The Blood Puppets pulled Caspian's parents closer, forcing them to kneel directly before their son.
"Caspian…" his mother whispered softly, tears streaking down her face.
His father struggled fiercely against the chains, veins bulging on his neck as he shouted, "Kill me if you must, but let my wife go!"
Ainsworth ignored them. Slowly, he raised his hand, condensing a kitchen knife out of aura. The weapon pulsed with his aura, its edge glinting like glass under dim light, reflecting the fear and despair on their faces.
"Observe," Ainsworth said coldly, "and remember this moment until the time I kill you."
With a single motion, he swung the blade. Megan Sterling's head flew into the air, arcs of crimson spraying across the ground before it landed with a dull thud.
Blood Puppets picked the decapitated head reverently, placing it on a tall pike before Caspian's very eyes.
His mother's lifeless gaze stared down at him, her mouth still frozen in her final words.
