The Twelfth Moon || ✔️

32. Dexter's Execution

Feytan and Mallee also stood at the front, just like they had during the last retribution. Neither of them looked bothered by the state of Dexter in front of them. I saw Feytan lean over to Mallee, whispering something in her ear. Mallee giggled at whatever it was Feytan had told her, illuminating the wrinkles in her face.

Lotta and Vince were murmuring about Moons know what. I couldn't bring myself to follow their conversation. I was too focused on the sight before me. I wanted to replace every bad memory I had that included Dexter with this picture. The picture of his fear and his brokenness. And after tonight, I never wanted to think of him ever again.

As more people started seeping in, Aven stepped forward and commenced tonight's event. "People of Rahas," he started. The crowd went quiet, not a soul present that wanted to miss a single thing Aven said. "We are all joined here tonight to witness the death of our prisoner."

After saying this, he lightly kicked Dexter, resulting in Dexter falling forward. His hands were bound behind his back, so he had no way of breaking his fall. And with his left leg still unnaturally bent, he had no way of staying up at the slightest touch from Aven.

"Although I believe death is too merciful, our laws apply to everyone. A death for a death." The crowd cheered and Aven's lips curled upwards, in a smug, dangerous smile. A death for a death. But Willis' death had already been paid. By that guard. But I supposed Dexter was responsible for many other deaths that would rectify this equation. Probably even that one wolf they'd lost while retrieving him.

Aven held his hand up, shushing the still cheering crowd before he continued. "But tonight is not only an end. It is also a beginning. Tonight will be our first act of vengeance against Fire Moon. Tonight, we will begin fighting back!"

The crowd cheered once again, even louder than before. Lotta and Vince were both cheering as well. Everyone was longing to taste the sweetness of revenge.

I didn't join in on the cheering, keeping my gaze locked on Dexter. He was struggling to get back up, but he eventually managed to worm his way back to his first stance. Blood was drooling out of his mouth. He didn't even bother to spit it out. His body began shaking, a reaction to fear I understood all too well.

"For long enough have we waited," Aven spoke again after the cheers had calmed down. "For long enough have we let Fire Moon walk all over us. This changes now, with Fire Moon's Beta's life."

Murmurs traveled along the crowd at the revelation of who the wolf in front of us actually was. Until now, no one had publicly announced Dexter's identity. The air around me felt heavier, anticipating the dreadfulness that was about to come. I knew that the uneasy feeling that gnawed at me wouldn't go away until Dexter's lifeless body lay before me. Until it was absolutely certain that Beckett, in fact, had not come to retrieve him.

Once the crowd calmed down again, Aven resumed talking. The angry undertone of his voice caused Dexter to shrink. "Dexter Northop, Beta of Fire Moon. You stand before us to repay a debt you're owed." Aven pulled Dexter up by his arms, and held his back against him, his mouth hovering near Dexter's ear, so he'd surely hear everything Aven was about to say. "After tonight, you will cease to exist. Your name will be forgotten, unwritten in all the history books. Your body will be burned, so not even your remains can serve as proof of your petty existence." As he said this, he pointed towards a bigger pyre to the left. The pyre where Dexter's body would soon vanish from existence.

Dexter gulped, his trembling becoming more illusive with every word Aven said. His pants were stained and the smell of urine followed. Aven laughed as soon as he realized Dexter had emptied his bladder out of sheer fear. His laughter sent shivers down my spine, and I could only imagine it had the same effect on Dexter.

"Your ashes will be scattered in the sea, so your flame will never burn again. Every memory of you will waste away over time, when I also ensure that no one in Fire Moon remains to keep it alive. That is a promise."

Aven straightened his back, looking over the crowd. Jerr stepped forward, joining him and Dexter at the front.

"I hereby sentence you to death," Aven said coolly, still keeping Dexter in place in front of him. "Nidhatos."

I focused on Dexter's heartbeat, which was more difficult than I imagined, but I eventually heard his heart speeding up immensely. It was banging against his chest, seemingly trying to break out. If Aven wasn't going to kill him soon, Dexter was going to die of fear.

Aven seemed to understand it too, as he pierced his hand through Dexter's back. He did it more slowly than when he'd done it with the guard.

Dexter's eyes went wide, frantically looking for something. I didn't know what it was he was looking for. What he hoped to find here.

I barely heard myself when I talked, but when Dexter locked his eyes on me and his face drew blank, I knew he did. "No one is here," I said.

And then Aven tore his hand out of Dexter's back, his heart in his grip. As he and Jerr let Dexter's body go, he dropped to the floor. The ripped arteries gaped out of the hole on his back Aven had just created, staining the ground near him with blood.

I could do nothing but look at Dexter's lifeless body, the puddle of blood growing larger and larger. I fixated on his upper body, somehow expecting it to still rise. But it didn't. He was actually dead. And the last thing he had seen was me, the last thing he had heard was me.

I had won.

But that heavy feeling still didn't go away.

I froze in place. All I could do was stare at Dexter's corpse, somehow still expecting him to stand up and come for me.

I didn't even move when Aven threw his heart in the pyre, causing a larger flame to erupt. Nor did I move when Jerr and Aven lifted up his body and dragged it to that same pyre, where they finally dropped it. The crowd moved along too, everyone wanting to see him burn.

I saw the orange flames grow taller in the corners of my eyes. But I didn't even turn to face the fire. All I could do was stare at that deep red puddle of blood. That puddle that had flowed out of Dexter mere moments ago.

I wasn't aware of anything. I wasn't aware of my own breathing, I wasn't aware that everyone had left. All I did was stare and stare at the last drops of Dexter. Hoping, somehow, it would end this gnawing feeling in my chest.

It never did. That fear that subsided in me, never left. Even seeing his end hadn't offered any solutions to my anxiety. Even though it did bring me some misplaced sense of justice.

I may have won, but I lost all the same. The scars I wore didn't follow Dexter in his death. They didn't burn in that pyre. No, they remained on me, as an everlasting burden to bear.

I stayed frozen in that tension, feeling nothing but the heavy air around me.

I barely registered feeling two warm hands grasp my shoulders. I heard a voice talking, but I couldn't make out the words.

I didn't control my own legs when they started moving, walking somewhere. The warms hands on my shoulders were guiding me somewhere. I didn't know who they belonged to and I didn't know where those hands were taking me.

I didn't know why I was following them.

All I knew was that even though Dexter died, he would always live in me.