Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 154368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 617(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 617(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
The bite marks on my neck throbbed in time with my heartbeat.
"That’s not an answer. Why are there people burning outside our window?" My voice cracked. I hated it. "What is this? Is this. . .normal? Does this happen all the time?"
"No." His jaw tightened. "It's not normal. Reo wasn't supposed to put the pyre on this side of the house. He was supposed to position it where you couldn't see."
Pyre.
The word echoed around me, settling in the pit of my stomach. Pyre. A funeral beacon. A heap for burning the dead. It was a monstrous word, a word of death and despair.
My throat grew dry, but at least I wasn’t vomiting.
"It’s the traitors," he said it like it was obvious. Like I should have known. "This is what I decided to do with the rest of them. Everyone Sako gave up during interrogation and connected to the betrayal."
The floor tilted beneath me.
Last night, I’d gone off with Hiro and the twins on a Scooby-Doo mission to find the snakes. We’d discovered a whole nest. And then when Kenji tortured Sako, he found out that there were even more.
Now. . .I felt like I'd struck the match myself, watched it flare, and fed these people to the flames one by one with my own hands.
Their screams belonged to me.
Their charring flesh was my doing.
And the worst part?
Somewhere beneath the horror, beneath the nausea and the shaking and the ash in my throat—there was a whisper. A terrible, treasonous whisper that said: At least they can't betray him now.
I hated myself for thinking it.
But I thought it anyway, and I knew I wouldn't be innocent of the traitors’ deaths but this? This was beyond sin.
Beyond redemption.
Beyond anything human.
A void opened inside me, black and ravenous, threatening to devour whatever was left of my soul.
I swallowed. “You said it was around fifty people.”
“I did.”
“That looks like over a hundred.”
He pursed his lips.
What? Did he lie or is there more horrible shit for him to confess?
I shivered. “Kenji. . .why are there more than fifty? Did it end up being more traitors?”
"They're not all traitors."
I let go of the wall and my stomach, and held out my hands. “Okay. So. . .who are the other people burning outside our fucking window?”
He didn't answer.
"Kenji?" My hands shook at my sides. "Who else is in that fire?"
"Some of the traitors' families."
No.
The room spun. I grabbed for the wall again, missed, and stumbled back. My vision went white at the edges and I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't. . .
Families. He burned their families, and I’d been the one to help him do it.
Panic crashed inside my chest. "Children?"
"No." His voice was firm. "Never children, Tora."
The relief lasted half a second before the horror rushed back in.
"Then who?"
"Spouses. Some parents."
“Parents?”
“Yes.”
“Their h-husbands or w-wives?”
“Yes.”
“Burning because of what they did. . .”
“Of course, Tora.”
I'm going to be sick again.
And I didn’t want to be weak or soft. I wanted to be a fucking beast and push through this.
A tremor ran down my spine, ice cold, like I'd been plunged into a winter river.
No. Get your shit together. We’re not going to lose it right now.
I clenched my jaw so tightly I thought my teeth would shatter.
Kenji watched me with that calm dragon mask of his, and his silence roared louder than his words ever could.
Through the swirling nausea, my mind spun with the images of the pyre. A wave of dizziness washed over me. I stumbled, my heartbeat pounding in my ears.
“Tora,” His voice was softer now, but I didn’t want soft, I wanted answers.
“Just give me a minute.” I closed my eyes, hoping to shut out the world, the fire, the burning bodies, Kenji. My fingers brushed across the rough stone wall, grounding me. I took a deep, shaky breath, feeling the chilled air fill my lungs to the brim.
It tasted like ashes.
I opened my eyes, and saw that the dragon-shadow had closed in his wings. Yet, the dark beast still watched.
Ask the question. Just do it. You know the damn answer, but ask anyway.
I cleared my throat. “So. . .the traitors’ families. . .these spouses and parents. . .were they innocent?”
“Most likely, but that’s not the point.”
Dear God.
My knees buckled. I slid down the wall, unable to hold myself up anymore, and Kenji moved fast.
"No." I held up my hand again, but he was already there, already reaching for me.
"Don't ever tell me no." His hands closed around my arms and he lifted me up and then steadied me against the wall. “I’m here, Tora.”
“The families were innocent?”
“Yes.” His thumb found the pulse point in my wrist. I hadn't even realized his other hand was holding my arm. His thumb pressed gently against my wrist.
Reading me.
Monitoring my heartbeat.
"Breathe, Tora."
I couldn't.
His touch was too gentle for what he'd just confessed. Too careful. Those same hands that had signed death warrants for innocent spouses were cradling my wrist like it was made of glass.