CHAPTER 131: PUBLIC EXECUTION

Fury blazed in my eyes.

I couldn’t stand Finn badmouthing Rion and the Undercity, but as much as I wanted to strangle him to death or bite his head off, I couldn’t move my body with the chains on my wrists and ankles. My wolf was gone too, suppressed by whatever drug he had made me consume.

"I’d rather be in the filthy rathole you are talking about than be anywhere near you," I spat with as much disgust as one could show.

"Really?" Finn gritted his teeth as he smiled. "Even if it means death?"

I didn’t answer. I needed to think about how I could get away from here.

I looked around subtly. One look and I knew I was in the Levian pack’s dungeon. My body didn’t ache anywhere except my arms and knees, but I felt greatly weakened.

"You could have begged me to spare you, and I might have given you some mercy, but you didn’t. Now, I can see that you’ve chosen to side with the enemy, which I cannot tolerate. You are a traitor now and the Alliance wants you executed. That is why you shall be publicly executed tomorrow morning."

His knuckles grazed my jaw before he straightened his back.

"In the end, you will die like a traitor, just like your father."

"And you believe yourself a hero of the pack?" I scoffed, my nails biting into my palm as I felt the urge to scratch his face.

"You are a manipulative shit who doesn’t know what justice means. You don’t deserve to rule, Finn. You deserve to rot in hell."

"I see that you have been influenced by those rogues’ wildness. The way you talk is so brutish and unladylike. You were not like this, Vivien. You were an obedient little cunt."

I laughed. "Or maybe you didn’t know me at all. I had always had rough edges. I was only good at hiding them."

His eyes narrowed. That annoyed him.

"Why don’t you start begging for my mercy now? There’s no use in acting tough when you are in such a poor situation. Do you think anyone can save you now? I have strengthened the wards of my lands. Those rogues cannot barge in. But don’t worry, after you are executed, I will send your body for them to see what I’ve made of you."

"Then do it. I won’t ask for your mercy. Never," I said through gritted teeth.

He shook his head and smirked. He said no more and walked out of the cell.

When I was left alone, I let out a breath and looked down. Tears fell on the dirty ground. I was angry. I didn’t know what to do.

One moment I was safe in Rion’s home, and the next I was back in Finn’s hands. The feeling of helplessness gnawed on me, like a poison eating me from the inside.

I couldn’t organize my thoughts. It took my mother’s life for me to escape the Levian pack, and though I’d sworn I’d come back to avenge her death, this wasn’t the right time. I was unprepared and couldn’t do anything against Finn.

Rion... I called in my mind, hoping that my voice would reach him somehow. I wanted to hear his voice in my head, but minutes passed, then hours, and still I heard nothing.

***

I woke up to the sound of chains. My arms hurt. Two warriors unshackled me and dragged me out of the dungeon.

The sun hit my eyes, and I squinted, wincing from the sudden brightness. The next thing I knew, I was standing before a crowd of people, on the dais of punishment where criminals were executed.

The dais was in an old stone building, open to the balcony, and below stood the members of the Levian pack, cheering for my death. They all wanted to see me die as if my death would bring them satisfaction.

My stomach flipped. I felt like vomiting.

"Today, we will witness the death of a traitor," someone behind me declared. It was Finn’s voice.

The anger and disgust on the people’s faces felt like hundreds of knives stabbing into my body. They were once my people. I had once belonged to them, lived among them.

But now they wanted only one thing from me: my death. It wasn’t surprising. They had hated my family ever since my father was proclaimed a traitor. Of course, it was easy to paint me as the villain.

But I didn’t want to die.

I wanted to live, to return to the Undercity, the place I’d come to see as my home.

I hadn’t even avenged my mother’s death yet. And if I died, wouldn’t it affect Rion, since we were fated mates? I hadn’t accepted the bond yet, but it was already there, even without my proper acceptance.

From what I’d learned, the bond between fated mates made them one, two souls so closely intertwined that severing them was nearly impossible.

What if my death would hurt Rion?

The thought of him suffering because of me burned in my chest, like a monster clawing its way out.

"Die, traitor! Die! Die! Die!" the people chanted.

My jaw clenched. Two warriors gripped my shoulders and forced me to kneel on the dais.

Finn stood at the center.

"For today’s execution, I shall grant the traitor death myself. And tonight, we will celebrate her death."

He turned his head toward me, his eyes glinting with pure malice. It was like looking straight into the devil’s gaze.

"The blade," Finn ordered, and someone handed him the executioner’s sword.

It was the same blade that had severed my father’s head on this very dais.

He walked toward me without breaking eye contact. He was utterly delighted by my suffering. He hated me for leaving him, for making him look like a fool.

Finn was prideful, and he must have struggled to face the council after his chosen breeder fled. Now he wanted to make me pay.

"You will die now, Vivien," he said, stopping just inches away. He looked down at me as if he were a god, and I was the slave he was meant to punish for disobedience.

I don’t want to die.

He raised the blade.

My eyes closed and the sky cracked open.