Chapter 32

Rielle.

The dungeon walls feel like they are slowly creeping up on me. I felt hands around my neck, squeezing and suffocating. But I am all alone and that only makes it worse. My spiral worsened as everything that had happened replayed again and again in my head. I was not granted any reprieve from the heartache in my solitude. I should have told him I was to blame. If I had come clean earlier... But it was far too late. My father had even collapsed from the stress that I had caused. And amongst everything else, that was what I regretted the most.

Tears built in my eyes again as the grief drowned me like a stormy sea. There were two guards keeping watch on the outside, even if I tried to escape, I would not be successful. I would be captured, and my next punishment would be far worse.

"Welcome, sire," the guards said, greeting me, someone who was still out of sight pulled me out of my reverie. I quickly wiped my tears and Lance came into view finally.

"Brother---" I murmured, my voice cracked.

"Don't call me that," he snarled.

I pursed my lips but kept my eyes on him. I did not try to excuse my mistake. I knew that it only made them angrier. He would say all that he wanted to say, and I would finally tell him what I knew. It seemed like trying to speak over them was doing more harm than good. I would just have to be patient and wait for the right time.

"You are a curse, you know that?" Lance told me coldly.

His words were like knives to my skin. Destructive and painful. I wanted to cover my ears with my hands like I did as a child so that I would not have to listen to his cruel words.

He moved closer to the bars that held me captive and gripped one of them, squeezing so hard that his knuckles quickly grew white. "You are a plague on what was left of our family."

I said nothing and held back my tears to the point that I refused to blink, afraid that it would open up the floor gates of tears. I kept my face straight.

"I hate you."

Another knife was thrust in between my ribs.

"I wish you died with our mother."

Another stab.

"You should end yourself."

Another stab.

"Father is..." His voice broke, a rare vulnerability in Lance showing. "sick because of you. He had a heart attack."

That was the final straw that broke the camel's back. My eyes widened in horror. I could not speak, I could think, I could only further spiral into the chaos that had become my state of mind. I opened my mouth to speak to tell him, even if he hated me, at least I let him know the whole truth, but I was in so much shock, that I could only let out noises as I finally broke down. I let out unintelligible sounds that sounded part animal.

What had I done? Was I such a destructive force in the lives of those that I cared about? The weight of my grief grew unbearable, and I collapsed to my knees, sobbing uncontrollably. My vision blurred as tears streamed down my face, and I felt the crushing emptiness consume me. Lance watched me, his expression remained a mask of cold indifference. Like he was looking at a murderer begging for mercy.

“Please, let me see Father,” I begged between sobs. “I need to see him." I was suddenly attacked by the horrible fear of not seeing him alive again. I had to help him, I could if they would just let me. Lance had not relayed the news of Aurora's death and that would mean that she was still alive. That meant that I could heal him. I could already imagine myself laying my hand on his chest and feeling his pumping heart. Calming it down and ensuring that he would live many more years. "Take me him, Lance," my voice hoarse with grief and desperation. "I am begging you, please, I can help heal him. I can't lose him.” I pleaded.

Lance's face only twisted with disdain. “You think you can heal him? Yet you curse everything you touch!" He bellowed, but I could hear the despair that was suffocating him too. A despair that mirrored my own. "He survived our mother's death, but he's ill because of you. He is ill because it crushes him to watch you this way. Being dragged around like a criminal." I could hear the undertone of pain in his harsh voice, his eyes were glistening with tears that he refused to shed.

“Please,” I whispered, my voice barely audible. “Just listen to me. You have it all wrong..."

He stopped me with a hand, he shook his head slowly. “You’ll get your chance to speak, but not now. You will undergo a trial, and Raphael will be your judge. Until then, you stay here.”

He turned and walked away, leaving me alone in my despair.

I was left a sobbing mess on the cold, unforgiving floor, consumed by the darkness of my own making.

I did not know exactly when I fell asleep on the floor and I had absolutely no idea what time it was in the dark, dingy dungeon and smelling of mold and a bit of decay.

But there was something else that my senses caught on to. It was sweet and it smelt like...

"Lucianne, Lucianne," someone whispered, pulling me fully out of my sleep. I rose from the ground only to be face to face with Jules' kind eyes.

"Jules..." I slurred. My hope surged in her presence. At least, I was not alone.

For the first time since I had known her, she was not wearing a light-heartened expression, instead, she looked like she weighed the world on her small shoulders. Her eyes were filled with so much petty that I was almost tempted to cry.

In her hand was a platter of food, but I had no appetite even though I felt so weak.

I shook my head, "I don't want to eat---"

But my stomach interrupted by letting out a growl.

"You have to eat," Jules persisted, breaking a piece of bread and bringing it to my mouth. But still turned away, I felt bile fill my throat. I would throw up at any second.

"Lucianne, you have to eat." She said.

I only shook my head, not even having enough strength to look at the book without nausea washing over me. There was no point in eating. I just felt like dying. Maybe Lance had been right, dying would be better than the utter misery that had taken hold of me.

"Lucianne!" Jules' yelled, shocking me back to reality. "You have no choice, you have to eat so you can tell me everything."

My eyes widened and crawled to the bars, closer to Jules. "You..."

"Yes, I want to listen to you. The others might have lost their minds, but I know that you are not capable of what you were accused of. So you have to eat now. So that you can tell me everything."

That was the incentive that I needed. I reached for food. Jules gave me. I ate as fast as I could, not because of hunger but because I was filled with anxiety to tell her everything. Within a few brief minutes, I had cleared the whole platter.

"Here, take this," Jules handed me a skin of water. I gulped down so fast that I could have choked.

When I was done, I sat down in the dungeon and Jules sat in front of the bars.

"Now, Lucianne," Jules said. "I want to take a deep breath and start from the beginning. Don't leave anything out."

I did as she had asked and began. "I met my mother in a dream," I said.

She did not look the least bit surprised. "When was that?" She asked.

"Right after I found my wolf," I said.

"Continue," Jules said.

"She told me that there was a traitor. One that has been around for a long time." I took a deep breath before I finally let it out. "Beta Reiner is the traitor. He is the Silent Reaper."

I watched as Jules' complexion turned ghostly. "How did you find out?" She asked, her voice a bit strained.

"Aurora, Aurora told me right before she drank the Nightshade poison."

"The Deltas told us that they detected Nightshade in her body, but it was like it was flushed out before it could cause extensive harm." She told me.

"How is she?" I had been too afraid to ask before, but now I took the opportunity.

"She is out of the woods, your healing saved her."

"She is pregnant."

"Aurora is pregnant?" Jules gasped, her eyes widening to saucers.

"Yes and Beta Reiner is blackmailing her," I revealed with urgency.

"He is blackmailing his daughter?" She gasped again. "With what?

"Logan," I answered.

Horror was so vividly etched on Jules' face that I felt it in my bones. It took a minute, but a realization dawned on her. "Logan is the father of the child! They are lovers!" She exclaimed.