Disclaimer: I do not own Underworld, or any of the associated characters, no matter how much I like them.

Summary: See previous chapters.

Sonja

I knew that my father would have no choice but to sentence me to death.

I asked him to spare Lucian, to delay the sentence until our child was born, but I knew that my life was over the moment we were discovered.

With the Lycan numbers unknown, but growing every day, and our numbers only a few hundred strong, we could not afford to be divided. Previously, Lucian would not harm us due to his love for me, but other Lycans were held back by nothing but force and the fact that Vampires had more sophisticated and co-ordinated fighting methods.

If Father had tried to have me spared or pardoned, we would have splintered, and been left diminished, easy prey for the Lycans.

No matter how much my father loves me, no matter how much my death would break his heart, he will be given no other option but to order me killed. Some of the harsher council members will probably insist that he do it himself.

But it was not all his fault. I should have listened when Lucian asked me to run away together. I could have found a way to break our relationship to my father gently, presenting it as a good thing. No matter how desperate I was, I should not have blurted the news of the hybrid child I carried in front of the entire population of the castle.

I did not inherit my temper from my mother, and my father has never dealt with unwelcome surprises calmly.

Then again, I suppose no father could be expected to react happily to the news of a pregnancy out of wedlock, especially when the father is a Lycan slave.

Morbid humour, but it brings a smile to my lips.

I do not regret my time with Lucian, however short it was. I experienced the kind of love that most people only dream of; the kind of love that takes you to the end of the earth and back, that can endure anything, even death.

My only regret is that he will be forced to live without me, and I know how much that will pain him.

There is the sound of stone grinding against stone, and the skylight begins to open.

Terror flows through me, chasing away the serenity and acceptance I thought I had achieved, and my eyes fly upward. My end is coming.

Lucian knows it, too, and I see the fear and horror in his eyes. Even now, we had both been hoping for an eleventh-hour miracle, that my father would somehow free us and make it look like a lucky escape. But there will be no sudden reprive.

Lucian catches my eyes with his, begging me to look at him, to hold on. I do so, wanting my last sight to be of the Lycan, the man, I love. I focus everything I am into that last gaze, trying to reassure him as I memorize every dark lock of hair, every lean muscle, everything that makes him Lucian, to carry with me into whatever awaits after Death.

I start to burn, and the last thing I hear are his screams.

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A/N: Keep in mind, this was several centuries ago, when girls were supposed to obey their fathers (or later, their husbands) and that was it. In those days, Viktor would have been seen as amazingly lenient for letting his daughter fight at all. Serving on the council would be accepted, as his only child, but it is telling that there are only a few female Elders, and aside from Selene, I don't think I saw any other female Death Dealers, except for the opening flashback scene in Underworld: Evolution, who I'm fairly sure was Amelia.

People were probably already looking at Viktor oddly and whispering that Sonja was indulged and favoured. Viktor would have had to defend that from the start, and there was no way that anyone would accept Sonja being spared after she openly admitted to taking a Lycan as a lover. Viktor, none of the Coven, could afford a split in the ranks, not if they wanted to survive. Sonja knew the risks, and accepted them anyway.

That is my take on things, anyway, and you are all free to disagree with me.

Thanks, Nat.