Chapter 56 – Blood for Blood
**** Dante’s POV ****
Night before the execution
The cell reeked of iron, mildew, and death.
Chains scraped the stone floor as Dante sat in silence, wrists shackled, the cold metal biting into skin already bruised. The air was thick with finality, as if the walls themselves whispered his name like a funeral chant. Dawn was only hours away.
And at dawn, he was to die.
Guilty.
The word echoed louder than the gavel.
No pretense. No mercy. No redemption.
He’d heard the verdict, unmoved. Isabelle had screamed when they read it, lunging forward until guards held her back. But he hadn’t flinched.
He had already buried too many pieces of himself to feel fear now.
The Circle had sealed his fate. Nine judges, nine cowards, one execution order—signed in trembli
