Chapter 36

Raphael.

Aurora nodded nervously before looking up at everyone else. "Logan and I were lovers," she said.

But Logan held on to her defiantly. "We are lovers. This changes everything. We have to get married," he announced.

Everything was happening so fast I could not quite wrap my head around it. That monster who had killed my mother and sibling had just escaped; nothing else was making sense any longer.

"As much as I am glad that you know now, Logan..." Jules said, grimacing as the Deltas worked on her injured, bleeding arm. "There are far more dire things to attend to. We have hunted down Beta Reiner."

Lance was quiet, his face drained of color as he looked into space. Nothing else destabilized him, but this was different altogether. He would have to snap out of it soon. I put a hand on his shoulder. He turned slowly to me, unable to say a word. He was in shock. We all were. "He..." he murmured, unable to muster more words.

"At least we know the truth now; that's somewhere to start from," Logan said, his tone slightly positive as he held Aurora.

"You are sure about it, right?" Lance came forward again, his eyes trained on Aurora. "Beta...Beta Reiner is the Silent Reaper. He is the one who killed the Lunas. He killed our mother."

Aurora looked down, guilt etched on her face. "Without a single doubt," she said without hesitation. "He is the one."

Lance looked like he wanted to shake his head in disbelief and barf from the shock of the truth at the same time. Suddenly, he punched a nearby mirror, spooking everyone. The glass shattered, blood streaming from the gashes and cuts in Lance's knuckles.

"Lance..." Jules tried to calm him down.

But he only punched again, making more glass shatter and cutting the knuckles of his other hand. Both his hands were bleeding. Jules pulled away from the Deltas to get to Lance. She squeezed her face from the pain each time she moved, but she got to him. She used the hand attached to her unaffected shoulder to cradle his face. She made him face her.

"This is no time to lose yourself, Lance," she said, her voice strong despite her ordeal. "We have a traitor to catch. You have to avenge your mother," the normally soft-spoken woman had a hard expression on her face.

Lance looked at his mate and wife, his expression fallen, anguish etched on the plane of his face. His eyes went from her face to her injured shoulder then back to her face. "I am...sorry. I should have trusted you. I am..." But she shushed him.

"It's not time for that now. What has been done is done." She said to Lance.

"I told Lucianne all of this before I drank the poison," Aurora revealed. "I just could not take it anymore. She healed me as quickly as she could," Aurora said.

"You told Lucianne?" The whole room echoed.

"Why didn't she say anything?" I demanded.

Jules turned her head to me at the speed of light, her face filled with disappointment and barely concealed anger. It was the first time that she was looking at me like that. I stood up straighter. "That was what Lucianne risked her life to tell you," she revealed. "She broke out of the room to tell you the identity of the man who took your family from you. If you had just fucking listened..." She scrunched her face in pain as she took a deep breath. "You would have that bastard in your clutches by now."

It was like the world took a momentary pause as I absorbed her words. She had not been trying to beg me to forgive her; she had known the truth and had wanted to tell me. If her deception was theft, I had committed murder. I had even accused her of trying to harm Aurora. It dawned on me. My father had been fucking right, I should have listened. What had I fucking done?

"We have to get her out of the dungeons; she is in danger," Logan said, getting up from the bed. "He will have her life for what she has done."

"She is already out," Lance said. He turned to Jules. "You took her to the cabin, didn't you?" he asked her.

She nodded before swaying on her feet, and Lance caught her. "You have lost a lot of blood," he said. He raised his head to regard the Deltas. "Take her and take care of her." The Deltas came forward to take Jules, but she held on to Lance. "Get Luci back and kill that fucking bastard. That is the only way that you will ever receive any ounce of my forgiveness for all that you put me through."

Without letting him put a word in, she turned away from him and let the Deltas guide her away.

Jules never cursed, and for her to curse two times was almost unfathomable. Lance's action had scarred her more deeply than she had let show. My stomach lurched, remembering all of the horrible things that I had told Lucianne when she had just needed me to listen. I was such a fucker.

Jules paused when she got to me and she turned and glared at me. "You are the second man in her life that has failed her." Her words were like a sword to the gut.

Then she proceeded to turn to Logan as well. "I expected more from you. You better make it up to your sister." With that, she left all of us.

---

Lucianne

"Guilty!" Raphael bellowed, "Lucianne Van Der Burg is guilty of all crimes."

The eyes of all the spectators were on me as I began to spiral. This was the verdict. This had always been my fate. I was guilty.

I looked at my father, and he looked away, still in the wheelchair that my actions had made him rely on. He had not been able to recover. My brother looked away from me.

Logan was a wreck. Aurora had died with the body still inside her. They still believed that I had poisoned her.

I didn't do it, I tried to say. But my voice was swallowed in the cacophony.

Spectators began raining curses, throwing rotten vegetables, and other debris at me as I spiraled mentally from the anguish of it all. Their voices melded into a cacophony of hatred and disgust, each word piercing deeper into my already shattered heart.

"You witch!"

"Murderer!"

"Rot in hell!"

The words echoed around me, each one a nail in the coffin of my sanity. My vision blurred as tears filled my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I was afraid that if I started, I would never be able to stop, and I wanted to be able to take it all in before it would all end.

My knees buckled, and I collapsed to the cold, hard ground. The weight of the accusations, the pain, and the loss crushed me. Every breath felt like it could be my last. My family had turned their backs on me. I did not know whether to feel betrayed or to accept that they had the right to abandon me. Maybe, if I had been more forthcoming, I would have been able to dodge my horrible fate. Logan believed the worst of me. Aurora's death, though not by my hand, was now my burden to bear.

Through the din, a voice cut through. Clear, commanding, and familiar.

“Enough!” Raphael’s voice boomed, silencing the crowd. He stepped forward, his eyes fixed on me. “As Lucianne Van Der Burg is guilty of all crimes, she will face her punishment."

I looked up at him, searching for any hint of the man I once knew. But there was nothing. Just cold, unyielding judgment. All I saw was the man who wanted nothing but my destitution.

"Lucianne Van Der Burg will be sentenced to be executed."

The roar of the spectators was deafening.

---

As they dragged me away, my mind raced. I had to escape. I had to prove my innocence. But how? When everyone, even my own family, believed I was guilty? But that was just my self-preservation continuing to hold me captive. Because the little scars all over my arms told a different story. I wanted to die. I wanted this to finally be over.

I was led to the execution platform, the crowd's roar growing louder with each step. My heart pounded in my chest, the finality of my fate sinking in. The executioner, masked and intimidating, stood ready with a large sword gleaming ominously in the dim light of the early morning.

They forced me to kneel, my knees scraping against the rough wood. The crowd fell into a tense silence, their eyes fixed on me, waiting for the moment of retribution.

The executioner raised his sword, and as he did, he pulled off his mask. My breath caught in my throat as I recognized him.

"Jameson," I whispered, my voice barely audible but the horror on my face written in bold letters. My heart raced for a minute.

He smirked, a twisted satisfaction gleaming in his eyes. "At least I get to finish the job," he said, his voice dripping with depravity.

He raised the sword high above his head, the blade catching the light. My heart raced, a mixture of fear and resignation flooding my senses. This was it. The end.