Lisa’s POV
I froze the moment I stepped into Fenric’s room.
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The door clicked softly behind me, and silence wrapped around the space like a thick blanket. My fingers were still shaking as I lowered them from the doorknob. The key rested like a
stone in my pocket, but I no longer felt its weight.
The room was… cold.
Not in temperature, but in feeling.
The walls were dark. They were painted a deep forest green that drank up the light. The curtains were drawn tight, casting the room in shadows. A few thin lines of sunlight slipped through the cracks, striping the hardwood floors like pale scars.
Everything inside was neat….too neat.
The bed was perfectly made. There was not a single wrinkle on the charcoal gray sheets. The desk was spotless. A silver pen lay exactly perpendicular to the edge. Even the books on the shelves were arranged by height, each one tucked neatly against the next.
It felt… unnatural. As if someone lived here who didn’t truly live at all. Someone who needed everything in control….everything hidden.
My breath hitched as I stepped farther inside.
Where do I start? I asked Sierra.
Check near the bed, she answered. People usually keep their personal things close.
I nodded. My steps were soft on the wooden floor. I crouched beside the bed and opened the drawer on the left.
It was empty.
I tried the right one.
Only a notebook and a pair of old reading glasses.
Nothing useful.
I checked under the bed and pressed my cheek to the floor. Just dust and the smooth legs of the bedframe.
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Chapter 97
I stood and turned to the dresser next. Slowly and carefully, I pulled each drawer open.
There were clothes; robes folded neatly in straight lines, socks stacked in perfect little piles and nothing felt personal.
My pulse quickened.
I moved to the bookshelves.
My eyes scanned the titles–herbal magic, war history, alchemy… strange subjects, but not surprising anymore. I reached up and felt along the spines. I was tugging at anything that looked slightly out of place.
One of the books wobbled. My heart jumped. I pulled it down….it was heavier than the
others. The cover was blank.
I opened it.
Nothing.
Just empty pages.
Sierra sighed. Keep looking. It has to be here somewhere.
I turned next to the desk. There were three drawers on one side and a small locked one at the
center. I tried it. It was locked.
I bit my lip.
I could break it, but that would be too loud.
I opened the top left drawer instead. There were pens, paper clips, and a stapler. This one was useless.
In the middle drawer, there were folders. I flipped through them. They were all labeled in Fenric’s tidy handwriting. “Guest Expenses,” “Supply Orders,” “Training Schedules.” Nothing suspicious.
But then I noticed something.
The last folder was thinner than the others. It was old and yellowed at the corners. It wasn’t labeled.
I slid it out and opened it.
It was a map. A hand–drawn map of the mansion and the forest around it.
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Chapter 97
Strange.
Why would he need this?
Then something else caught my eye; a black ribbon tied around a stack of papers tucked at the back of the drawer. My heart leapt.
I pulled it out.
It wasn’t papers.
It was photographs.
Not neatly kept. Not in a box. Not framed. Just a bundle, stuffed deep in the drawer behind old documents.
I untied the ribbon with trembling fingers.
The first photo was of a young woman.
She was beautiful.
Her hair was long and brown. She had kind eyes. She was smiling and holding a baby.
My breath caught in my throat.
Althea.
I knew it. Even though I had only seen her in dreams and visions, I knew that it was her. Her presence in the picture was so strong, I almost expected her to speak.
And the baby had wide green eyes.
My eyes.
The same brown hair.
The same locket around my neck.
Sierra, I whispered. It’s me.
I know, she breathed. Goddess… Lisa, it really is you.
I flipped to the next photo.
It was Althea again. This time she was standing in a forest, one hand resting gently on her belly. She was pregnant.
Chapter 97
My throat tightened.
She looked… so young. So happy.
More pictures followed. Some were blurry, some damaged.
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But all of them showed the same woman. My mother. And many of them had me–swaddled in a blanket, curled up in her arms, sleeping in a basket.
I didn’t know how to feel. My hands trembled.
Tears burned my eyes. A strange ache filled my chest. I wanted to reach into those photos, to touch her face and hear her voice just once.
She loved me, I whispered.
Yes, Sierra said. She did. You can see it in every picture.
I flipped to the next one.
And then I froze.
It was a man.
Standing beside Althea.
He had an arm around her shoulders.
He was young and handsome. His dark hair was swept back from a sharp face. His eyes were cold even in the photo.
But I recognized him.
Fenric.
He was younger. But it was definitely him.
He was smiling.
And so was she.
I nearly dropped the picture.
He knew her, I said slowly. He knew my mother. He was close to her.
Sierra was silent.
I stared at the photo. My head was spinning.
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Why didn’t he tell me? Why keep this a secret?
Had he loved her?
Had she loved him back?
Or was it something darker?
Why did he have these pictures?
Why hide them?
What the hell is going on?
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I was shaking so badly now I could barely hold the photos. I was about to slide them back into the drawer when I heard it.
A voice.
It was low.
Right behind me.
“What are you doing here, Lisa?”
My heart stopped.
The photos slipped from my fingers.
The air turned to ice.
Sierra’s voice echoed like a scream inside my
Run.
But I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t breathe.
Because I knew that voice.
I didn’t have to turn around to know.
Fenric was standing behind me.
And he had caught me.
head.
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