Page 181 of Buried in Blood
“About him?”
I nod.
She doesn’t press. She never does.
Instead, she leans her head on my shoulder and hums something low, something soft, something that settles all the noise in my skull.
“I’m glad it’s over,” she says after a while.
“So am I.”
She shifts to look at me, eyes searching. “Do you… feel okay? About Damien?”
I look out at the lake. “He chose his ending. I just let it happen.”
She nods. That’s enough.
We sit like that for a while. Her hand finds mine, fingers sliding between the ones that have done more harm than good. She never flinches. Never hesitates.
Astra.
My wife.
My Siren.
The only person who’s ever seenallof me and didn’t run.
She will marry me with her eyes wide open, staring at the monster, kissing his mouth anyway.
And I’ll never stop being grateful.
“You know,” I say after a long pause, “I didn’t think I’d get this.”
She lifts a brow. “This?”
“A future. A life that doesn’t involve guns or fire or fucking blood on the walls.”
Her smile is tired, but it’sreal.
“I think we’ve all earned it… But you and I both know, there will still be blood on the walls,” she whispers.
I look at her. I meanreallylook at her. This woman I nearly broke. This woman I would die for without hesitation. The weight of her love is terrifying.
But I carry it proudly.
I think about the others—Dante, Evelyn, Harmony, Reese—and I realize something that settles deep in my chest.
We survived.
Not just the bullets.
Not just the betrayals.
Butourselves.
And now?
We get to live.
