Chapter 40

Rielle.

The men unlocked my cage and dragged me out to kneel before their leader. He was just as they had described him in the legends. He was indeed the personification of death, the Silent Reaper, the one responsible for so many tragedies. It was almost unfathomable that I knew the person under the obsidian mask. I wanted to believe that I had been wrong, that the man behind the mask was not my father's Beta, my father's second in command.

But the Reaper pulled off his mask, finally revealing his face. I had known, not even too recently, but I still found myself spiraling from the shock of the face beneath the mask. It was Reiner behind the mask, and on his lips was a sick, twisted smile that made my insides churn.

I clutched my chest like my heart was about to give out. I feared that it would.

"Why do you look so surprised, princess?" he asked, amusement gleaming in his piercing blue eyes. "You always knew, didn't you?"

I opened my mouth, but only unintelligible sounds were produced. It was as though my vocal cords had seized. I wanted to close my eyes, yet I could not look away.

"The little lost princess," he mocked. "Returned home. It's such a magical story, isn't it?" He regarded me like a predator would his prey. That was what I had become. I was in the presence of an assassin, and not just anyone, the Silent Reaper in the flesh. I was more or less a rabbit in the jaws of a leopard. It was said that no one who came face to face with him ever lived to tell the tale. Except for the red-eyed Lycan.

"You were not as easy to control as I had anticipated. You should have rejected Raphael and made it easy for my darling Aurora," he said, his tone turning bitter.

This was the same man who would have willingly killed her for revealing who he truly was. How demented was he? What could make a man so heartless?

"So foolishly stubborn," his tone turned harsher with each word like he could not contain the hate that he felt. "Like your mother."

My heart stopped at the mention of my mother. I looked clearly at him, and the haze on my sight cleared.

He must have noticed the change because the smile returned to his face. "You are not like her in appearance only. You are pretty much a replica of who she had been before I had to cut her down like the pig that she was."

Ice filled my veins before the fire took its place. He had been the reason why this had all happened. The deaths of the Lunas, the wars. The reason Aurora and Logan were not allowed to be together. The reason why Aurora had tried to end her own life. He was the reason for so much tragedy and heartache.

Suddenly, it was as though the fear and hopelessness turned into rage. It was as spontaneous as an explosion. The man before me deserved to die, the worst death known to history. No amount of punishment could ever bring justice to all that had been torn apart by his murder and scheming. Raphael would not be the man that he is today, my brothers would have had our mother, my father, the woman that he loved. And I would have never had to have been apart from them. We would have been truly happy.

"You fucking bastard!" I spat, with every ounce of hatred that my newly healed body could muster.

But instead, he smiled. "Your mother cursed at me the same way," he said. "As I tore her limb from limb until she asked for death."

Hot bile rose in my throat, but my hatred and defiance did not waver in the slightest.

"Should I tell you the story?" he inquired. "Of how your mother died, because of you?"

A hard lump formed in my throat, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me tremble.

"It was a cool morning, that day," he began to narrate. "But your mother was screaming as she birthed you. It was not an easy birth, it was quite bloody. But like you, she still managed to pull through." He feigned a somber expression. "It was a shame. She should have just died giving birth to you. But since she survived, I had to end her. My shapeshifters infiltrated the castle as guards, and it was easy pickings from there. We raised a false alarm and filled the corridors with chaos. In the midst of the confusion, I found her alone, vulnerable. I cornered her, just like I've cornered you now."

I felt a shiver run down my spine as he continued.

"She fought bravely, I’ll give her that," he admitted. "But in the end, it was all in vain. I took my time, savoring her screams, the pleas for mercy. It was music to my ears. And when she could no longer fight, I ended her life."

My vision blurred with tears, but I refused to let them fall. I couldn't show weakness, not now.

"You monster," I whispered, my voice barely audible but laced with fury and sorrow. It had been hard enough to hear of her death, but it was worse in such detail.

"She protected you with her last breath. Her blood was all over you. You were more drenched in blood than amniotic fluid." He laughed.

My eyes filled with tears as I pictured it. The agony that she must have endured in her final moments as she hoped that they would not get to her child.

"Oh, princess, don’t act so surprised," he said, stepping closer. "You always knew that darkness ran deep in our world. You just never expected it to be so close to home."

He reached out as if to touch my face, but I jerked back, disgust curling my stomach.

"What do you want from me?" I demanded.

He chuckled, a sound devoid of any real amusement. "What do I want? I want to finish what I started. You see, your father, your brothers, and Raphael—they all need to pay for not bowing to the true Alpha. The true Alpha is that of the Dominion. And you, dear Lucianne, will be the first to die amongst them."

"You won't succeed," I spat, standing taller. "They will stop you. I will stop you." I hoped against hope that Jules had found a way to convince them. They believed her and were on the hunt for the bastard.

His smile widened, eyes gleaming with sadistic delight. "We shall see, princess. We shall see."

He turned to his men, "Get the devices," he ordered. As one of them left to bring what he asked for, he turned back to me, his eyes alight with sinister delight. "I heard your goddess-bestowed gift is spontaneous healing," he said.

I did not like the excitement in his tone; I dreaded the worst.

"It's been centuries since that gift had been given. I have always wanted to experiment on someone with such a rare and fascinating ability," he said, his voice dripping with morbid curiosity. "Imagine the possibilities, Lucianne. Endless pain, followed by miraculous healing, only to be hurt again and again. A perfect cycle of torment."

Fear gripped me, but I forced myself to remain defiant. "You won't break me," I said. "No matter what you do."

He laughed, a chilling sound that echoed through the chamber. "Oh, princess, you underestimate the depths of my cruelty."

The man returned with a metal case, and Reiner's eyes gleamed with anticipation. He opened it to reveal an array of sharp instruments, each more terrifying than the last. Metal mallets, long needles, daggers, knives...

I felt a wave of nausea but steeled myself, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing my fear.

"Let's begin, shall we?" he said, picking up a scalpel. He approached me slowly, savoring every moment of my dread.