Bang.
Fireworks split open the sky above the hillside cemetery, bright and indifferent, flashing against the dark like the world hadn't just ended down here on the ground. The rain came harder. I watched it hit the earth around Julian's body, mixing with the blood already soaked into the soil, and I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't move. I just held him.
By the time Lewis crested the hill, I was still there, Julian's weight in my arms, gasping through sobs I couldn't control. Wisteria lay further away in the rain, eyes wide open, staring at nothing , or maybe at me. Like she'd spent her last breath trying to memorize my face. The maid had run, abandoned her, bolted down the mountain , and walked straight into Lewis on his way up.
He saw me from a distance and broke into a run. "Elena ,"
