Dusk cloaked the courtyard in silence.
Jessica knelt before the execution block, wrists bound, hair disheveled.
No crowd cheered. No rebels laughed.
Only stillness.
---
Alexander stepped forward, holding the shattered flute.
“This is not vengeance," he said, voice cold. “This is truth paid in full."
Jessica met his gaze. “You loved me once."
“No," he replied. “I loved a lie."
---
The executioner looked to him. He nodded.
Steel fell.
It was quick.
---
He didn't flinch.
Just stared at the flames as her body was cast into the pyre.
The flute fragments slipped from his hand, landing in ash.
One piece—its tip blackened—still bore a single word:
**Remember.**
---
Later, in the war room—
“Reform laws," Alexander said. “No child will bear their parents' crimes."
Marcus blinke
