To ruin an Omega novel Chapter 498

Chapter 498: The funeral 3

FIA

I walked down the steps and made it three feet before Father intercepted me.

"You could have been graceful today," he said quietly. His hand caught my elbow, stopping my progress. "You could have been kind."

I met his eyes. "Perhaps it was the culture I was forced to adapt to when I lived with my stepmother and half-sister. They preyed on kindness, ate weakness , and punished honesty. Even now that they are dead, I guess being in the same room with them, I still can’t bring myself to unlearn those lessons."

His expression cracked. Just slightly.

"If my words hurt you, I apologize." I bowed, brief and formal. "But I meant every one of them."

"Well... I cannot tell you how to grieve and how to forgive... I’m glad you came regardless."

"I didn’t come for you."

I pulled free of his grip and walked back to Cian. He stood as I approached, his face unreadable. I slid into the pew beside him, and he sat too, his thigh pressing against mine again.

"The funeral’s practically over," he murmured. "We can leave now."

"I want to see them buried."

He looked at me. "Fia—"

"I need to watch them go into the ground. I need to know it’s real. I know it sounds so stupid. But it is what I want."

He didn’t argue. He just nodded and settled back against the pew.

The rest of the ceremony passed in a blur. There were more prayers and even more songs. Then pallbearers lifted the caskets and carried them out through a side door that led to the cemetery.

I followed.

Cian stayed at my side, his hand finding mine as we joined the procession. Others trailed behind us, a stream of black-clad mourners threading between headstones that stretched back generations.

Three graves had been prepared. The earth gaped open, raw and dark against the manicured lawn. The caskets were lowered with perfect precision and the ropes creaked as they descended.

Pauline was put in first, followed by Isobel and then Hazel’s too-small box.

The elder from earlier produced her bowl of white ash again. She murmured words I couldn’t hear and sprinkled the ash over each grave. Then workers stepped forward with shovels.

The first spadeful of dirt hit Pauline’s casket with a hollow thud.

I watched.

Shovel after shovel. The graves filled slowly and methodically. The caskets disappeared beneath dark earth, leaving only mounded soil.

That was when Alpha Dimitri approached.

He stood beside me, his attention fixed on the graves. "In this light, you have her eyes. Athena’s eyes."

I felt my stomach twist in knots at his mention of Athena.

"I’m not Athena," I said before swallowing.

"I know." He was quiet for a moment. "But you carry her forward. That means something. To me at least."

I didn’t respond.

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