Silence.
Then, So stubbon! she snapped to his brain.
He kept running.
* * * * *
The drug coursing through his system making him weak, he watched Leah walk up the scaffold.
Lydia cried out, the sound the definition of agony.
Lucien’s eyes never left his mate.
Denounce me, Lucien ordered.
Never, Leah shot back, a tremble betraying the strength behind her tone.
He thrilled at her word even as it tore at his heart.
This time, when he spoke, it was a plea, Denounce me, my pet.
I’d rather die with you than live without you.
He nearly smiled.
Drama, he muttered into her mind.
This isn’t funny.
She was absolutely correct.
Using what strength he had, his next words were a command he knew she couldn’t defy.
Denounce me.
Her body jerked, her pale, worn face going all the more ashen. But her eyes were defiant.
Never.
He was stunned and horrified and now unbelievably frightened.
He’d not had to control her mind for years and in those years she’d obviously built up an immunity.
They stopped her under the noose and put it around her neck.
She stood, arms tied behind her back, wearing her ivory claiming gown.
Another defiance, not of him, of The Dominion.
Even facing certain death, she was magnificent.
That vile feeling he’d felt so long ago when he thought he’d broken her, a feeling he hadn’t had in years, ripped through him.
Without delay, they touched the torch to the kindling around his feet.
Another scream of agony, this piercing the air and coming from Katrina.
Lucien’s eyes never left Leah.