Alpha alec's redemption (Sadie) novel Chapter 346

She nods solemnly, accepting that answer with the kind of grace only children have.

After breakfast, I ask Martha to take Aspen where the other kids will be until the ceremony ends. She doesn’t fuss, as if even she knows deep down, even without understanding.

The ceremony takes place in the clearing. Rows of bodies, laid out with care and respect. The council stands at the front, faces grim, robes immaculate, as if cleanliness can distance them from the blood on their hands.

“Today we honor those who have left us,” Daelor says, his tone hard like granite. “We also pray for their safe passage into the underworld.

We have three council heads, and they represent each faction, while the other nine help them. So basically, there are four members of each faction in the council, with one from each being the leader.

After he says that, the burial ritual begins. Each council head performs the burial rite for their people and when that is done, the fire is lit.

One by one, the pyres are ignited… Smoke rises into the sky, thick and dark, carrying grief with it. I close my eyes as the flames take hold, my chest aching with every crackle and hiss. Alec’s hand finds mine, and I cling to it like an anchor.

Raven stands on my other side, eyes shining with unshed tears.

“This shouldn’t have happened,” she whispers.

“No,” I agree. “It shouldn’t have.”

Xena has to be stopped before it’s too late and for that we first need to kill Kaden. With him dead, it’ll be easy to deal with Xena because her mourning her mate will leave her vulnerable and weak.

When it’s over, when the last flame dies down and the air smells like ash and loss, no one moves right away. It’s like we’re all waiting for something else to break. Eventually everyone leaves and scatters, but I can’t.

I watch the bodies that are now reduced to ashes, my soul aching. The more I stare, the more the ache in my heart begins to turn into a simmering anger.

I clench my fist, angry at Xena. I know I said I’d find a way to reconcile her to Nyx, but this? She’s gone too far. How can there be a chance for redemption when she easily kills?

“Sadie?” my thoughts were spiraling when his voice cuts through.

I focus on him and I was just about to answer when the council approaches. Their steps are measured and full of purpose and something about that doesn’t sit well with me.

Alec straightens beside me, shoulders squaring, his grip on my hand tightening just a fraction. Knox stirs under the surface, restless and alert.

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