Chapter 33

Rielle.

I nodded, and silence filled the dungeon as Jules stared at me, utterly speechless.

"Is that all?" she asked suddenly as if snapping out of her initial bewilderment.

I nodded again. "That is all I know," I told her.

She got to her feet. "I will tell the others everything. You will be alright. Promise me that you won't try to escape." Her voice was uncharacteristically hard, almost as though she was trying to ensure I would obey. It sounded harsher and deeper.

"Thank you so much, Jules," I said. "I promise."

With that, she left, leaving me alone once more. Misery threatened to hold me captive again, but I tried to stay positive. The truth was soon about to be revealed. Someone had finally listened to me. That was part of the problem already solved. I just had to wait. With a full belly and my anxiety and worry eased to an extent, I fell into another dreamless sleep.

---

"Wake up, wake up," someone was whispering. I felt a hand tapping me.

I groaned, twisting my stiff neck, to see Jules.

I blinked in surprise and got up again. That had been quick, I thought to myself. Hope blossomed in my chest. "They know now? They told you to get me?" I asked.

But Jules' concern only turned to confusion. "They know what?" she asked me.

Then we were both confused. "Did you tell them everything I told you?"

Her confusion only grew, and she frowned. Then worry took over her face. "But Lucianne, you did not tell me anything."

My stomach lurched. What was she saying? I remembered vividly telling her everything. "But you brought me food, and you told me to tell you everything, and I did," my tone became high-pitched with fear. Was I losing my mind? Was I going insane? Had everything finally caught up with me, and I would never fully recover from the ordeal?

Jules read my panic and spiral. "Lucianne, calm down. You are alright. Nothing is wrong with you. Just tell me what happened. But eat first."

I looked down at the tray she was holding in horror. She had brought me food. A horrific sense of déjà vu washed over me as I stared at the platter she had brought for me.

"But you already brought me food, Jules," I mumbled, fear taking over my senses. "You have to believe me." I pleaded.

She looked at me, not like I was crazy but as if she was trying to figure something out. "You are saying that I already brought food for you?"

I nodded, too afraid to talk.

"I want you to be clear with me, Lucianne. This is important. You ate food that I brought you, and I asked you to tell me everything that you know?" She asked me slowly.

I nodded again.

"Use your words, dear."

"Yes, you did."

She stayed silent as though she was turning over what I had said in her mind.

"Was there anything strange about me?" Jules asked. "Anything that I did then that was not like me?"

I tried to think, and suddenly I remembered. "Your voice was deeper when you told me not to try and escape."

Her eyes widened like she had just realized something mind-blowing. "I sounded like a man."

Then it clicked for me, that was exactly what had been odd about her voice. I had not been able to catch on because I had been so delirious with hope. "Yes, like a man," I affirmed.

Jules looked like she had seen a ghost. "Did you tell me?" She asked slowly, as though dreading and anticipating the answer.

"I told you that Beta Reiner was the Silent Reaper," I said.

The shock made Jules freeze completely, like she was a statue, her skin taking on a pale pallor. "That is impossible!" She gasped. "That can't be possible..." She was muttering. "He can't be," she kept speaking more to herself than to me, as though trying to convince herself. She slapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. Her display of shock now looked nothing like the way she had acted the first time. This time she looked truly aghast, and it made the first reaction almost look like...pretend.

"Aurora told me," I let her know.

She looked at me, and the amount of fear in her expression alone made the first reaction dull in comparison. She was even trembling. "His daughter?" She gasped.

I nodded. "She told me right before she told me that he was blackmailing her. He had blackmailed her with Logan's life. And she couldn't help but do what he asked because she loves Logan and is pregnant with his baby."

"Then she drank the Nightshade herself," Jules completed the story for me.

"Out of guilt and to end her suffering. She wanted me to save her baby; that was why she had told me."

"That poor girl..." Jules's eyes glistened with tears. "Her child... that monster..." She was shaking, looking on the verge of a panic attack.

"Jules!" I called her back to the present. "Please calm down."

Jules snapped out of it quickly and took a deep breath. Then she got up as fast as lightning. She retrieved a bunch of keys from her gown, looking for a key before unlocking my cell. Every second, she was looking back.

"You have to leave, now," she was telling me. "You are not safe here."

"Because of the trial? I will—"

"You will do nothing but run. You are in danger, Lucianne. More than you know. So is Aurora, and I cannot protect both of you." She was telling me hurriedly. She pulled me out of my cell. "That was not me that you spoke to before." She was telling me as she retrieved a dark cloak, like the one we had worn when she had taken us out of the castle to speak.

I was still warm, but adrenaline was slowly seeping into my veins. "What are you talking about?"

"Beta Reiner's goddess-bestowed gift is shape-shifting. He is a shape-shifter, Lucianne. He took my form to trick you."

My blood ran cold. "And I told him..."

"Everything," she completed for me. "He knows you know the truth, and he knows that his daughter just betrayed him. We are all in danger, but you two are in the most. You have to go." She was in front, pulling me by the hand towards the exit of the dungeons. My mind was a whirlwind of fear and confusion, but I forced myself to focus on Jules' words. I also wondered where all the guards had gone.

"Where do I go?" I asked, my voice trembling. Did she happen to have another hidden compartment here as well?

But to my surprise, we did not head for the exit. We turned left suddenly and ended up cramped in a small corridor.

"Don't make a sound," she whispered as she struggled to make her way into the tight chamber. At first, all I saw was complete darkness, and then I saw slivers of moonlight in the distance. I had so many questions but so little time, so I simply followed her.

After what felt like an eternity, we reached the end of the narrow corridor. Jules pushed aside a loose stone, revealing a hidden passageway. The faint moonlight provided just enough illumination to guide us.

"Through here," she whispered urgently. "This tunnel leads outside the castle walls. Once you're out, head to the eastern forest. There's a safe house there, hidden deep within the trees. You'll be safe for a while."

I nodded, my heart racing. "What about you?" I could not think of leaving her here with an assassin. And the others... What if something happened, and I was the only one safe? The image of the blood-painted walls of the castle in Raphael's memories flashed through my mind, and I couldn't help but shudder. My escaping felt selfish. I had caused so much heartache for me to be selfish on top of everything else.

"I'll stay and try to buy you some time," she said. "Don't worry about me, don't worry about us. We have lived with that monster all this time; we will be safe. Just go."

I squeezed her hand, feeling a surge of gratitude and fear. "Thank you, Jules. Be careful."

"I will," she promised. "Now go, and remember: trust no one. Don't even trust me. We don't know what that bastard is going to do. He can take the shape of anyone. Be assertive."

With one last look at her, I crawled through the tunnel, the darkness swallowing me up. The air was damp and musty, and the confined space made it difficult to breathe, but I pressed on, driven by a desperate need to escape.

Finally, I emerged into the cool night air. The castle loomed behind me, its imposing silhouette stark against the moonlit sky. I didn't waste a moment, pulling the cloak tightly around me and running toward the forest.

The trees closed in around me as I entered the forest, their dense canopy blocking out the moonlight. My breath came in ragged gasps, my legs trembling with exhaustion and fear. But I couldn't stop. Not yet.

After what felt like hours, my heart beating outside my chest as exhaustion began to take hold of me, I finally found the hidden safe house Jules had mentioned. It was a small, unassuming cabin, barely visible amongst the dense foliage. I slipped inside, bolting the door behind me.

Inside, the cabin was sparsely furnished but clean. It looked so much like the safe house that Aurora had first taken me to. I sank onto a cot, my mind racing. Even though I was tired, I couldn't stop my mind from bringing up all that had occurred over the course of less than two days, all of it weighed heavily on me. But I couldn't afford to dwell on it now. I had to stay strong.

Exhaustion overtook me, and I laid down, pulling the cloak over me for warmth. As I drifted off to sleep, I knew that I needed my rest for what was to come.