The thing about souls is that they don’t wander off. Not unless a body is so broken-down that there are too many cracks to hold even breath inside. The girl isn’t that far gone. She’s still strong, still has grit, and still believes in a future.
Merc Fenn Wolfmoor is a queer non-binary writer who lives in Minnesota with two adorable cats (Tater Tot photos frequently grace all Merc’s social media). Merc is a Nebula Awards finalist, and their stories have appeared in Lightspeed, Fireside, Apex, Uncanny, Nightmare, Escape Pod, and several Year’s Best anthologies. You can find Merc on Twitter @Merc_Wolfmoor or their website mercfennwolfmoor.com. Their debut short story collection, So You Want to Be a Robot, was published by Lethe Press (2017) and they have a second short story collection forthcoming in late 2021.
The thing about souls is that they don’t wander off. Not unless a body is so broken-down that there are too many cracks to hold even breath inside. The girl isn’t that far gone. She’s still strong, still has grit, and still believes in a future.
Listen to our audio presentation of “The Gentleman of Chaos” by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor. Narrated by Mahvesh Murad.
My brother shaped me, built me into the perfect bodyguard — skilled in lies and unable to lie to him; deadly in the arts of poison and steel; loyal only to him; unremarkable in looks but my body trained until I had exacting control over every muscle, every breath. I had no title and no name. My brother called me She.