Chapter 125 Viktor's Education

Chapter 125 Viktor's Education
Lilith POV.

Viktor doesn't use knives or fire. His torture is worse. He makes me watch Logan and Rune together. Forces me to see what I lost and never had.

I've been here three weeks.

Captured the night before my scheduled execution when Viktor's rogues attacked the prison transport. They killed six guards. Good warriors. Dead because of me. Because Viktor wanted me specifically.

Dragged me north through Shadowfen marshes. Through the Deadlands. All the way to the Bloodmoon Wastelands. To his fortress. To him.

The torture chamber isn't what I expected. No blood-stained walls. No instruments of pain. No rack or iron maiden or burning coals.

Just a room. Cold stone walls that weep moisture. A single chair where I'm restrained. Wrists bound with magical chains that don't cut but won't break. And a mirror. Large. Ornate. Pulsing with sickly purple magic.

The air smells like rot and old magic. My stomach is hollow. They feed me just enough to keep me alive. Nothing more. I've lost weight. Can feel my ribs too prominent. My clothes hang loose.

But the worst part isn't the hunger.

It's the mirror.

Viktor stands beside it. Watching me.

"Week one of your education." He says. Voice like silk over razors. "I'll show you what you threw away."

"I won't watch." I spit. Try to summon defiance.

Viktor laughs. "You will."

He waves his hand. Magic forces my eyes open. When I try to close them, they won't obey. When I try to look away, invisible hands turn my head back to the mirror.

I'm forced to watch.

The mirror shimmers. Showing me them.

Logan and Rune. But not now. This is before. The very first time they met.

I watch Logan's face as Rune is brought to him in chains. Omega slave. Sold to break his curse. He looks at her with surprise. But also something else I've never seen in him.

Recognition.

Hope.

"That could have been you." Viktor whispers. Circles my chair. "If you'd been Oracle. If you'd been fated. If you'd been anything more than a drunken mistake he regrets."

The words cut. But I refuse to react.

The vision continues. I watch them through those first days. Wariness becoming curiosity. Curiosity becoming attraction. Attraction becoming something deeper.

I watch Logan look at her in ways he never looked at me.

"This is nothing. Just infatuation. It'll fade."

Viktor's smile is cruel. "Will it? Let's find out."

Week two.

I haven't slept properly in days. Every time I close my eyes, I see them. The mirror haunts me even in darkness.

I've stopped eating the meager food they bring.

Viktor enters the chamber.

"Ready for today's lesson?"

"Fuck you." My voice is hoarse from screaming.

He just smiles. Waves his hand. The mirror activates.

This time, it shows their mating ceremony.

I watch the ritual unfold. Ancient words spoken. Blood mixed. The moment the bond completes. Golden light connecting them. Visible and permanent. Searing into both their souls.

The way they look at each other in that moment destroys something in me.

Not lust. Not politics. Not convenience.

Soul recognition.

They fit together like two pieces of the same whole finally united.

"You were convenient." Viktor says. Almost gentle. "She is necessary. Do you understand the difference?"

I'm crying now. Can't stop the tears even though I hate showing weakness.

"He needed release after his father died. Any warm body would have sufficed. You were just... there."

The vision shifts. Shows me a memory I'd tried to forget.

Five years ago. The night Logan's father died. Logan stumbling into my quarters. Drunk and grieving and desperate for anything to numb the pain.

I offered comfort. He accepted.

It was quick. Mechanical. Joyless.

He fell asleep after without holding me. Without thanking me. Without even looking at me. Just passed out. Still half-dressed.

In the morning, he barely acknowledged me. Thanked me stiffly for the "kindness" and left.

I'd convinced myself it meant something. Built an entire fantasy from one drunken night.

But watching him with Rune now, I see the truth laid bare.

He never wanted me. I was just there when he needed a body. Any body.

"Stop." I whisper. Pull uselessly against my chains. "Please."

"Stop? We're just getting started."