Chapter 126 Corruption
Chapter 126 Corruption
Lilith POV.
Week three.
I'm broken. No fight left.
The visions never stop. Even when Viktor isn't here, the mirror shows me them. Endless loop of their happiness. Their love. Their perfect connection.
I've watched them make love. Watched them fight and reconcile. Watched them lead the pack together with seamless partnership. Watched them in a thousand quiet moments of domestic intimacy that hurt more than the passionate ones.
Because those quiet moments. Helping with her dress. Sharing a private joke. Falling asleep in each other's arms. That's what I truly wanted.
Not the sex. Not the status. Not even the Alpha himself.
I wanted someone to look at me the way Logan looks at Rune. Like I'm their entire world.
Viktor enters the chamber. I don't even react anymore.
"Today, I show you their most recent moment."
The mirror shifts. Shows Logan and Rune in their chambers just hours ago. Preparing for bed after a long day of training.
Logan helps Rune with her dress. Patient and gentle. She laughs at something he says. Touches his face affectionately. Such a simple thing. So mundane.
It destroys me more completely than any of the sexual encounters.
"Please. I understand. I get it. They love each other. He never loved me. I was delusional. Please stop showing me."
"What would you do to make it stop?" Viktor asks.
I look at him through tears. "Anything. I'd do anything."
His smile is triumphant. "Good. Now you're ready."
Viktor releases my chains for the first time in three weeks. I collapse to the cold stone floor. Muscles atrophied. Body weak.
The mirror still shows them. Logan and Rune settling into bed. Wrapped around each other. Peaceful.
"I don't torture you for fun, Lilith." Viktor produces a vial of black liquid that seems to absorb light. "I torture you to prepare you."
"Prepare me for what?" Though part of me already knows.
"To be my weapon against them."
Horror cuts through the exhaustion. "No. I won't—"
"Won't you? You've already tried to kill her once. Poisoned her. Nearly succeeded. This is just... finishing what you started."
He shows me a new vision in the mirror. Not Logan and Rune. Something else.
Dark magic ritual. Complex symbols drawn in blood. Magical energy crackling between points of power. And at the center—a corruption spreading like black veins through golden light.
The mate bond. Being destroyed from within.
"The mate bond is strong. Too strong to break directly. But it can be corrupted. Turned inward. Made into chain instead of connection. Weapon instead of strength."
"And you need me for this?"
"I need someone who knows them. Someone who's been close to Logan. Someone whose jealousy burns hot enough to fuel the corruption. Someone who wants them to suffer as much as you've suffered."
"I don't want them to suffer."
"Don't you? After three weeks of watching their happiness? You don't want them to feel what you feel? To lose what they have?"
And Moon Goddess help me, part of me does.
Part of me wants them to hurt like I hurt. To lose like I lost.
Viktor sees it in my expression. "Help me willingly, and I'll give you a painless death when it's done. Quick. Merciful. You'll feel nothing."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I make you help anyway. Through magic. Through force. Through endless torture. And when you finally die—months or years from now—it won't be quick. Won't be painless. Just endless suffering while I show you their love forever."
The choice isn't really a choice.
In the mirror, Logan kisses Rune's forehead tenderly. She sighs contentedly. Snuggles closer.
They have no idea what's coming.
"What do you need me to do?"
Viktor hands me the vial. "Drink this. It will bind you to my magic. Make you my vessel. During the blood moon ritual, you'll be the conduit through which corruption flows into their bond."
I look at the vial. At the mirror. At my impossible choice.
"If I do this. If I help you. Will you make it quick? For me, after?"
"As merciful as possible. You have my word."
His word means nothing. I know this.
But I also know refusal guarantees worse.
I take the vial.
Viktor watches.
In the mirror, Logan and Rune sleep peacefully. Completely unaware.
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
I drink.
The potion burns down my throat. Acid and ice and wrongness combined. It hits my stomach and explodes outward through my veins like liquid fire.
I feel it spreading. Crawling through my blood like insects under skin. Wrapping around my heart like thorns. Sinking claws into my soul and pulling. Claiming. Corrupting.
Viktor's will presses against mine. A massive weight smothering my consciousness. Overwhelming my resistance. Taking control.
I try to fight—
My body moves without permission. Stands without my consent. Bows to Viktor though I don't want to.
Viktor's magic puppeting me. Forcing obedience while leaving me aware.
That's the worst part.
I'm still here. Still conscious. Still me.
But no longer in control.
I'll be aware while he uses me to destroy them. Will feel every moment of their corruption. Will watch their love turn to anguish while being unable to stop it.
And there's nothing I can do.
"Good." Viktor says. Pulls me to standing with magic alone. "Now rest. Recover your strength. In thirty-two days, during the blood moon eclipse, you'll help me destroy everything they love."
He leads me to a cell. Not the torture chamber. A small room with actual bed. Almost comfortable.
"Rest. You'll need your strength for what's coming."
He leaves. Locks the door.
I collapse on the bed. Viktor's corruption burning in my veins.
In the mirror on the cell wall—because of course there's a mirror—I see them sleeping.
Logan's arms wrapped protectively around Rune. Her face peaceful against his chest. Both completely unaware that I'm now the weapon aimed at their hearts.
They deserve to survive this. Despite everything, they deserve their happy ending.
I just wish I could have had mine.
But jealousy doesn't get happy endings.
It just gets used as weapon.
In thirty-two days, I'll destroy them.
And there's nothing, nothing I can do to stop it.