Page 210 of Dark Souls

Ezra clicked his tongue, clearly pissed that Mitchell wasn’t going to say anything else, and moved on to Belladonna. I could feel Ilaria’s rage through our bond because those blue eyes with rings of brown had never left my face since she entered the room.

“Belladonna Knowlton–” Ezra started, but Belladonna interrupted immediately.

“Belladonna Morton. If you are going to condemn me, at least get my name right, Alpha.” She smirked, still keeping her eyes fixed on me. Ilaria clenched her fists in her lap. I gave her hip a little squeeze to help calm her. This is what Belladonna wanted. It’s what she always wanted. To cause chaos. To get a reaction. The number of times she had pushed me to breaking point in those cellars just because she loved the thrill of it was too many to count. But I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction anymore. She had lost the last bit of power she had over me the moment Ilaria gave us her soul.

Ezra’s nostrils flared, but he kept his cool and continued, “Belladonna Morton or whoever the fuck you are, you have been stripped of your title of Mother of the Berin Coven and are here to receive your punishment for the following crimes.” She lifted her chin defiantly and smiled at me. “The murder of Maksim Vlado Nezera and Zoran Ambrož Nezera. The capture and torture of Lukas Heathen Nezera and Hana Casmira Nezera and assisting and funding the use of black magic to possess their demon’s souls, orchestrating the murder of the Knowlton Coven, the murder of Parisa Berin and impersonating her to fake your own death, being an accomplice in the torture, blackmail and emotional and physical manipulation of Lukas Heathen Nezera and Hana Casmira Nezera, abducting, torturing and imprisoning Hayes Cohen, and attempting to murder the royal princess, Ilaria Anderson Romano Black and Lukas Heathen Nezera. If you have anything you wish—”

“Can I get all that written on my tombstone?” She cackled, throwing her head back. “That is quite a list of accomplishments for one little witch. My father would be so proud.”

Ilaria jumped to her feet, ready to attack, but I grabbed her wrist and halted her. I slowly stood up, moved Ilaria behind me and stared at Belladonna’s twisted smug face with no emotion.

“What’s wrong, Lukas? Were you really expecting an apology? Do you need closure?” She pouted her lips and fluttered her eyelashes, tilting her head to the side. I let go of Ilaria and took slow steps towards her. She stared up at me from her knees, grinning like she was still somehow winning through all of this.

“You really think, just because you are sitting on a throne and the royals have been forced to take you in because ofher,that you are free? That you can pretend not to be who you really are. Do you really believe you will have a happily ever after? A family? Children? Are you that delusional? Tell me what your future looks like, Lukas. I am interested to know. What do you think will happen when the supernatural world hears of your existence? Deep down, you know you will never be accepted. You’ll never be safe. Whether for power, greed or out of fear, they will always come for you and any children you may have. You don’t belong in this world. But you want it so badly, don’t you? So bad that you are willing to be selfish and destroy everyone around you just to get a glimpse of what it would feel like to belong. But, eventually, you will drag them all down to hell with you because that is who you are. You will be the demise of everyone in this room.”

A slow, sinister smile spread across my face as I stared down at her. I bent my knees until I was squatting at her eye level and clasped my hands together as I held her gaze, showing her just how unaffected I was by her spiteful words.

“When I was a twenty-year-old man, you destroyed my life just because you could. You have spent your entire existence trying to break me, Belladonna. You stripped me of everything I had in the hope it would tear me to pieces.” Her sneer was full of triumph on hearing those words, but it soon fell when I added, “And you failed. I am still here; still standing, still breathing and stillme.Un-fucking-breakable. You thought you could define my worth with your cruelty, but all you did was help me to realise how fucking strong I am. You didn’t destroy me, you sharpened me. Every attempt you made to ruin me only brought me one step closer to this day. And I see it now. I see what your darkest intentions were. You wanted to tear me down, to make me hate myself and the world so much that I became like you. A person who is completely incapable of love. You had your own family killed. You treated your daughter like shit.” I turned my head to stare at Mitchell’s hanging head. “Do you even love him? Your own soulmate? Or are you incapable of even that?”

Belladonna narrowed her cold eyes at me as she pressed her lips into a thin line.

“And that was the problem, wasn’t it? I always had something you could never touch. I loved my family. I love my sister. I love the woman standing behind me. And no matter what you did to me, that never changed. I’ve accepted who I am, all my flaws and imperfections. The world can come for me if it likes, but I really couldn’t give a fuck. Because I will still have love. And that is the most powerful thing in this life. You can’t win against it, Belladonna. You never could.”

I stood up and glared down at her. She finally cast her eyes away from me and stared at the floor.

“Your words don’t hurt me. You have no power over me. To me, you are nothing.”

“You and I both know that is a lie,” she sneered, lifting her head to look at me with dead eyes. “I’ll see it when you kill me, just like I saw it when you strangled me and dropped me off that cliff. Even in my last breath, I’ll have power over you because I make you who you are, Lukas. I make you a monster.”

“He won’t be the one to kill you.” Belladonna’s smirk dropped as I felt Ilaria stand beside me. “I will.”

I peered down at my mate’s determined expression. Clearly, from the hatred poisoning her features, Belladonna was counting on me being the one to end her.

“And it won’t be quick. You will suffer every torture, every pain you put my mate through, and you will be begging me to kill you, but your pleas will be pointless. I will kill you when I decide to kill you. Nothing will be on your terms. Lock her up in the worst cell in the Romano castle. I’ll be there shortly.” Ilaria turned to look at her family and Lorcan and Leif stepped forward.

“What about Mitchell?” Belladonna suddenly acknowledged her mate as he lifted his fear-stricken face. “What happens to him?”

It was my turn to deliver punishment. “I will kill him. Painfully. Today. So that you can feel the moment he dies.”

Ilaria’s brothers hauled Belladonna to her feet as she peered across at Mitchell. He mouthed, ‘I love you’, and hung his head again, accepting his fate.

“Don’t be weak, darling. Don’t you dare beg for mercy,” she demanded, narrowing her eyes on his emotional face.

“Goodbye, Belladonna. Send my regards to the true Devil waiting for you in hell,” I said, pulling her attention back to me. She inhaled deeply with viciousness in her eyes before she disappeared with Lorcan and Leif.

I walked over to Mitchell and grabbed his hair, yanking it back so he was forced to look up at me. The fear in his eyes was delicious. “Not so brave now you no longer wear that sigil? Heathen and I will very much enjoy this.”

He whimpered, and a stain spread across his trousers and liquid pooled on the floor around his knees. The rancid smell of his piss filled the air.

’I told you he’d piss his designer pants.’ Heathen chuckled in my mind.

“She made me do it. You understand it, Luka. You did everything I asked of you out of love for your sister. I did everything she asked of me out of love for my soulmate. Please, show some mercy.”

“I am showing you mercy. I was going to torture you for centuries but instead, I’m going to kill you today. Count yourself blessed.” I released his hair and turned towards Ezra and Ruby. “I won’t do this in public. It’s going to be messy.”

Ruby nodded towards the guards, who stepped forward to take Mitchell to one of their interrogation rooms below the palace.

Once they were gone, I faced Hana and returned to the thrones. She stared up at me, her face as emotionless as mine. Hana had never enjoyed brutality. She never wanted the violence associated with our kind to define who she was, and I had always tried to protect her from it. As far as I was aware, she had never murdered anyone before. I had always done it for her.

---