my voice trembling as I stared back at them.

The room went deathly silent. It was as if I'd sucked all the oxygen out of the air. The ginger haired man turned to a younger woman by the door, his face pale. "Go. Call the doctors. Now!"

The woman nodded frantically and vanished into the hallway. Then, the blond woman reached out, her hands shaking as she cupped her cheeks. She leaned in, pressing wet kisses to my face.

"Oh my God, Eris, you're back! I was worried sick that I'd lost you forever, my baby! My sweet girl!"

I recoiled, pushing her hands away. My skin crawled at the touch of a stranger. "Ugh- who are you? Why are you touching me? Who's Eris?"

The woman let out a strangled gasp, her hands flying to her mouth. She backed away as if I'd slapped her, her eyes filling with fresh tears. "She doesn't remember me," she says with disbelief. "Me! Me! Her own mother!"

"Honey, please, calm down," the ginger man said, though his own voice was breaking. He moved to support her, staring at me with a mixture of profound relief and agonizing heartbreak.

Another woman, dressed in a sleek charcoal dress with her hair tied into a bun stared at me with pity. She moved closer, her lips quivering. "Poor lady Eris. She must have lost her memory. The trauma must have been too much."

Lost my memory?

My mind was a mess, but I remembered some things. I remembered the gala, Roan, Verena....what's going on? What happened that night? Why am I here?

"I don't get it," I snapped, my confusion turning into a sharp defensive edge. "What do you mean I lost my memory? What happened-" The words died in my throat when my gaze drifted to the full length mirror standing on the far side of the room, positioned just right so I could see the bed.

I froze.

The woman in the mirror wasn't me.

Instead of my straight, ink-black hair, a mess of wild, ginger curls spilled over the hospital gown. Instead of my pale clear skin, there were light freckles dusted across a small upturned nose. And my eyes....my deep blue eyes were gone, in their place were two startling, vivid green orbs staring back at me in horror.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON?!"

-

"She's suffering from severe anemia and the neurological effects of the prolonged coma, but luckily she has recovered even better than we had expected," the doctor said. He was standing at the foot of the bed, scribbling on a clipboard while the blond woman- the one who insisted she was my mother- clutched a handkerchief.

"Is that why she doesn't remember anything?" She asked in a hushed tone.

"Frankly, yes," the doctor replied. "Retrograde amnesia following such a traumatic physical collapse isn't uncommon. Her memories will back come...it just might take time. Fot now, her body needs to catch up to her mind."

I stared at them silently, my brain feeling like it was being squeezed by a vice. My parents? Ginger and blond? This body was ginger and green eyed. It didn't make sense. I closed my eyes, trying to force my brain to work, to find the 'me' that was hidden under this new skin.

A memory tried to slot into place, but it was like a jagged piece of glass cutting through my mind.

What happened? What really happened that night at the gala?

Flash.

Roan's grey eyes.

The champagne in the air.

Verena and Julian....the feeling of my own blood soaking into a diamond encrusted dress.

My dress.

Standing on top of my dying form....Roan.

The Gala. August 5th, 2025.

"Ugh!" I hissed, clutching my head as the pain spiked. It felt like a hot iron was being driven into my temple.

"Just calm down," the doctor urged, stepping forward as the ginger haired man and the blond woman rushed to my side. "Don't fight it. Take deep breath, look at me. Breathe."

I did as I was told, sucking in air until the black spots in my vision faded.

"She needs time," the doctor continued, his tone clinical. "She shouldn't try to remember anything by force. It will only cause more neurological stress. It should come naturally. We will monitor her for one more week before we decide if she's stable enough to be discharged to your care."

"Thank you doctor." The ginger haired man whispered.

They kept talking, but I tuned them out. I turned my head towards the digital clock on the bedside table.

February 5th, 2026.

My heart stoped.

Six months.

I had been in a coma for six months?

My head began to hammer as another vivid memory slammed back in.

Roan.

This time the image was clearer.

He had stabbed me and watched me die slowly as I laid helplessly on the floor soaked in my own blood.

Why did he stab me? And how was I here? Zia west was stabbed, I felt the life leaving me. So who was Eris? And why was I wearing her face?

Suddenly, the wall mounted TV in the corner flickered to life. I slowly turned, watching it as the morning news came on. My eyes widened as a familiar face filled the screen.

Roan.

He looked exactly the same, perhaps a bit colder, his expression a grim mask as he moved through a sea of shouting reporters. He was leaving a courthouse, his stride long and predatory.

"Mr. Vane! It's been six months since the incident with Zia West!" A reporter screamed, thrusting a microphone forward. "The case was closed due to a lack of evidence, but the public still has questions! Do you think any one against you might have been her attacker or perhaps is there something the public should be aware of?"

"Are you going to let the attempted murder of your girlfriend die?" Another reporter shouted.

"Have you anything to say to the West Family?"

"What are your plans?"

"Will Zia West ever wake up from the coma?"

He stayed silent despite the numerous questions being thrown at him. He didn't even glance at the camera. He just kept walking, like a man who had gotten away from a crime.

In the background of the crowd, I saw them. My sister, Verena and Julian. They were fighting their way through the press, trying to get to a waiting car. My breath hitched when my eyes landed on Verena's stomach were her hand was rested. It was high, swollen, like she was heavily pregnant.

She was carrying Julian's child...a dream I once had.

My heart seized as the tears threatened to flow.

"Mrs Vane, do you have anything to say concerning your sister's attack?" A reporter rushed towards Verena, but Julian blocked him.

"Back off! Can't you see she's under stress?" He yelled at the reporter who didn't flinch but thrusted closer.

I stared at the screen with teary filled eyes. The sister who hated me was starting a family with the man who had traded me away. And Roan was the one who had paved the way for them with a blade.

I looked down at my new hands. They were smaller, the fingers more delicate, but as I clenched them into fists. I felt a strength I hadn't possessed before.

This Eris was apparently a Lady and from the looks of her parents. She had money and parents who loved her dearly.

She had a platform. And now, I'm her.

I looked back at the TV, at Roan's retreating back, and a cold, murderous calm settled over me.

"I'll ruin you," I whispered under my breath. "Somehow, someway, with this new life. I'll ruin you, I'll come for everything you love and watch you suffer the way you watched me die."