Chapter 10:The Monster I Am
Eva stood in silence.
The world had shifted, and she no longer recognized herself.
She could feel her own bones, feel them reshaping, stretching into something that wasn't meant to be human. Her skin tingled, her senses sharper—she could hear the hum of electricity in the walls, the steady thrum of Lucien's heartbeat as if it belonged to her.
No.
Not belonged.
Was bound.
She lifted a hand, expecting to see her fingers, her skin. But instead—her hand flickered.
For the briefest second, her reflection in the window did not match the body she thought she wore.
Not a woman.
Not human.
Something… unrecognizable.
A horror clawed its way up her throat. She turned to Lucien, eyes burning. "What did you do to me?"
Lucien didn't move. He only watched her, gaze unreadable. "I didn't do anything, Eva. You were always like this."
Eva shook her head. "No."
But the truth was unraveling inside her, tearing through her mind like glass shards under her skin.
Memories.
Not of this life.
Not of the last one.
Of all of them.
---
The First Life. The First Death.
Eva stood in a kingdom long forgotten by time.
The sky was the color of dying embers, the air thick with the scent of burning flesh.
Lucien knelt before her, his body broken, his blood staining the earth.
He had been the first sacrifice.
And she had been the one to make him kneel.
"You don't remember, do you?" Lucien's voice was nothing but a whisper, full of something raw and broken.
Eva lifted her hand—a hand that was not human, a hand that had never been human.
"You are the reason this cycle exists."
And with one final, merciless strike—she had ended him.
---
Eva gasped as she came back to herself.
The room felt smaller now.
Lucien's presence no longer a comfort, but a prison.
"I killed you," she whispered.
Lucien finally stepped forward. "Many times."
Her stomach twisted.
The curse. The cycle.
It wasn't because Lucien had been hunting her.
It was because she had been the one who started it.
She was the one who had doomed them both.