Chapter 125
_Fenric’s POV_
The door creaked as I pushed it open. My chambers welcomed me with their silence. Heavy curtains cloaked the tall windows, letting only a thin thread of moonlight through. The air was cool. It was scented faintly with incense and the sharp trace of herbs I had burned
earlier.
And there she was.
Katherine.
She lay on my bed as if she had only just drifted into a gentle sleep. Her blonde hair spread across the pillow. Her lashes were shadowing her pale cheeks. Her lips were parted slightly, soft, as though she might stir at any moment and call my name. But she would not.
Not now.
Not while her soul was gone.
I stepped closer, my boots sinking into the thick rug. For a moment, I simply stood there and looked at her. To anyone else, she looked alive, merely lost in slumber. But I knew the truth. The body before me was nothing more than an empty shell. A beautiful vessel without a
flame inside.
My lips curved. I could not help but smile.
I remembered clearly the power in my veins when I whispered the words of the spell. It had been a dangerous ritual, one I had perfected in shadows for years. Few dared to tamper with
souls. Even fewer succeeded. But I had.
I had cut Katherine’s soul free from her flesh, weaving the old words around her body like chains. Her spirit had trembled in my hands. It was a glowing essence of blue and silver. She had not resisted. She had allowed it. She had trusted me and offered herself like a gift. Foolish girl. She thought her sacrifice would bind me to her and make me love her.
I still remembered the way her soul had flickered in my palm. It was fragile yet burning with devotion. She had whispered, “Take it, Fenric. If it helps you, take it. I am yours.”
And I had. Without hesitation.
I had sealed her soul inside a crystal vial. It was a prison of glass and blood–ink runes. Then, when the moment at Eldermoor came, when Lisa stood vulnerable by the altar, I had acted. My spell was swift. I tore Lisa’s soul free and thrust Alexandra’s in its place.
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<Chapter 125
Two lives exchanged in a single breath.
+25 Points
Now, Lisa wandered the past, trapped in the ruins of her mother’s agony, while Katherine walked in Lisa’s body. She would speak with Lisa’s lips and move with Lisa’s hands. No one
would know. Not Morana, not Kael, not even that suspicious Rylan. At least, not for a while.
Of course, I had taken precautions. My enchantment lay thick around the girl. It dulled the senses of those around her, hid the wrongness and blurred the edges. Morana was sharp, yes, but even she would not pierce my veil quickly. But time was a knife. The spell would fray.
Katherine needed to act fast before the truth surfaced.
Still, I had no doubt she would obey. She always obeyed.
I moved closer to the bed and gazed down at her body. She looked fragile like this. She was breakable. I reached out and brushed a strand of hair from her face. My fingers lingered on her cheek for a moment. Her skin was so cold just like my heart.
“My dear Katherine,” I whispered. My voice was low, almost tender. “Look at what you have done for me. You have given me your soul. You have given me her body. You have risked your
life without a question. All because of love.”
I chuckled softly. It echoed in the stillness of the chamber.
“You believe that by proving yourself, by offering all that you are, you will make me love you. You think devotion can buy affection.” I tilted my head, studying her lifeless form. “But you are wrong. So very wrong.”
I leaned closer, my lips near her ear as if she could hear me. “I cannot love you, Katherine. I cannot love anyone. My heart beats only for myself. I see you as you truly are….not a lover, not a queen. You are my servant. My puppet. That is all.”
My words tasted like iron. They were sharp and final.
A flicker of memory stirred in me. I remembered her face when she confessed her love, the trembling in her voice and the desperate hope in her eyes. “I would do anything for you, Fenric,” she had said once. “Even die.”
And she had proven it.
She had thought that dying for me would make her special. That I would cherish her sacrifice. She had never understood. I do not cherish. I use.
I straightened and clasped my hands behind my back. I looked down at her body, so still, so loyal even in emptiness. She had always been like that. She was blindly loyal and willing to bleed for me.
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And yet, all her devotion could not stir anything in me but amusement.
+25 Points >
Because I was right. I had always been right. Love is weakness. Love is a leash. I broke that chain long ago.
I turned toward the tall mirror across the chamber. My reflection looked back at me. I could see dark eyes burning with power and lips curved into a predator’s smile. My victory was painted there.
Lisa’s soul was trapped. Katherine was in her place. And no one suspected the truth.
I thought of Kael’s frown, Rylan’s suspicion and Morana’s sharp gaze. They would look at the girl beside them and think that she was Lisa. And all the while, my puppet would move among them, carrying out my will.
“Now,” I said aloud, my voice ringing against the stone walls, “no one can stop me. Not the moon goddess. Not the witch. Not even the girl herself. The game is mine.”
I stepped back to the bed once more. Katherine’s still body seemed to listen. Her lips, parted in false sleep, almost smiled.
“You wanted my love,” I murmured. “But what you have is far greater. You have given me the world. And I will take it.”
I laughed once again. It shook the chamber like thunder.
For the first time in years, I felt the weight of destiny bending toward me. Every trap I had laid, every sacrifice I had demanded, had brought me to this moment.
Lisa was trapped in the past, drowning in her mother’s memory. Katherine wore her skin. And I, Fenric, stood at the center, pulling every string.
“Let them try,” I whispered, my smile cold as a blade. “Let them fight shadows. Let them scream her name. In the end, all roads lead to me.”
I turned my back on Katherine’s body and moved toward the window. The moonlight poured across my hands. I lifted my face to it, drinking in its cold glow.
“Yes,” I breathed. “The world is mine.”
And in the silence that followed, I laughed again.
