Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 120336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Oh God.
My sister’s eyes—so much like mine—bore into me with a kind of heartbreaking sadness. And then with a steady voice she whispered. “Do it, Lei. We’ll deal with him next.”
“Okay.” I dropped Imperial Lament.
It clattered to the ground.
My father didn’t dare go for it due to Moni having that gun pointed right at his head. Still, Moni’s voice broke through the haze. “Lei, what are you doing?”
“I’ve got it. I’ll kill him.” I went over to Soaring Precious and picked it up. “I’m just. . .”
“What?”
“I’m just. . .seeing ghosts.”
Moni blinked. “Say what?”
“Ghosts.” I came back over with Soaring Precious. “My mother and sister. Your parents. Chanel and Romeo.”
Moni’s voice screeched. “My mom? My dad?”
“Yes. Right next to you.”
She glanced to the side. “I love you, Mom. . .Dad too. . .”
“It might just be the poison.”
“I don’t care.” Her bottom lip quivered. “I just wanted them to know.”
Sadness filled my heart.
Her bottom lip quivered. “Maybe, they are here.”
I turned my attention back to my father and raised Soaring Precious in the air.
A tear slid down his cheek as he looked up at me. “You see your mother and sister?”
“They’re next to you.”
“What did they say?” He coughed. The sound was wet and painful.
“Mom isn’t mad that I’m doing this. Yan says she will deal with you later.”
“Then. . .I’ll see them?”
“I think so. . .”
Blood bubbled at the corner of his mouth. His gaze flicked up to the sky. “Thank God. How merciful He is. I do not deserve His love, yet He blesses me. . .”
My vision blurred but I did my best to not cry.
My father put his view on me. “I lost my way.”
The fighting stopped in the stands.
All watched us.
My father continued. “Somewhere. . .the path unwound into darkness.”
I kept the sword steady and began to lower it toward him.
He put his view on Moni. “That happens to heroes in stories, doesn’t it? The second act, or maybe the third act. I’m not sure. . .”
Whispers carried off in the stands.
A few people loudly sobbed.
More crows appeared around us and landed.
“But now I wonder if. . .this may not be my hero’s journey.” He moved his gaze to me. “Instead. . .am I the villain of this story?”
The words hit me like a blow but I didn’t answer.
I couldn’t.
I stood over him and let the tip of Soaring Precious blade get close to his throat.
He watched me. “Did your mother tell you to change swords?”
“Yes.” My throat went tight.
More tears left his eyes. “I don’t deserve her love either.”
For the first time tonight, I saw my father—not as the monster who had haunted my life, but as a man.
A broken, defeated man.
The world narrowed to the sound of my father’s ragged breathing and the weight of Soaring Precious in my hands.
A knot of tension gathered in my shoulders.
“I tried desperately to make you my son and shape you with violence and death, but in the end. . .” My father coughed wetly. More blood bubbled at the corner of his mouth. “You are your mother’s son.”
Those tears finally left my eyes and I gazed at her face as she beamed up at me with so much pride. “I am my mother’s son.”
“Thank God. The East may be better because of it.” He turned his gaze back to the sword. “What will Soaring Precious’s final judgment of me be?”
“We’ll see.” I swallowed hard, the lump in my throat threatening to choke me.
For a moment, silence stretched between us.
Then, he spoke again, and his voice trembled with an unfamiliar vulnerability. “I’m. . . sorry.”
My very soul shivered.
The words hit me like a blow, so unexpected that they knocked the breath from my lungs. I couldn’t think of a moment in my entire life when my father had ever seriously apologized—not to my mother, not to me, not to anyone.
Tears rolled down his bloodied face, mingling with the dirt and grime. “I wanted you to be happy with Monique. . .I did. . .but I think. . .in the end. . .I got so afraid of death. . .and the possibility of hell. . .I figured, why not just try to enjoy heaven on Earth.”
Slowly, Moni lowered the gun and her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
I pressed the blade of Soaring Precious next to my father’s neck but didn’t pierce his skin. “I. . .”
The words caught in my throat, strangled by emotion.
I wanted to tell him that I loved him, that despite everything, some part of me still yearned for his love.
But my heart hurt too much.
He closed his eyes. “I love you too, son.”
Moni sniffled beside me and her presence grounded my soul with what must be done.
Okay. It’s time.
Slowly, I pushed the blade against his skin.
The ghosts disappeared.
To my utter shock. . .Soaring Precious emitted a loud melodious sound.