[Vanessa's POV]
'A dream. I saw that dream again.'
As her consciousness drifted through the hazy remnants of sleep, Vanessa found herself returning to a place she had not truly seen in years.
In that dream, she was no longer Violet — the identity the world had come to know. The guarded girl hidden beneath countless layers of caution and carefully crafted lies no longer existed there.
Instead, she was Vanessa Eldrienne once more, reverted back to five years old.
The second daughter of House Eldrienne, born into a family whose name still stood tall and untarnished. A child untouched by consequence was dreaming in a place where time had not yet taken anything from her.
The sun spilt softly across the white-stone courtyard of the Eldrienne manor. The garden walls, high and ivy-kissed, held in the laughter of that morning.
