“You owe your son. Repay him with the hope for a future that doesn’t thrive off of all this toxicity and ugliness that we came to know.”
“A son…” He laughed before his face contorted like he might spit on me. “I didn’t leave you with a son…”
“Didn’t you? He looks just like Nora, but he favors your size.”
He turned his head like it pained him. The eyes that had once been so ruthless and dark were now lit with unspent tears.
“They would have left me to rot in that dungeon.” He sighed on what I recognized as an emotional thaw. “I’d have never known.”
“We wouldn’t have let them,” I quickly hushed him. I’d never seen a Krypt male so vulnerable, so I sold him a dream. He needed it.
I helped Keif wash Lazarus’ hair, what had once been his pride. Perhaps it would be still, once it was cleaned and dried.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered when I brought the rag up and worked at his chest.
I leaned in and kissed him tenderly, pretending not to notice the warm trickle of tears that blessed my cheek. “I’ve destroyed everything that could hurt us. Now all we must do is make sure we don’t use our power to hurt those beneath us. We have to be better than they were.”
He tilted his forehead against mine and nodded solemnly. I held him against my chest, guarding his dignity while he let it all out.
“We’re going to be okay,” I assured stroking his hair. “We’re going to be okay.”
And when my gaze met Messiah’ and Ender’s, I knew it was finally true.
The End
I hope you enjoyed the Krypt Series. From here, I’ll be moving on to a wild west Historical RH novel, Soiled Dove.
Soiled Dove
I was ten when I saw my first dead whore. Of course, at the time I didn't know she was a Soiled Dove, I only knew her as my aunt.
That was the night that changed my life forever.
I ended up gaining a lifetimes worth of knowledge before I was old enough for Aunt Flossie to stuff me on a stagecoach west. She wanted more for me than the fancy parlor house on Jefferson Avenue. Told me to go out and find a man with ambition, a good hardworking family man so that I never ended up back in western Missouri…
Thing is, I didn't find one, I found a whole band of ambitious loyal men.
And who would have guessed, according to those wanted posters I'm worth more than her now.
