Page 74 of The Mourning Throne
Morgan was halfway through dumping the second packet of sugar in. His hand stilled.
That qualified as one of the strangest things to ever come out of Lex’s mouth.
Why wouldanyonewant to be buried in something like that?
“Why?” Morgan asked, out loud.
“It’d be fun.” Lex took a drink. Slapped the table between them. “Oh! Oh, you know the… uh… the sushi restaurants where they serve it on naked people? Put cupcakes on my corpse.”
He didn’t, but it sounded like a plausible idea someone might have come up within the past ten years.
The cupcakes… not so much.
Chuckling, Morgan shook his head.
“Alright, Lex.”
“Anything that isn’t your dad’s wake would be better. Depressing is one thing, but it was like—claustrophobic.I want mine to be on an RSVP basis. Like. a bidding war. Seats start at two hundred bucks. No. I’m worth more. Make it a thousand.”
Morgan pulled apart the cheese danish and Lex stole half.
“Why are you assuming you’ll die first?” Morgan asked as he chewed. “More than likely, it’ll be me.”
“Because ifyoudie first, then everyone’s fucked. I’d off myself. Same room, same place. Everyone gets a dose of trauma.”
Morgan sipped his coffee. Slow.
Watched Lex tear the breakfast roll apart. Two halves. Then quarters. Theneighths.
Sixteenths.
Twenty-four.
Something crawled down his spine.
The number hung there, sticky. Familiar.
He slammed the cup down. Coffee sloshed over the side, onto his hand and the table.
Lex was already up, grabbing napkins and rambling, before Morgan had a chance to realize heshould’vereacted.
“Jesus Christ, Morgan,” Lex mumbled. He shoved a stack of napkins onto the mess on the table and grabbed Morgan’s hand. “Don’t break the poor cup. Are you still half-asleep or what?”
No. He was quite awake.
Awake and unnerved.
Morgan took his hand back, wiping down the front and back. The skin was red now, but not puffy. Not raised. He hadn’t burned himself too badly. Something minor that would fade in an hour or so.
“You’re not dying anytime soon,” he said flatly. “You’ll have to wait on the bakery display.”
Lex didn’t say anything. He simply stood there, hands pressed into the table, staring down at Morgan. Mouth hanging slightly open. Eyes slitted.
After a moment, he blew air through his lips.
“I waskidding. God, you’re so dramatic sometimes.”
Maybe.
