The Twelfth Moon || ✔️

18. Retribution

Aven turned to the wolf, as Jerr clenched his jaw even harder. He spoke more softly than before, but still loud enough for the front rows in the crowd to hear. "Nidhatos." And then his right hand pierced the wolf's chest with such ease, as if it were made of pudding. The wolf made a strange, gurgling sound and widened his eyes as blood gushed out of his mouth. But his eyes lessened not even a second after, as Aven tore out his heart with his bare hands. Jerr let go of the body, and it immediately slumped down to the ground, blood pooling out and coloring the ground a deep, dark red.

Around me, people looked away from the scene. Even if some of them might think of this as deserved, no one had taken pleasure in seeing this wolf's cruel death. If all the wolves were gathered here, that meant his friends, his family had probably just witnessed his sentence.

The mother of the murdered boy buried her face in her husband's shoulders, probably masking her disgust or her crying.

Aven turned back to us, the heart still in his hand. The crowd gasped once more, but no one dared move or talk. I found my hand covering my mouth, forcing my nausea to stay inside. Lotta looked frozen, too.

Aven's eyes scanned the crowd, and locked on mine. As he stared at me, he raised his hand with the heart, and offered me a subtle, menacing grin. The pyre to his side lit his face and graced his features, making the danger that curved around his lips all the more visible. But I stared him down. I wouldn't let another Alpha terrorize me. I wouldn't be scared, even if the picture before me was one that would haunt me many nights to come.

It was Lotta that broke the stare-down, as she tugged my arm. "Let's not linger here for a second longer than needed," she whispered with a trembling voice. I looked at her, and I saw how pale her face was. The rigidness of her body showed that her joyful spirit from earlier had been broken, shattered. And I hoped it would find its way back to her soon.

I nodded, not being able to speak. I let Lotta grab my hand and guide me away towards the edge of the garden, where we wouldn't have to push through the crowd to be able to leave. I dared one last time to look back at Aven, whose eyes were still locked on me, following my every step. His grin had disappeared and he tossed the heart on the ground, where it landed next to the body with a short thump. Lotta flinched at the sound, but kept moving us towards the edge of the crowd. The last thing I saw before I turned back to Lotta, was Aven whispering something in Jerr's ear, still not taking his eyes off me, and Jerr nodding in response.

Lotta got us out of the rush of wolves and we were making our way back to the Manor when I found the courage to speak again. "Does this.. Does he do this often?"

Lotta wasn't sure how to answer my question at first, and a short silence followed us as we walked through the gardens, back to the Manor. "It's not a daily occurrence if that's what you're asking. But he does it often enough to keep everyone here alert."

"How do you feel about that?"

Lotta raised her eyebrow at my dared question. "What I think about it doesn't matter. But to answer your question, most of the time Aven does what needs to be done."

"What about tonight? Do you think he needed to do that?"

"Sari, be careful with the questions you're asking," Lotta warned me. "I don't know about tonight. I don't know enough about what happened to that boy to make a judgement on tonight's retribution."

"I do," I said softly. "I was there when we found him. The boy, I mean."

Lotta stopped moving and looked me deep in the eyes. "Do you think this was deserved, then?"