Chapter 35 - your heart

Chapter 35: 35 - your heart 35 ~Lisa’s POV Milo was still on his knees beside me, silent. Proud. But I could feel his eyes on me. I didn’t care how I looked anymore, pathetic, broken. Let them see it. Let them see what they did to me. I looked up at them again, my body trembling under the weight of everything I’d endured, my knees aching against the cold, cracked stones of the courtyard floor. "If you want to punish me, fine," I whispered, barely able to keep my voice steady. "Lash me. Lock me up. Send me to the coldest, darkest corner of this place and forget I ever existed. I’ll take it. All of it. But don’t kill him. Please..." Kael’s face was unreadable, stone-like, rigid, unbothered. The weight of his silence pressed down on me harder than any guard’s grip. Then his voice came, clipped and cold. "He defied the rules." He took a single step closer. "He crossed the line." A bitter laugh escaped my throat before I could stop it, dry and broken and shaking at the edges. "And you didn’t?" I snapped, lifting my chin despite the tears running down my face. "You’ve crossed more lines than I can count." I didn’t care how I sounded anymore. I didn’t care that my voice was rising, trembling with rage and hurt. My heart felt like it was being wrung out in front of them, and all they did was stand there. "You broke me," I said, louder now. "Again and again. You ignored me, punished me for things I didn’t do. You treated me like a mistake, like a responsibility no one wanted to carry." None of them interrupted me. None of them even looked surprised. I swallowed hard. "And yet... I stayed. I stayed because I thought maybe, maybe, something would change. That one of you would finally look at me and see me. That one of you would say something, anything, that made me feel like I wasn’t just a ghost walking through your halls." My eyes burned as I looked at Kael, then at Ramon and Damon. "I respect you. Even when you were cruel. Even when I wanted to scream, I didn’t. I stayed quiet. I took the punishment. I never ran, even when I had the chance." I paused, my voice faltering. "What more do you want from me?" Ramon looked away, jaw clenched tight, his hands balled into fists at his sides. He wouldn’t meet my gaze. Damon’s eyes dropped to the floor, his shoulders tense, guilt flickering across his face, but he said nothing. But Kael... Kael didn’t move. "Spare him," I whispered, trembling. "I’ll leave. I’ll disappear. You’ll never see me again. Isn’t that what you wanted all along?" The courtyard fell silent. Not even the guards dared to breathe too loud. The flames from the torches flickered, casting long shadows on the stone ground, but no one moved. The stillness was suffocating, pressing in on me like a wall. And when no answer came, something inside me, something fragile and old, snapped. I staggered to my feet, or at least tried to. The chains around my ankles clanked harshly against the stone, the weight of them yanking me back down. But I didn’t care. I braced myself and pushed again until I was standing, barely steady, every muscle in my body screaming. My skin was raw, my wrists red and burning from the metal shackles, but the pain didn’t matter. The fury kept me upright. I was shaking, tears dried into salt on my skin, throat torn from begging and screaming. But now I wasn’t pleading anymore. I was done. "I’m not a prisoner!" I shouted, voice cracking and echoing across the cold courtyard. "I’m not a tool! I’m not some doll you keep locked away until you feel like breaking her again!" Kael’s brows twitched slightly, just the faintest flicker, so fast someone else might’ve missed it. But I saw it. That tiny shift in his perfect stillness. Still, he said nothing. His silence stung worse than a slap. "You act like I’m your shame," I went on, my breath coming harder now, like I was pushing the words out through everything they’d buried me under. "But I never asked to be part of your world!" My voice cracked, and I stepped forward until the chains jerked me back. I didn’t care. I leaned into the pain. "I didn’t ask to be dragged here," I continued, louder now, almost shaking. "I didn’t ask to be punished for breathing, to be hated just for existing!" My eyes locked with Kael’s, but he didn’t flinch again. His face returned to that familiar, frozen mask, the one he always wore when he didn’t want to feel anything. I turned to Ramon next, and his eyes quickly shifted away, as if the weight of my voice was too much. Like even looking at me now would be admitting I was right. "Everything I ever wanted..." I pressed a hand to my chest, "was a life. Not a prison. Not a punishment. I didn’t come here to rot in silence, to spend my days wondering what I did to deserve this kind of cruelty. I wanted to be seen. Heard. Known." Ramon’s jaw clenched so tight I saw the muscle twitch beneath his skin. Still, he said nothing. Coward. I took another shaky breath. "Milo was the only person in this whole place who treated me like I mattered. He didn’t touch me. He didn’t hurt me. And now you want to kill him? To make a point?" Kael’s voice was cold. Final. "Yes." He turned to the guards, his expression unreadable. "Carry out the order." "No...no, please, Kael, Kael, don’t!" I screamed, lunging forward again, but the chains yanked me back hard, cutting into my wrists. Two guards grabbed Milo roughly. He didn’t resist. He didn’t fight. He looked at me, and smiled. That was what broke me. "Don’t do this!" I sobbed. "Please...don’t let me watch!" Kael gave no answer. Damon looked like he wanted to speak, but stayed silent. Ramon stood like stone. They dragged Milo to the execution block, just feet away from where I knelt. "Lisa," he said gently as they forced him to his knees. "Look at me." I shook my head, screaming through the pain. "No! I can’t! I can’t watch you die!" "Look at me," he said again, his voice calm, unwavering. "Don’t let them take your heart, too." And I did. Through my tears, through the blur of horror, I met his eyes. The sword came down swift and merciless. His body slumped forward. Time stopped. A sound escaped from me, a raw, broken cry that wasn’t even human. I fell to the ground, sobbing so violently I couldn’t breathe. My whole body shook, every part of me screaming in silence. They made me watch.