The Bride He Hates-Chapter 72: Is This The End?

Lyanna woke up in pain. Then slowly, she recognized her location and situation as her mind struggled to grasp the reality.

She tried to move and realized she was hanging from the ceiling. Her arms were pulled above her head, and her toes were barely touching the floor.

She was in a dungeon built specifically to imprison vampires. But Azrael was nowhere to be seen. The separation was even worse than the physical pain.

She then heard the sound of footsteps outside her cell. Someone swung the door open. Lyanna recognized her immediately. It was Inquisitor Sora, the council member who had presented the fabricated evidence during their failed negotiation. She looked at Lyanna with satisfaction.

"Good, you’re awake. I wanted you to be conscious of this conversation." Sora said as she circled Lyanna like a predator assessing its prey. "Do you know where you are?"

Lyanna didn’t reply.

"The dungeons beneath council headquarters." Sora continued. "These cells were built three centuries ago to imprison vampires. You’re in the most secure vampire prison in the world." She stopped in front of Lyanna and looked at her face.

"You were human once. Tell me, does it hurt more or less knowing you chose this?"

"Fuck you." Lyanna replied in her hoarse voice.

Sora’s smile widened.

"There’s the fire. I was worried you’d be broken already, and that would make this less satisfying." She took out a document from her robes. "Your trial is scheduled for three days from now. It will be a public spectacle in the city square with thousands of people. You and your husband will be tried together for a list of charges that span centuries of alleged vampire atrocities."

"Alleged?" Lyanna asked bitterly. "You fabricated the evidence."

Sora ignored her.

"The trial is a formality anyway. The verdict is predetermined: guilty on all charges. The sentence is also already decided: death by burning at the stake in the city square.

"We’re going to burn you slowly so that everyone can see that vampires can suffer, can feel pain, can die screaming just like the humans they’ve preyed on for ages."

We’ve only three days to find a way out or face one of the most painful deaths imaginable.

"Nothing to say?" Sora mocked. "No last words? No threats about how Thornfield will save you?"

"They’re coming. Reinforcements will arrive, and you’ll regret..."

"Reinforcements take time, which you don’t have." She walked towards the door but then paused. "Oh, one more thing. Your husband is in a different cell. You won’t see him until the trial. I thought you’d like to know that he’s being tortured. When you see him again, he’ll be broken which would make the execution look merciful."

Azrael’s cell was worse. He was the primary target, apart from being chained with silver, his arms were stretched apart, chained to opposite walls. His legs were similarly pinned.

Actual silver stakes had been driven through his hands and feet, holding his limbs against the stone wall. He couldn’t move or think because of the constant and overwhelming pain. Then, Cardinal Matthias visited him.

"You’ve spent four hundred years preying on humanity, accumulating power you never earned, and spreading your corruption throughout the world. It will end now." He said as he sat on the chair opposite him.

"Before you die, I want to tell you we’ve sent forces to Thornfield. While you’re here helpless and chained, our army is destroying your kingdom, killing your people, and burning everything you’ve built over centuries."

The words hit him harder than any physical blow. Thornfield; his kingdom, his people, the kingdom he had built from nothing over four hundred years was being destroyed while he hung helplessly in chains.

"Your legacy will be ashes. Your name will be remembered only as the monster who tried to negotiate with humans and died for his arrogance."

Azrael didn’t utter a word.

"Nothing to say?" Matthias taunted. "No speeches about vampire superiority? No threats about how your people will avenge you?"

"You’re lying." Azrael whispered. "You can’t take Thornfield. It would require..."

"It would require coordination with multiple human kingdoms, resources, and planning, all of which we have."

He stood up and walked closer.

"Your wife will watch you die first, you know. Let her see what happens to the monster she chose to love. Then we’ll burn her too, and the legend of Thornfield will die with you both." Matthias said and left.

Days passed in torture. Lyanna lost track of time. She tried everything to escape, but nothing worked. She was kept intentionally underfed. Her body was slowly starving without enough blood. The hunger was maddening. Without blood, she was getting weak. Her supernatural abilities were fading, and her body was struggling to heal even minor injuries.

The night before the scheduled execution, Lyanna was dragged from her cell. She was too weak to resist. She was led through corridors, into the dungeon complex, until they reached a larger chamber. Chained to the opposite wall, barely recognizable, was Azrael.

He was burned, wounded, and carved with holy symbols that were still bleeding. But when he saw her, a tiny hope appeared on his face.

"Lyanna!"

"Azrael."

Their guards chained them facing each other, close enough to see but not touch.

"I’m so sorry." Azrael said immediately in his broken voice. "I brought you here. This is my fault. I convinced you that diplomacy could work and we can achieve peace. Instead, I brought you to this." His eyes were wet with tears mixing with blood on his face.

"You could have stayed in Thornfield, and have been safe. But I asked you to come with me, and now you’re going to die because I was too naive to see the trap."

"No." Lyanna replied. "We came together by choice. I chose to support this diplomatic mission and risk my life for peace." She tried to move closer but the chains held her back.

"We are not dead yet. Reinforcements will be coming. We just need to survive long enough for rescue to arrive."

She was trying to convince herself as much as him, clinging to hope.

"They told me Thornfield is being destroyed." Azrael said. "Their forces are attacking Thornfield while I’m helpless here. I’ve failed everyone."

"They’re lying." Lyanna said. "Thornfield has defenses, and allies. King Damien wouldn’t let it fall. The Eclipse Court wouldn’t abandon us. They’re trying to destroy your hope, but you can’t let them succeed."

Azrael looked at her and saw strength despite her tortured state.

"How are you so strong?" He asked.

"Because I have you. I have us. I have a future worth fighting for. That’s more than I had months ago when my only choice was survival or death."

The guards allowed them perhaps five minutes together, then grabbed them, pulling them apart.

"Wait!" Azrael called out. "Please, just...let me touch her. Just once. Please."

The guard hesitated. Then, surprisingly, he loosened Azrael’s chain so that his hand could reach hers. Their fingers intertwined, silver was burning them where chains touched, but neither cared about the pain.

"I love you." Azrael whispered.

"I love you too." Lyanna replied. "We’re going to survive this. We didn’t come this far just to die. We’re going to live, Azrael."

They were being dragged apart again. Lyanna was halfway back to her cell when the first explosion hit. The entire building shook. She stumbled, and the guards holding her nearly dropped her in surprise.

Then she heard another explosion. Screams echoed through the corridors. A guard ran past them.

"We’re under vampire attack! They’re breaking through the outer defenses!"

Lyanna and Azrael exchanged looks across the corridor, suddenly hopeful. Reinforcements had arrived. When they reached their cells, another explosion hit, and a part of Azrael’s cell collapsed. He was covered with stone and debris.

"LYANNA! I LOVE YOU! IF WE DIE HERE, KNOW THAT I LOVED YOU! KNOW THAT YOU WERE THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME!" He shouted, hoping for Lyanna to hear.

The building shook again. The ceiling kept falling, and Lyanna realized that they might die there under the collapsed building.

"WE’RE NOT DYING!" She shouted back. "STAY ALIVE! DON’T YOU DARE DIE ON ME NOW!"

The ceiling above her cell cracked and stones began to fall. Lyanna closed her eyes in fear.

Not like this. Not when we’re so close. Not when rescue is finally here. Please. Not like this.