Page 167 of A Silent Prodigy for the Lycan Princess
“Yes.”
“I want to see him,” she mutters. “I want to make sure that he will never wake up again.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, anxiety filling me. I don’t want to trigger her or overstrain her with anything.
“I want to see it with my own eyes.”
The psychiatrist just told me I need to respect her decisions and support her through them, so I swallow down my own worries and nod. “Okay,” I say. “Let me fetch a wheelchair for you.”
“We can really do it?” she asks, her eyes widening.
“You are free, Meg,” I tell her. “There are no walls around you.”
She looks at me for a while. “Then, I want to see his body.”
I nod, hurrying to grab her wheelchair and help her sit down in it. I still don’t want to touch her too much, out of fear of triggering her, but whenever our hands meet, I feel the tingles of the bond. Meg feels them too, I see, by the curious expression on her face. When she isn’t sad or quiet, she is mostly curious. Before that psycho ruined her life, she must have been such a lively person.
The forensic mortuary where Night’s body is being kept is in the first floor of the basement. I never knew the Council had so many underground floors until today. From what I know, the lowest floor holds the dungeons.
I already alerted the doctor to tell the forensic team that we would be coming. So, they are already expecting us when we arrive. Night’s body has been cleaned and put together again.
They did well with recovering his body, but it’s obvious that he was in pieces.
Meg moves her wheelchair closer. “Can I touch him?” she asks the forensic doctor. “Just to know for sure he is dead.”
The man’s gaze softens at her words, and he looks sad. “Of course.”
She pokes Night’s cheek and then his neck. His cold and lifeless body doesn’t even jerk. “He is really dead,” she mutters. “He is dead! He is not returning. He is not collecting gems anymore. He… he won’t hurt anyone anymore.” Her eyes drift over the blanket that covers his body. “What happened to the rest of it?” she mutters.
“You remember Aurelia?” When she nods, I continue. “And Arden, her mate?”
Again, she nods. “He is the one who looked for me.”
“Yes, and he lost someone to Night, too. Let’s just say, Arden had finally had enough.”
To my surprise, Meg just bursts into hysterical laughter. It takes minutes for her to calm down, and I am not sure if she is truly laughing or crying. “Funny, how pathetic he looks now.” She suddenly says before she turns to me. “Can we leave?” she begs, her voice breaking slightly. “Please.”
I hurry to push her out of the room, thanking the doctor, before making sure we leave this place. While we ride the elevator up, Meg talks again. “What’s the time?”
“Evening,” I say. “It’s seven p.m. now.”
“I want to go outside, on my own feet,” she mutters. “I want to see the sky and the stars.”
Something in my heart breaks. “Then, let’s go on the balcony,” I suggest, guiding her back to the infirmary, where I know there is a balcony patients can relax on. It’s cold and dark, so it’s empty now. Meg leaves the wheelchair at the door, pulling herself up on her trembling feet.
“Do you feel okay with touching my arm for balance?” I ask her.
She nods, gently holding onto it while I lead her outside.
Meg takes her time to gaze at her surroundings, her eyes scanning the dark landscape before raising her gaze to the sky, illuminated by the moon and stars. It’s a beautiful winter night; as if the sky knew she would come outside today for the first time in many years, to look at it.
“It’s so beautiful,” Meg says before her voice breaks. She drops down to her knees, hiding her face behind her hands, and sobs. Her cries break my heart in a way I didn’t know it could break.“He took that from me,” she cries. “It’s so beautiful, and he stole it. Like everything else. He is not coming back, is he Noctis?”
“He is never coming back.”
“He said he would, he said, Azurite, I will come for you,” she sobs.
“His body is dismembered,” I say, deciding the gruesome truth would be the best to reassure her. “He was torn in pieces, and his organs have been removed.”
