Total pages in book: 331
Estimated words: 315585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1578(@200wpm)___ 1262(@250wpm)___ 1052(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 315585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1578(@200wpm)___ 1262(@250wpm)___ 1052(@300wpm)
But it also backfired on them. They say that’s how the confessional and offerings started. The ones they wanted out would live for too long, so the Lords came up with a way of getting rid of a founder whose time wasn’t up yet.
It’s supposed to keep them accountable.
It’s rigged. If they want you dead, you’re dead. They put you in a position where you’re forced to fuck up, and then they end your life.
“Eve—”
“Don’t bother,” I interrupt him, ending the conversation. He’s not wrong. I’ve been trying to drink my life away for years. Why stop now?
KASHTON
She sits in front of the unmarked headstone, and I sit behind her, resting my back against the tree trunk. She leans into me, and I wrap my arms around her waist, my chin perched on her head.
“I’m not even sure why I come here. It just feels right, ya know?”
I don’t say anything, because I don’t have anyone to visit. My mother was cremated and then tossed away. My father is buried at Carnage, but I pretend he never existed. If you ask me, he’s the one who deserves to be forgotten.
“Did Bill tell you about your mother?” I ask her. As sad as it is, she seems happiest when she’s here in the cemetery.
“A little. I was my mom’s second child. She had Evan really young and then was sentenced to be a breeder. After Bill saved me and told me who he was to my mother, I started to dig. I wanted to know if she had more children. But Bill told me that after me, she had a miscarriage. Then another one, and after that, the Lords deemed her unfit to fulfill her duties. So they killed her.”
“Do you believe him?” It makes sense. A life of a breeder ends when they are no longer useful to the Lords. So I’ve been told…
Everett sighs heavily. “I want to. I’d rather her be dead than out there somewhere being forced to breed with the Lords. The sad part is that I’m not even sure which grave is hers. If any of them is her.”
My eyes scan the unmarked graves. There are hundreds. Some have missing pieces and have been stained over time from the weather.
“She was cremated. Her body was of no use, so they destroyed it. Same for my baby. After my stay in the hospital at Carnage, Garrett placed an urn in my room. Said it was my baby that he had cremated. I was eventually dropped off at Dollhouse after Haidyn chose the other woman, and by the time Bill saved me, I couldn’t go back to Carnage, so I don’t know what happened to my baby.”
“So why this plot? What made you choose this grave?” I ask.
“Because it’s where I’d want to be.” She glances up at the tree I’m leaning against. The same one I stood at when I found her here when I was following her.
I kiss her hair.
“When I die, burn my body and dump me here.”
“Absolutely not.” I deny her absurd request.
“Kash—”
“You will be buried at Carnage next to me. Where you belong.” No exceptions.
She turns in my arms, and I let go of her. A frown on her pretty face. “I want to be cremated.”
“You’re being buried.”
She huffs, getting to her feet. The bottle of whiskey in her hand. “You’re saying I don’t get to choose?”
“You get to choose whether you want to be buried on my right or my left,” I say, looking up at her where I remain sitting. It’s that simple.
“Unbelievable,” she hisses, giving me her back. My eyes drop to her legs. She’s still wearing her dress and heels from the club because we didn’t have anything for her to change into. “Even in death, you decide everything.” Tipping the bottle back, she takes a sip. “What about your next wife?” She turns to face me once more.
“Next wife?” I can’t help but smile. “Angel, you’re going to be my one and only wife.”
She pops a hip out. “Say I die first and then you get married again. And then you die and she buries you—”
I burst out laughing, cutting her off, and her eyes narrow on me.
“What’s so funny?” she demands and her knuckles go white from tightening around the bottle.
“You. You come up with the craziest hypothetical situations that aren’t going to happen,” I answer through a smile.
“It’s a legitimate concern.” I frown, and her eyes drop to her wedding ring. “It happened to Bill.” Her eyes meet mine and I hold in a sigh. “He told me how much he loved my mother and wished he could have saved her…but now he’s on his third marriage to Janice, and he’ll be buried with her.”
“Is that why you want to be cremated?”
She shuffles from foot to foot. Taking a deep breath, her green eyes find mine. “My body is useless. It would be a waste of space. Burn what’s left of me and throw my ashes here.” Licking her lips, she adds softly, “This is where I belong.”