Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Did I feel sorry for the child Shumi had been?
Yes.
I’d been there, had experienced the pain and the bitterness.
But that pain and bitterness didn’t absolve her of the evil of what she’d done. “She set this entire sequence of events in motion when she murdered Ani. And she didn’t stop even when she saw what it was doing to you.” Instead, she’d taken advantage of Diya’s disintegrating mental health to dig her claws in deeper.
“I think she was mad at me for loving Ani so much.” Diya’s voice was a scrape, her throat raw. “In her head, I wasn’t allowed to love anyone else. Just her. Only her.” She clenched her hand in the back of my T-shirt. “She wanted to murder you, Tavi.”
“Yeah, she tried and failed.” I kissed her. “I’m here. We’re here.”
“We’re here,” she repeated, then exhaled. “I want to have a proper funeral ceremony for my brother. She made everyone blame him the first time and hardly anyone came for him, spoke for him. He deserves better.”
“Whatever you want, baby.” Looking at the ocean waves, I said, “Shall we walk?”
Diya took my outstretched hand and we walked together across the endless sand, the waves a crashing music in the background. But below that was the sound of the wind chimes, Ani’s ghost a giggling companion as she raced down the beach ahead of us.