My stomach ached. I understood Bram's point, but we were Grims. This was our life. It might not be what we asked for, but it was what we had and there was no escaping it. Was there?
4
"Where were you?" Mom asked the second I stepped into our kitchen through the back door.
"I was just taking a walk. Getting some exercise," I lied.
Mom pushed her long ebony hair behind her ears. Most people thought I was the spitting image of my mother. They always told us that we were beautiful. She stood at the kitchen island pouring two glasses of wine. The stern look she gave me told me that she didn't believe me. "Please join us in the living room."
I followed her to where my dad sat on a sofa. She handed him one of the glasses of wine. I settled into an armchair across from them and hugged a throw pillow to my stomach. As usual, candles were lit all over the room. Mom loved to keep an eerie atmosphere in the house.
Dad took a sip of wine before he spoke. "Dahlia," he began. That was their pet name for me, a flower that was often dark. Dad usually called me that when he felt bad about something. "You're seventeen now. In less than a year you are to be married."
This was it. I'd known this conversation was coming. They had chosen my husband. I braced myself as I waited for the name.
Dad placed his glass on the end table. "Now, I need you to have an open mind about this."
Great. They were marrying me off to some loser. My parents exchanged nervous glances. Dad nodded at Mom to continue.
"Keira, he's actually the best man anyone can end up with. He can give you absolutely anything—"
"Just tell me who he is," I said, cutting her off.
Dad looked at Mom before taking a deep breath. "Mr. Dunningham."
I laughed harder than I'd meant to. "No, really, who is it?"
"It's Mr. Dunningham." The seriousness of Mom's expression told me that she was telling the truth.
"Are you guys crazy? I can't marry him!"
Dad picked up his glass of wine again. "You can and you will."
Mom was a bit more sympathetic. "Keira, this is an amazing opportunity. Most girls would be ecstatic. You will have everything a woman can dream of and then some."
"Mom, I'm seventeen and he's an old man." I remembered the way he'd made me feel in his study that day. The thought of him made my skin crawl. I could not marry that man.
Mom pushed her hair back, but it only fell back into her face. "You'll be eighteen when you marry. An adult is an adult. Oh, you'll have the most spectacular wedding—"
I stood from my seat. "I don't care what you say. I won't marry him. I mean it."
"He came to speak to us while you were on your last assignment. The arrangement has already been made and it cannot be revoked," Dad said, refusing to look me in the eye.
I couldn't believe a father, my father, was so willing to throw his only daughter to that lecherous wolf. Maybe I should tell him about what happened at Dunningham's house, but it probably wouldn't have made a difference. "But Daddy—"
He held his hand up. "I think you're being very selfish here. Marrying Dunningham would mean that none of us would have to worry about anything for the rest of our lives. He'll take care of us also. Don't you want your mother, Josh, and I to live a good life?"
I was being selfish?
"Of course," I answered, "but not at my expense. Daddy, I can't believe you. Please. Please don't make me do this."
Finally his face softened. "Keira, you know the way of things. We don't have a choice."
"Daddy, you promised me. You promised you'd give me to someone I could live with." I'd seen plenty of girls end up with men they couldn't stand , and they looked absolutely miserable.
He looked down at his hands. "I know, Dahlia. I'm sorry."
"Don't call me that!" I rushed up the stairs and past my brother, who was eavesdropping from the landing. I just wanted to get away from them. I slammed my bedroom door and threw myself on my bed . I , bur ied ying my face into the comforter, wishing this was all just a terrible nightmare.
A moment later, the door creaked open. It was my mother. I could tell by the soft fall of her footsteps.
She sat next to me and stroked my hair. "I promise you, your father and I have been talking extensively and neither one of us are one hundred percent happy about this."
"Daddy is. I hate him."
"Trust me. Your father doesn't really want this. He's putting on a brave face because he knows that none of us have a choice, so there's no use in fighting it. You think he wants to see his baby girl in the arms of a man so much older? You think he wants to see you unhappy? He doesn't. It would be nice if we could pair you up with someone of your liking, but you know that's rarely possible.”
I sat up and faced her. "You're my mother. Can't you do something to stop this?"
"If I could, I would, but Mr. Dunningham has chosen you and there's not anything we can do about that. You know that."
My chest tightened as a terrible thought hit me. Dunningham had been married before. Twice—and twice his wives had just up and disappeared. No one had ever known what had happened to them. Mr. Dunningham had never offered an explanation , and no one would dare question him.
"What about his other wives?" I asked. "The ones who disappeared."
Mom took such a deep breath I could tell it was something that had been weighing on her mind also. "Your father mentioned that to Mr. Dunningham, and let's just say it didn’t go over well. Dunningham was upset that he had even asked."
"But doesn't that mean anything to you, Mom? He wouldn't have gotten that upset if he wasn't guilty of something. Do you want me to end up like those other women—just missing?"
Mom rubbed my shoulder. "Mr. Dunningham seems very fond of you. He would never do anything to harm you."
The tears I had been holding in all this time forced their way out. Mom wiped them away with her thumbs. "Stop it now. This is part of growing up. Part of being a woman. We often must do things we don't want to do. This is going to happen, Keira, so you might as well look at the benefits. All of us will live like royalty. We'll never have to worry about running out of years. You'll be married to the most important man in our world. Sure, he's significantly older, but so what? You have to take the good with the bad."
I took her hands away from my face. That was where she was wrong. I didn't have to take anything. There was absolutely no way in Hell I was going to marry Dunningham.
That night something clunked against my window. Bram always threw a pebble up to let me know he was outside. I slipped my hoodie and boots on before sneaking out of the kitchen door like as I[LM1] always did most nights. We sat back to back on our air-conditioning unit. His back pressed against mine as he breathed. He smelled like cinnamon.
"Here's your birthday gift."
I looked down to see a small velvet box beside me. I ran my fingers over it before opening it up. Inside was a tiny silver raven charm. "Thanks, Bram. This is beautiful."
"No problem."
I removed the chain that already held a scythe charm from around my neck and slid the raven on.
"Ravens remind me of you," Bram added.
"How so?"
"I don't know. They just do." Bram wasn't the best at expressing himself, so I let it go even though I wanted to know. "I don't know whether to say sorry or to congratulate you."
"There's nothing good about this, Bram."
"Sure there is. You'll have more money than you know what to do with. You and your family won't want for anything ever again."
I leaned forward so my back wouldn't be touching his anymore. "Bram, not everything is about money. Is that all you men think about?"
"When you have to be a provider, yeah."
This was not the response I’d expected from him. I needed some sympathy. I wished Naomi were there. "I'm going inside." I stood to walk back toward my house.
Bram grabbed my wrist. "Keir, I'm sorry." He pulled me toward him and I sat down beside him. "Yo
u know I don't want this to go down any more than you do, but it's what Dunn wants, so it's as good as done."
I looked straight ahead because I knew Bram was watching me and I didn't want to make eye contact. "You want me to marry him."
"No, I don't, no more than you want me to marry Senka, but we've known for a long time that the stars were never going to align for us."
That was true. I'd always love Bram and I knew the feeling was mutual. Once we had kissed, which was strictly against the Grim Covenant. There was to be no intimate touching between Grims until they turned eighteen and were married. I’d been only fourteen at the time and Bram had been sixteen. We'd both had years subtracted from our lives after being discovered by Reynold in the library. My father had been furious and had forbidden me from having anything to do with Bram. It was one of the laws I hated and didn't understand, but a rule was a rule.
"After you get married, we won't be able to talk like this anymore. It won't be appropriate," I told Bram. Even though I'd said it, it was hard for me to imagine. Bram had been around for as long as I could remember. He'd started off as Naomi's annoying older brother who used to spy on us from the closet and tie our shoelaces together, but then he'd turned into something else. Someone not so annoying.
"I know. After you get married I'll probably never be able to speak to you again. I'll be a Watcher so we'll see each other, but I'll be forbidden to speak to you."
"When I get married…" I said thoughtfully. Those words didn't sound right.
"You have a year to get used to the idea. I know Dunningham's old, but a lot of girls would love to be in your position."
"They can be, for all I care. All those girls in the Upper Estates—why would he choose me anyway?"
Bram scoffed. "Are you serious? Have you seen yourself? You're hands-down the most beautiful girl in Nowhere."
My cheeks felt warm. I pulled my hood tighter around my face. "That's just an opinion."
"A popular opinion. So what happens next?"
I didn't know. After they’d told me that I would be marrying Dunningham, my proud parents had quickly spread the word. News travelled fast in Nowhere. I expected people to either be happy for me or extremely jealous.
"Mom has already been on the phone with a wedding planner. But first they’re planning the engagement party for next week. It's the same day you're getting married, Bram."
"Aww, too bad I'm going to miss it." His words dripped with sarcasm.
I cringed. I didn't want to think about what Bram and Senka would be doing after their wedding ceremony. Then I thought about what I would have to do with Dunningham after our ceremony. The fact that I had a year to think about that horrible situation made it worse.
"I hate him," Bram muttered.
I glanced at Bram from the corner of my eye. "I can't believe you're saying that. You practically used to worship Dunningham."
There was a moment of silence. "I know. I was always impressed by his money and power. He was this badass dude with fancy clothes, this gigantic house, who m everyone looked up to. Of course I wanted to be like him—one of the people close to him like Doyle, but after Naomi… what he made my mother do… just the thought of him touching her… I have no respect for him at all."
I understood. It had recently been discovered that Naomi was half-human , and the person she'd thought was her father wasn't. Her mother, Eleanor, had fraternized with a human. The punishment for that should have been death for both Naomi and her mother, but Dunningham had let her mother make up for her sin—in his bedroom. I couldn't fault Eleanor. She'd made a mistake , and then she'd done what she had to do to save her child's life.
"Are you angry?"
My mind had wandered. "What?"
"Are you angry?" Bram repeated.
"Yeah, I'm angry."
He narrowed his eyes at me. "You don't seem like it. I've been angry plenty of times , and I can tell you, that ain't angry."
"Well, that's because you're a psycho, Bram."
He gave me half a smile. "That may be, but after I get all my anger out, I feel a whole lot better. You should try it."
"Bram, I'm all right."
But he wouldn't leave it alone. He stood and grabbed a long piece of wood from the ground. It looked like a part of someone's doorframe that had been broken during the riot. "Take this and hit it against that tree. Do it until you can't hit it anymore."
I rolled my eyes. "Bram, I'm going inside."
He blocked my path as I headed for the door. "No. You need to do this or one day you're going to just snap and go crazy."
"It hasn't helped you any, Bram."
He held the stick out to me. "Trust me."
I took the stick and marched over to the tree. With both hands, I pulled the stick back and then whacked the tree with it.
"What was that? A baby could hit harder than that."
I hit the tree a little harder the next time. It felt good.
"Come on," Bram urged. "Pretend the tree is Dunningham. Pretend it's your parents. Pretend it's me, if that helps."
Anger bubbled inside me as I continued to bang the tree with more force in each blow. I grunted with each hit. The pressure that was on my chest began to lessen.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Bram yelled.
I stopped when my arms were tired. Breathing heavily, I dropped the stick on the ground. Bram had been right. Perhaps I should beat trees more often.
Bram beamed. "Feel better?"
Before I could answer him, a figure emerged from the shadows. "What are you two doing out at this time of night?" asked Reynold, Dunningham's head Watcher. His thick neck and swollen muscles made him intimidating enough in the daytime. At night, he was downright frightening.
"We're not doing anything," Bram answered with edginess in his voice.
Reynold scowled at him. "Why is it always you? I feel like eighty percent of my job is catching you doing things you know you shouldn't be doing. And I hear you have the nerve to want to be a Watcher."
"Yeah," Bram said, not bothered by Reynold's statement. "I'll be in the next training session. I guess that kind of makes us brothers, right?"
Reynold poked Bram in the chest with his forefinger, which I thought was a very bad idea, but Bram kept his cool. "You and I will never be brothers and you will never be a Watcher."
Bram folded his arms across his chest. "Hmm. I'm getting the feeling you don't want me to be a Watcher."
Reynold pointed at me. "I'm assuming you know who she's engaged to. The whole colony knows by now. You think it's a good idea for you two to be out together alone at night?"
"Well, I—"
Reynold cut Bram off from saying what I was sure would be a smartass comment. "Keira, go inside. I will have to report this to Mr. Dunningham and your father in the morning. Bram and I are going to take a walk."
Bram stretched. "Maybe later. I'm kind of tired—"
Reynold grabbed Bram roughly by the collar of his shirt and pulled him forward.
Bram tried to pull away. "Come on, man."
"Good night," Reynold said to me.
I walked toward the back door, not really caring what my father or Dunningham thought about Bram and I being outside at night. Before I reached the house, Reynold yelled and I turned in time to see Bram running away from him. Reynold rushed after him. I shook my head and went inside, hoping that wouldn't be the last time I saw Bram.
Dunningham showed up bright and early the following morning with a group of ridiculously overdressed people. They were the event planners who were responsible for all the events that took place in the Upper Estates.
A small woman with tiny glasses and her hair stacked up into a tight bun immediately gave me the once-over when she stepped inside our home and turned her nose up. "Well, don't you have a quaint little home?" Her gaze fell on me. "Oh, she's going to be fun to design for," she cooed.
Dunningham stepped in behind her and removed his black fedora. "I told you she was an exquisite beauty.
" He took my hand and kissed it, which was against the rules, but when you were the one in charge with no one to answer to, you could do whatever you wanted. I wasn't surprised at his actions. After that day in his study, I'd lost all respect for him.
"Come in, come in," Mother said cheerfully as she ushered our guests inside the house with their cases and garment bags.
In addition to the tiny woman, whose name was Estelle, there were two men with long manes of black hair who looked identical, Blaine and Caine. A thin woman who was taller than my father sported a short black haircut. "Your cheekbones are amazing," she said as she pinched them.
I stood awkwardly as the crew unloaded the items they'd brought. Mom offered Dunningham a seat before going to get him a drink. I sat on the sofa.
"First of all , I'd like to say I am very pleased that you have accepted my offer of marriage." Like I had a choice. "I was thinking we should put on a silver affair, something special."
Estelle plopped beside me and opened a black photo album. "Here are the swatches of the colors we're going with." Five swatches of silver were connected to the page. Each was supposedly different, but they all looked the same to me. Estelle flipped the page. "Here are the centerpieces for the dinner table." I gazed at photos of tables draped in black fabric with large candelabras sitting on each one.
"That's nice." I cleared my throat because my voice had squeaked, mostly because I was choking back tears. The reality of this situation had hit me.
Estelle talked more about draperies and fabrics while her staff pulled out samples for me to look at. I mostly smiled and nodded. Even if I'd had something to say, Estelle wouldn't have let me get a word in. Mom took a seat next to me and acted like an excited mother-of-the-bride. I wished she'd stop acting like this was a happy occasion. I didn't know why these people were even in our home. It was obvious everything had been chosen and finalized.
"Now, here comes the really fun part," Estelle told me after we had gone over the complicated menu. "Your dress. We brought some dresses over from the finest shop in the Upper Estates, but of course, if none of them are to your liking we can have something specially made."
Keira Grim: The Final Breath Chronicles Book Two Page 3
