Page 79 of Absentia Mori

“You wretched cunt. I should’ve had Dr. Hall kill you when we first captured you. Which was easy to do by the way. The amount of drugs you ingested that night did us a favor.” Her lips curl into a sadistic smirk. “What a disappointment you must be to your father.”

The shame burns my chest. I feel my cheeks flush as I slash the scalpel across her cheek. “Shut your fucking mouth.”

She tries to scream, but her breath lodges in her throat. She coughs, and blood spurts out, staining the lace of her stark white collar.

I grab the tea and force the rest of it down her throat. “Yeah, you should’ve killed me, bitch.”

She gasps as she claws at her own neck. I can barely understand her gurgled pleas. Her demonic whispers to whatever entity she prays to. “No… I’ll never be yours.”

I lash out, slicing her neck open. Her eyes roll back in her head. Her body convulses, her chest heaving like she’s possessed. White foam seeps out of her mouth, soaking her swollen lips.

“I hope you wake up in hell, strapped to a bed with no one to turn to except your nightmare man,” I whisper in her ear.

I smear my hands in her blood before I take a seat across from her and watch her body go into rigor mortis. I paint my face with it, wearing it like a badge of honor.

Her skin turns a shade of gray that matches the streaks in her hair. Once one of the most powerful women in Melancholia, now she’s nothing but a pile of rotten flesh and cursed bones.

I take a deep breath and smile, knowing that this vengeance wasn’t mine alone. I did this for Kitty, and the Terror Twins, and Rowena. I did this for Maureen. And Draven, even though he’ll never thank me for it.

Theres a bottle of private reserve Blackwell gin on the mantle. I open it and take a swig from the bottle.The last timeI will ever touch this shit.It goes down smoothly. A wave of euphoria ripples through me as I pour the rest of it onto her dead body.

“An eye for an eye… a soul for a soul,” I mutter as I throw the empty bottle into the fire.

When I exit the room, Draven’s expression shifts. A fire flickers in his cold dead eyes. “She’s gone.” It’s not a question.

I nod. “Forever.”

We exit the front door this time. I turn my head to the sky. A rare Southern Melancholia breeze cools my heated skin. I breathe it deep into my lungs.

As I stalk toward my guys, their relief is visible on their faces. In the way they release the tension in their shoulders.

Raithe grabs me first. “My beautiful, bloodied vixen.” He kisses me deeply, hungrily. I moan into his mouth.

Mordecai hugs me from behind. “You did it. I’m so proud of you.”

I kiss him too. Then Fabien, who licks the blood off my face.

Draven doesn’t even bother to say goodbye. The last thing we see of him is his headlights fading into the night.

There is no redemption for evil. No mercy for the unholy. But as much as I want to murder Gemini Thorn for what he did to us, what he did toher, I made a promise to stand down. This is Libra’s brother’s fight now.

We face each other on the bed. Her hands are tucked in mine. She’s so fucking beautiful I could cry. The blue-green in her eyes sparkles under the sunlight streaming through the windows. Outside, I can hear the ravens squawking, a sound that will always unnerve me but not quite as bad as it used to. They’ve backed off ever since we called a truce with Nocturnus.

It’s a perfect morning. The first of many where we aren’t waking up in fear or anger. I caress her cheek, allowing myself to touch her gently.Another first. She’s soft and smooth. It heals me.

“Mordecai, how did you end up working in the poison fields?”

Even the way she says my name stirs something deep and primal in me. A need to posses and claim her over and over again. Like her mouth was made to speak only for me.

I tug on her waist, pulling her in closer so I can get a better whiff of her sweet scent. “We were orphans. In Wickford Hollow. You’re given two choices when you turn eighteen—fend for yourself in the streets or go work in the fields. But either way, you have to leave the orphanage. There are no rooms for adults there.”

A flicker of sadness transforms her gaze. “I’m sorry.”

I shrug. We stopped feeling sorry for ourselves a long time ago. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t ask to be born into your world any more than I was asked to be born into mine. It’s just how the cards are dealt sometimes. I like to think I’ll get a do over in my next life. The ravens will make it up to me.”

She looks down at my chest, her lips quivering. “Well, then I’ll probably end up a lonely forest witch in the next life after all the shit I’ve done.”

I laugh at that.Fuck, it feels good to laugh. “Ah, my little drama queen. There is no life in which you will ever be lonely again. I will hunt you down and claim you in every incarnation.”

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