the top of my hand. “We need to talk about something… unpleasant.”

My gaze flicked up to his as my heart jackknifed in my chest. All of his men, he lost over twenty men. Fresh tears sprung in my eyes. “I’m so sorry. Your guys… they… oh gods, I’m so sorry Liam.”

He reached out and pulled me to his chest, crushing me against him. His hold was almost too hard, and that felt good. It felt good to remember I was in this world, being held so tightly it hurt. “It’s not your fault. They knew what they signed up for.” He released me, and his throat was rough. “That’s not what we need to talk about.”

I frowned. “What is it?”

With a big sigh, Liam pointed to the truck. “You’ve been asleep for about twelve hours. Mara’s… body is starting to decompose.”

Oh gods…

“I know you wanted to bring her back to Faerie, but… there is no freezer here and…”

I put one hand over my mouth to cover a sob and another in front of his face, indicating he stop talking.

Mara. She lived her whole life a slave to the blue doors and only left her house upon her death… I wanted her to have a proper Faerie sendoff, but this place was beautiful, the wide-open land; it was freeing, not confined by the walls of a home any longer.

“Is there a shovel?” I asked with grit in my voice.

He nodded. “We found two in the garage.”

Standing up, I winced at the throbbing in my leg.

“I’ll bury her here,” I told him and started to limp to the garage.

Liam trailed after me. “I’ll dig the grave with Cam. Lily, you should rest—”

“I alone will bury Mara!” I snapped and then felt guilty when I saw the hurt cross his face. Reaching out, I grasped his face, raking my fingers lightly down his jaw. “Liam, I need to do this.”

He must have seen something in my eyes because he nodded. “Okay.”

Leaning in, I placed a quick kiss on his lips, and he followed me to the open garage.

Cam and a few others were standing around, talking in low voices. I simply walked up, grabbed the one shovel, and then walked away, hearing footsteps at my back.

I thought it was Liam, but when I turned around, I saw every single one of Liam’s men had followed me. My throat tightened with emotion, and I kept walking. About fifty paces from the front porch was a beautiful giant Douglas fir. They carried Mara’s body and laid her, wrapped in a blood-soaked cloth, at my feet.

Tears brimmed in my eyes as they stood, heads bowed, hands at their backs in reverence.

I needed them to know that I would do this for their fallen brothers if I had the chance.

“I’m so sorry about your friends. If I could lay them to rest here with her, I would.” My voice cracked, and they nodded, one by one.

With a final look at Mara’s body, I started to dig. Digging a grave is many things but two things especially.

It was exhausting. Every muscle in my body protested as I dug small shovel full after small shovel full of dirt.

It was depressing. Knowing that in a little while I would lower Mara’s body in here and cover her in four feet of dirt cut into my chest with agony.

Liam, Cam, and his men stood around me and waited as I dug that hole. When I fell back, crying because it was too hard, and I was too tired, and it hurt too much, they waited. They gave me water, they offered to dig, and they waited. Finally, when I’d dug it deep enough that animals and the elements wouldn’t uncover her, I fell onto my butt, panting, looking up at the boys from where I sat inside the tomb.

The amount of respect I saw in each one of their eyes nearly knocked me over further and had fresh tears springing to the surface. Liam helped pull me out of the deep depression in the earth just in time for me to see Jasper, Elle, and Liam’s mother walking out across the yard to the base of the tree that shaded Mara’s fresh grave.

Without a word, Elle walked up to me and hugged me. She kept one bandaged arm tucked into her chest, and I was so glad she was okay.

“Mara,” I whimpered into her ear.

“I know,” she cried into my neck. We held each other for a few moments before pulling away.

I wiped my eyes then looked to Liam and Cam. “Can you lower her in? I can’t feel my arms.”

I wasn’t making a joke. I literally had no strength left.

They nodded and started to gather the cloth wrapped around her and lowered Mara’s body into the grave. It was stiff with rigor mortis and unbending, a sight which made chills break out onto my arms.

Elle and I watched as they set Mara into the deep cavity I’d carved into the earth. I wanted to tell a story, an amazing story that would show everyone here what she meant to me, but I couldn’t speak. My words were trapped in my stomach, a heavy weight of grief sitting on them.

That’s when Elle started to sing. Her voice was strong yet light and full of crisp high notes. She sang a song of mourning, a more traditional one from our childhood, and it brought fresh tears to my eyes.

My shaky voice joined in, and then Trissa’s and, to our surprise, Jasper’s. No one else present knew the song, but they listened on in reverent silence. Once they lowered Mara’s body inside, Liam handed me the shovel. I was confused for a second because I’d just dug the hole. Why did I need it again? Then it hit me. I have to bury her. Throw dirt over my mother’s closest friend and one of the strongest women I knew. We don’t bury in Faerie, so this was new to me. Everyone was watching

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