Page 14 of Savage Throne
A knot formed in my throat, so tight, it was as if someone had wrapped their hands around my neck squeezing until every breath felt like a struggle.
I swallowed hard but the tightness remained.
What is wrong with him?
I stared at the finger in his hands and could barely process the image. A sapphire ring wrapped around it. The gold band glinted in the moonlight. My mind refused to fully comprehend what I was seeing.
It felt unreal, like a scene from a horror movie.
But this wasn’t fiction.
This was real.
Song frowned. “Are you okay, Monique?”
I touched my chest. “Me?”
“Yes.”
“Uh. . .”
Motherfucker, you need to be asking if Leo is okay. He’s the one with the finger!!
I blinked. “Yes. . .I’m. . .fine.”
“Good. Let’s go.” Song returned to walking.
I did the same.
Leo chuckled and put the finger in his pants pocket. “This is Yan’s finger.”
I put my view forward. “O-kay.”
“I didn’t realize I left that in the jacket.”
Well. . .that’s one way to respond to this situation. . .
My entire body went numb with terror, and my brain was unable to process the fact that I had just pulled out his dead daughter’s finger from his jacket pocket.
Leo let out a long breath. “I kept it.”
Clearly.
I shivered.
He continued in a casual, conversational tone. “I see it as a sort of. . .memento of her, you understand.”
No. I don’t understand.
He chuckled to himself. “Song thought I should just keep the ring, instead of the finger. But. . .the finger is hers. The ring is just jewelry. Keeping her actual flesh and bone. . .well. . .this way, a part of her is with me until I die. It’s dark, yet poetic.”
Again. . .that’s one way to look at it.
I didn’t know what fucked me up more, the fact that he had the finger and I touched it, or that he explained it so simply, so easily, like it was the most normal thing in the world.
I couldn’t breathe.
The world around me seemed to tilt.
