Helanie:

"Come on. We have to go listen to your mother's hearing," I urged, tugging onto Emmet's shoulder.

"We've called the alphas and the council. We're finally putting Darcy behind bars and giving her the punishment she deserves," I added. It had been decided she'd be tried in front of everyone. Everyone was upset. So was I. But Emmet, to me, looked like a wreck.

"I never spend time with them," he muttered, clenching his fist.

"It's all right. It's not your fault. You were trying to keep them at arms length to not have to worry about forgetting another set of beloved siblings," I comforted him.

"I was scared of forgetting them, I never wanted to admit that. I had no idea I'd ever be free of the curse. It was painful to think they'd grow close to me and then I'd have to say goodbye. I just don't know what to do now," he said, breaking down again. I hugged him instantly, giving him comfort.

"Come on, let's go. Wherever they are, they're at peace now," I uttered, taking his hand and helping him up.

Darcy didn't even care about their curses, it was just a thought of winning for her that mattered. She didn't seem to realize that even if the curse hadn't killed them, the infections and injuries from the last few weeks would have. We were finally going to watch Darcy get the bitter, poisonous fruit of her crimes.

We walked toward the garden, where the remains of the gray woman lay. She had turned to dust, but it was murky and foul-smelling. No wonder she was a terrible woman. The warriors gathered her dust, boxed her remains, and planned to put them in the museum, a warning to anyone who plays with magic and other people's lives.

Emmet gave me a quick nod, then looked at Larry as Vonstan fixed his posture in front of her.

"Larry, you'll face eternal agony and a prison worse than hell for the rest of your life," he said. Larry nodded, looking far more ashamed than Darcy. Darcy still looked like she couldn't understand why she was here.

Larry would be sent to a prison, the same one where prisoners are burned until they can no longer take it. The punishment is paused just long enough so they don't die. Once they heal, it starts again, over and over.

After twenty years, they'll decide if Larry is eligible to go free. But let's be real, Larry won't survive twenty years. Most people only last five at most under that kind of torment. And I'm sure they'll never actually let him out. That promise of release is just bait, so he doesn't end his own life.

"Now onto Darcy, the seductress, homewrecker, serial killer and a crazy evil woman," as Vonstan mentioned her such say, all the alphas that had come to watch her sentencing started to nod their heads.

They were also broadcasting the sentencing.

"What? I'm innocent. I lost my babies. How can you tie a mother to a tree who has just lost her babies?" she wailed.

No one looked sad for her. That only made her grunt louder.

"How could you all be so heartless? You want to punish me when all I want is to attend my children's funeral?" she cried, louder this time. Everyone just stared and shook their heads.

"What?" she snapped angrily.

"It doesn't matter what you want," Vonstan hissed, frowning and almost gasping. "Leaving you out in the open has already made others suffer so much. We cannot do it again. We cannot set you free."

"Cannot set me free? Why? I'm not a monster. I just lost my babies. Why don't you let me go?" she begged, looking at her sons. They clenched their jaws.

"I want you punished in the worst way possible," Emmet said and Vonstan nodded.

"Everybody wants that. Everybody wants her punished for her crimes. The fact that she hurt so many innocent souls makes it worse," Vonstan added.

A car pulled up. Lord McQuoid helped my mother from the car and walked her toward us.

"Mother!" I screamed, running to her, but I couldn't hug her tightly. She was bandaged around the stomach.

"I couldn't skip this moment. It has been a long desire of mine to watch her get punished," my mother stated and Darcy scoffed at her sight.

"So this is why you punish me? To make some mermaid happy?" Darcy let out a loud scream but nobody cared for her tantrums anymore.

"You're right on time, your highness," Vonstan said respectfully, and Darcy's jaw dropped.

"What the fuck?" she screamed. "How can you give her respect while tying me up?" She cried, shaking her head and groaning.

"That will be enough. You have caused enough damage to everyone," my mother said, finally standing up to Darcy.

"I heard what happened to those innocent children. They did not die because of a curse. They died the day they were born because you were their mother," my mother told her.

I felt so proud watching my mother stand in front of Darcy and call her out.

"Why am I tied here, and why am I listening to her? Why is she even here?" Darcy screamed, looking at my mother, who straightened and kept holding Lord McQuoid's hand.

"Because I will be the one punishing you," my mother said calmly, watching Darcy's eyes widen.

I stood to my mother's right, my mates lined up beside me.

"I will punish you with eternal pain and suffering," my mother continued. "You will be locked in a cell and injected with poisonous memories. Every day you'll relive the pain you cast on others, your father's death, everything. You'll be chased by monsters in those delusions. Every night, just before midnight, you'll snap back to your senses and realize you only survived so you can go through it again the next day. While you suffer, we'll build a new life here, happy and free of monsters and of you." My mother finished and everyone started to cheer for my mother and bow down to her.

"No, please, no. Forgive me. Don't do this to me. I was stupid. Please– just listen." Lady Darcy shook her head and started pleading. She remembered what she'd done only because punishment was coming. "Please, everyone, listen," she begged, crying and screaming.

Nobody looked sympathetic. She thrashed, called for her sons, but no one felt sorry. They hauled her away.

It felt like a reckoning. Evil might thrive for a while, but it cannot live forever.

After Darcy left, my mates turned around and pulled us all, my mother and McQuoid included, into one big hug. The hug grew as more and more people joined in, my friends included. It was the most victorious moment for all of us.