All Chapters of The Duchess Wearing My Best Friend’s Face: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

The moment I pushed open the door, the baby was still crying.But the woman on the chaise was already reaching for me, smiling."Sera, you're here! Look, isn't she just like me?"I watched her fingers twirl a lock of hair. That was Elara's habit.The same tone. The same smile.But my heart sank. Deeper and deeper.She saw the look on my face. Her smile froze. "What's wrong? Is it... a bad omen for the child?"Dante rushed to my side, his voice trembling."Seraphina, what did you see? Just say it! The walls of the North can withstand any curse!"Ten years ago, his stepmother plotted with a dark mage. A curse froze his heart solid.I was the one who laid a star-circle. Sacrificed half my magic. Bled my own soul dry to pull him back from death's door.Three years ago, his eldest son, Caelan, was taken hostage. Held in an abandoned alchemist's workshop.I was the one who conjured a mist ward. Made the kidnappers turn on each other. They all died in a fire.Two lives saved. Two debts owed.

Chapter 2

Isolde laughed. A cold, contemptuous sound."I think you've truly lost your mind. Guards! Drag this mad witch out of here!"The six knights stepped forward, their blades closing in.Before I could even react, a figure stepped in front of me.Dante.He spread his arms, shielding me completely. His voice was laced with deadly intent."Don't you dare touch her.""Dante!" Isolde shrieked. "She just cursed my sister-in-law! Didn't you hear her?""I said, we checked." Dante looked back, his gaze lethal. "The scar is real. I believe her.""But Seraphina's bones have never been wrong."Caelan moved to my left, his hand on his sword hilt, his eyes like poisoned daggers."My Godmother says she is dead. So she is dead. Anyone who touches her, I'll feed them to the wyverns."Fourteen-year-old Finn balled his fists. He stood behind his brother, voice trembling but spine straight."Godmother, we believe you."The woman on the bed watched them. Tears welled up in her eyes."None of you believe me...

Chapter 3

Dante held the silver box, his knuckles white."What... what is this?"The woman in the wheelchair looked up, her eyes swimming with tears. Her voice was a choked sob."It's my amulet."All eyes turned to her."Three years ago, the treasury collapsed. The Council of Nobles tried to strip your title. They called you incompetent." She stared at Dante, her eyes shimmering. "Do you remember?"Dante flinched."For seven days, you thought I was just sick." She wiped away a tear. "The truth is, I buried my Fae amulet—the one I've had since I was a child—at the bottom of this pool. I prayed to the Moon Goddess for seven days and seven nights. I prayed until I fell unconscious.""The day I woke up, a massive grant from the Free Cities' Merchant Guild saved our treasury. It saved you. It saved the entire North."The color drained from Dante's face. His eyes filled with guilt and heartache.He rushed forward. Swept her out of the wheelchair and into his arms."I never... I never knew." His voice

Chapter 4

A shrill laugh cut through the silence.It was Isolde. She was clutching her stomach, laughing so hard tears streamed down her face."Hahaha, a man's skeleton! Seraphina, your own blood magic can't even point straight, and you still dare to play these dirty tricks?""I see what this is. You're just trying to drive my sister-in-law out of this family!"I ignored her taunts. My gaze fell back on the woman.She had walked over to me. Her slender fingers rested gently on the back of my hand. Her voice was soft."Sera, listen to me.""You've lived alone in the forest for too long. Always dealing with the echoes of dark magic. Has a spirit from the abyss corrupted your mind?""These visions, this feeling of death... maybe it's all in your head.""You should go back to the forest and rest. Please?"Her voice was so light, so gentle. Warm enough to make anyone lower their guard.If I didn't know the truth, I might have actually believed her.Just then, Caelan snatched the bloody bone shards fr

Chapter 5

The fake name was still on the woman’s lips, but the smile was frozen on her face.I stared at her. My voice was ice."Wrong." My voice was quiet, but it sliced through the dead silence. "We only ever called her by one name. Elderbloom.""You couldn't even find that out? And you dare sit here wearing her face?"The woman flinched. Her pupils shrank to pinpricks.Her gentle mask crumbled to dust.Caelan gripped Dante’s arm, holding him steady. Dante’s eyes were red, raw. He was about to fall apart.The Royal Mage strode forward. A blast of arcane light shot from his staff, aimed right between the woman's eyes.The silence lasted two seconds.Then she shrieked with laughter. A sick, insane sound."Hahaha... So what if you found me out?""The name's Morwenna. From House Kael." She tilted her chin up, smug. "It took me ten years to get this wyvern-sting scar just right."Dante finally snapped. He roared and lunged, his hands clamping around her throat."Where is Elara! Tell me!"His voice

Chapter 6

Blood dripped from my fingertips. It hit the stone with a sharp patter.Morwenna glanced at my bleeding wrist. She laughed."That's it?" She raised an eyebrow, mocking me. "A little bloodletting to scare me off? Your tricks are getting old, Seraphina."I ignored her.I knelt. With my bloody finger, I drew a complex sigil on the stone floor.Ancient power flowed from me. My bloodline's magic. Every line of the sigil burned.Morwenna's smile vanished."What are you doing?!"I didn't answer. I slammed my palm onto the center of the sigil."By the blood of a Seer, I sever this bond!"A blast of red light erupted. It shot from the sigil, straight for Morwenna's forehead.Her pupils shrank. She tried to back away, but an invisible force held her fast."No... Impossible!" she shrieked. For the first time, I heard real fear in her voice. "The curse is unbreakable!"The red light slammed into her.The soul-link tore apart. Morwenna let out a scream that wasn't human. She crumpled to the ground,

Chapter 7

The night was ink-black.Dozens of griffins cut through the sky. They carried the Royal Knights. We flew for the Eastern March.I gripped the saddle. My mount trembled beneath me.It smelled the death in the air.Dante rode beside me. He gripped his enchanted longsword. Cold light gleamed on its blade, and on his grim face.Caelan and Finn clutched the amulets I’d given them. Their knuckles were white."Godmother... that swamp... something feels wrong." Finn's voice trembled.I said nothing. I just stared ahead.A thick rot of death magic filled the sky. It hung over the swamp like a black net.Warding totems crowded the mud below. They fluttered strangely in the windless night.Caelan narrowed his eyes. His voice was tight with rage. "It's... a death-snare. It devours life."I nodded, scanning the pattern of the totems. "You can see it. Good."I said no more. I leaped from my griffin.The swamp's mud sucked at my ankles. Bone-chillingly cold.I closed my eyes. I began to chant an anci

Chapter 8

The light flared. Elara's spirit cried out. A piece of her shoulder dissolved into nothing.I couldn't wait any longer.The deepest power of my bloodline. I'd never used it before. It consumes the caster's life force. The price is too high. My mother warned me never to touch it.Tonight, I didn't care.I snapped my eyes open. The blood-seal on my forehead erupted in a blinding red light. The entire Shadowmire began to boil.From the depths of the mire, countless skeletal remains clawed their way out. They silently closed in on the altar.I opened my mouth. An ancient incantation rose from my throat. Every word slammed into the dead earth."By blood and soul... I awaken the curse of a thousand years!"For the first time, a crack appeared in Valerius's arrogant mask."What... what are you doing?!" The hand holding the artifact began to shake.I didn't answer him.A tiny crack appeared on his artifact. It spread. Crack. The bone carving shattered.The backlash threw him backward. He cough

Chapter 9

The scent came first, then the voice.A storm of petals rained down from the sky. They blotted out the stars. They crushed the death-magic of the Shadowmire.Nine ancient vines, glowing with an emerald light, descended from above. They coiled around the altar, shielding Elara's fading soul. Like silent guardians.The sheer power was terrifying.It threw Dante flat on his face in the mud. His sons collapsed to their knees. They couldn't even stand.In the distance, the knights fell unconscious, one by one. The griffins shrieked and fled.Elara was just a wisp in my arms. A breath of wind could have scattered her.I couldn't hold on anymore. Tears and dizziness from my spent magic washed over me."Elderbloom!" I screamed her name, my voice a wreck. "Please, save her!"A figure stepped out of the swirling petals. Green robes. Silver hair. An androgynous face etched with a thousand years of weariness and impatience.She walked to me. She tipped my chin up."What are you crying for?" She fr

Chapter 10

The core of light pulsed. A sudden, violent heartbeat.Then a blinding green light exploded outwards. So bright we all squeezed our eyes shut.I forced my eyes open. I stared into the light.A wave of hot life energy rushed out, pouring into me and healing my own depleted magic. It made me flush, almost knocking me off my feet.The green light faded.In the center of a bed of petals, a naked woman lay sleeping. Her chest rose and fell.Breathing."Elara—"Dante's voice was broken glass.He tore the heavy cloak from his shoulders. He rushed to her side. He wrapped it tightly around her bare body, pulling her into his arms.His big hands trembled as he cradled her head. He buried his face in her neck. Hot tears fell onto her skin."You're back." He was choked with sobs. "You're really back."I ran over, pulling off my own cloak to cover her. I pressed my hands to her skin. Real warmth. A real heartbeat.I couldn't hold it in anymore. I collapsed over her, sobbing. Ten years of distance.

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