"Order, I say!" Gillen shouted from his lavish chair at the very front and center of the hall, his remaining loyal champions, high-ranking soldiers, slaves, and sitters, quieted their outbursts.
In the middle of the hall, Lucas glared at them. Everyone in the hall was staring at him with contempt in their eyes. He was at the Casa when the rebels killed two sitters and some guards; in fact, he was at the arena when it all happened, but they'd already pinned him as a killer and a traitor.
Looking back at what happened and how he had let his emotions go, he was desperate to make this right. And now, it's all too late. It was too late for him to save Harper now.
It didn't matter. He was in insurmountable pain. There was no way for him to think things through at that moment. And after everything that had happened, he learned that he was living in a world where there was no such thing as *fairness*. He had been nothing but a selfless brother to Alex, yet he got to have Harper, his mate.
"On the count of murdering a champion from the same house you hail from, an utter display of insubordination, how does the Tribunal find the defendant?" Gillen asked a group of champions and the Casa’s high-ranking soldiers.
Lucas mentally derided Gillen’s ridiculous display of his so-called transparency and proper justice.
*What the fuck does proper justice even mean in this place*? He thought.
Gillen’s commander stood up and looked Lucas in the eyes when he said, "Guilty of murder and insubordination."
"Since this is obviously your first time being convicted of a crime," Gillen said. "Let me briefly explain to you what the verdict, guilty, means here in Velaris."
Lucas swallowed hard.
"Guilty simply means death. Not to worry because you will be beheaded, so, at the very least, you won't feel it. We’re not animals here. Despite your crime, you will be given a civilized death," Gillen explained.
The soldiers and his devoted champions in the hall applauded proudly as Lucas was lowered from the cage he was imprisoned in. Gillen’s rules did make him feel like the animal they wanted him to be. He felt his heart pumping wildly in his chest. If death was the price he had to pay for murdering his brother, then he hoped it would come to him swiftly. Harper had already rejected him, and his wolf was now in so much pain and anger. His life was just meaningless now.
Then silence engulfed the room again as one of the slaves pulled a white blanket, revealing a guillotine. Then, the cage was opened, and Lucas was asked to stand. The soldier freeing him gave him a sadistic smile and said, "In a few moments, none of this will matter anymore."
Lucas thought about it, he couldn’t help but agree. And it was truly a sad thing to think that nothing mattered anymore when you’re about to die. He felt tears well up in his eyes.
"Do you have anything else to say for yourself?" Gillen asked.
Despite the panic, hatred, and sadness that stirred in his stomach, Lucas didn’t allow any of it to show. And he wondered what Gillen would want him to say. Did he want him to beg for his forgiveness? Did he want him to beg for his mercy?
Lucas stared into the steel blade of the contraption that would be his end, and he could hear loud whispers. Everyone in the room stared at the device that would end his life.
"You don't want to die, do you?" Gillen spoke again.
He pursed his lips and looked down. He wanted to tell him that he didn’t care; nothing actually mattered to him anymore. He closed his eyes and waited for the soldiers to walk him to the guillotine.
But nothing happened. All he could hear were again loud whispers going at the same time, so he couldn’t make out what everyone was saying. Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw Gillen raising his right hand.
"The verdict has been passed on. Now, I need a moment with the criminal."
Lucas’ eyes narrowed at Gillen as soon as he heard him refer to him as a criminal. He saw how everyone exchanged questioning looks for a moment before departing and leaving the two men in the hall. Everyone except for his commander.
For a second, he thought Gillen was going to bring out a whip and give him more lashes than he had had to endure in the past few days. However, a proposition quickly halted that thought.
"Can you believe I’m about to execute 27 people in a few days, Lucas? 8 sitters, 5 fighters, and 14 slaves." Gillen walked down from his chair, shaking his head. "I don’t take betrayal lightly. And I don’t forget and forgive. I don’t forgive and forget either."
"No shit," Lucas rudely spat when he finally decided to speak.
"Ah! He speaks again!" Gillen smirked. "As I was saying, blood will spill very soon, lots of it. A new set of slaves and fighters will arrive in a few days, and when they come, blood will spill for those 27 people. 28, including you. The newcomers will see for themselves what would happen to them if they rebelled against me. However, just last night, I came to give everything that had happened a much deeper thought…"
A frown graced his face as he looked toward the guillotine. "This isn't the first time we've had a near-successful rebellion in this house. But, you know, a rebellion doesn't just happen overnight. It takes one or two people to mastermind it; one or two more people to dangerously and foolishly think they can defy me and come out of it alive."
Lucas smirked and slowly shook his head. "What’s all this? If you want to kill me, go ahead. If you haven’t noticed it yet, I don’t give a shit anymore."
"Hmmm... well, I think you will after you hear what I have to offer you."
"Offer me what? Freedom? And in return for what? Look, I don’t care about anything anymore. Even freedom." Lucas looked like he had given up.
"Pledge your allegiance to me and make sure this place doesn’t see another insurgence－"
"－Are you seriously asking me to be one of your loyal dummies?"
But Gillen only smirked and dismissed Lucas’ feeble attempt to mock him and his proposal. He continued, "You will fight in the arena again. You will win the fight and bring pride back to the House of Champions. I will then make you commander of my champions..."
Lucas scoffed. "Didn’t you just hear me? I don’t give a fuck anymore. Cut off my head now. I don’t care."
"You haven’t heard the rest of my offer yet." Slowly, a devilish smile spread across Gillen’s lips. "Pledge your loyalty, fight for me and become my commander... and I will give you Harper."
"What?"
"You heard me. I’m sure the last thing you really want is to see Harper’s head roll off her shoulder."
"Don’t you fucking dare…"
Gillen’s lips curled up, obviously smug with excitement from Lucas’ reaction. It only meant that the Lycan still cared, perhaps not for his life, but for someone else's; and he was certain he’d get what he wanted. He turned to his commander, who was standing next to the guillotine all this time.
The commander quickly nodded back at him and walked out.
"This rebellion, I’ve discovered, was sparked by one person. One brave yet unwise enough to scam everyone by offering false hope."
Lucas’ head snapped quickly when he saw the Commander with Libby, a burly man forcing her to keep moving forward to the platform.
Libby glanced up at the guillotine. The blade hung high. She was dragged to the front and was forced to her knees. She then looked at Lucas before her eyes fell on Gillen. She regarded the lord of the Casa with disdain.
"Libby here will die," Gillen began. "With her shameless betrayal by starting the rebellion, despite my kindness toward her, she will die without anyone around to remember her death. And she will not even have the privilege of saying her last words."
Libby struggled against her bonds, to no avail, barely able to wiggle, let alone free herself. She glared at Gillen and tried to speak, but her voice was muffled and she was gagged with a large piece of cloth wedged into her mouth, which was secured with a strip of rubber around her head.
"She not only started the rebellion, but spiked the guards’ drinks, and, as I’ve just recently discovered, she’s also done it to Kara’s drink when she was supposed to claim her purchase, Alexander. And oh, did you know that she drugged you, too? Apparently, Libby here is in love with you," Gilled said with mock and disgust.
Lucas thought he was done, but what he had just heard still came as a shock to him. He felt a stab at his heart and a wave of sadness as he stared at Libby. Hot tears streamed down the poor woman’s swollen and bloodshot eyes and her filthy and bruised cheeks.
Then her eyes fell on *him* again. Her shoulders drooped just a bit as she looked into his eyes, almost pleadingly.
She was sorry.
He just stared back.
"You will watch her die," Gillen said to Lucas. And as commander of my champions, you will instill in everyone in my house, who is considering betraying me, the same fear you see in Libby's eyes."
He gave the executioner the signal to proceed. A pair of arms yanked Libby to her feet.
She shut her eyes tightly. She could feel the rope being tied around her ankles and knees before being dragged to the vertical board. Three straps hung limply.
"Goodbye, Libby. May the gods have mercy on you," Gillen spoke, his voice was surprisingly sad.
Lucas closed his eyes and held his breath, trying to block out the sound of the falling blade and the heavy thud that would haunt him for the rest of his life.