_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 slumbe
