Keira Grim: The Final Breath Chronicles Book Two

by V. B. Marlowe

  "What does that mean?"

  "I was beginning to think you didn't want to be here." How observant he was.

  After the third bite I figured it was time to make my move. "You know, Mr. Dunningham, some Grims still have injuries after the riots. They're your people and if there's a way to help them, you should."

  I held a bite of pie in front of him, but he didn't take it right away. He stared at me. "What are you talking about?"

  "I'm saying the people love you and hold you in great esteem, but when they see you not doing anything to help them when they need help, it's just not good. It's hard for them to trust and respect you. You need their loyalty, Mr. Dunningham, especially in a time like this when we've been weakened."

  "We haven't been weakened," he said forcefully, but he was kidding himself. Foragers and Litropolites had gotten over the wall, caused substantial damage to our city, and injured our people. That had never happened before , and I thought Dunningham was failing to understand that it was just the beginning. "But you do make a good point. Unfortunately , we don't have doctors and hospitals in Nowhere. There's never been a need for them," he added.

  I finished feeding him the pie. I was hoping he didn't want the crust, but he wanted that too.

  "I know, but from my understanding, there's a way you can get help."

  "What you want is not so easy to dispense. I have to give lifestones to my brother for him to let his doctors come over."

  I shrugged. "So give them to him. We have plenty. The people here have more than they need , and we will always continue to earn more. As long as there are deaths, there will be lifestones. It's a small sacrifice to help your people."

  Dunningham stared at me for a long time. "All right. I'll get the message over to him."

  I placed the empty plate and spoon on the tray. "Thank you. Good night, Mr. Dunningham."

  He sneered at me in response and rather than waiting for him to say something, I left.

  "Wait," he said. "You don't have to go."

  "I do."

  "No, you don't. Or did you forget who calls the shots?"

  "I'll see you in the morning, Mr. Dunningham," I said before practically flying out of the room.

  Closing the door behind me, I breathed a sigh of relief. Hesper emerged from the darkness of the hallway to take the tray from me. "How did it go?"

  "Fine," I said. "He said he'll do what I asked him."

  Hesper patted my cheek with her cold hand. "I told you, dear. It's better to go along than to try to change the rules."

  I watched her disappear into the darkness. She might have been right, but what I'd asked for had been easy. I had a feeling the requests would become more demanding as time went on , and the price I would have to pay would be greater.

  31

  The following day , Hesper stuck her head into my study while I was in the middle of reading. "You have visitors."

  My heart skipped a beat. "Is it my parents?"

  Hesper shook her head and gave me a sad smile. "It's Ms. Sabel and Ms. Lei. Do you wish to see them or shall I send them away?"

  "No, no, I'll see them, but give me a minute."

  Hesper nodded and shut the door.

  Sabel and Lei had once been my friends when they'd lived in Farrington. Their families had moved to the Upper Estates a couple of years ago. Before they left, they'd promised that they would remain friends with Naomi, Chase, and I. But they'd changed. They would come over to Farrington and gloat about how wonderful their lives were in the Upper Estates. They were not the same girls they had been before they left. I took a deep breath and rose from my seat. I knew exactly why they had come.

  "I've sent them to the Sitting Room," Hesper informed me as I proceeded down the stairs.

  I tried to remember which room was the Sitting Room. The house held too many rooms, most of which were unnecessary.

  The Sitting Room was actually at the end of the hallway I had never been in. It was a different room from where the brunch had taken place , but served the same purpose. I found it redundant.

  I discovered the girls drinking coffee and whispering to each other. Standing in the doorway, I watched them and waited.

  Sabel sensed my presence first. She smiled and dropped her coffee cup. "Keira," she said, standing. "It's been so long." She walked over and embraced me, but I didn't hug her back.

  "You look spectacular," Lei said as she squeezed me. She received the same response as Sabel.

  They took their seats awkwardly, sensing my coldness. I wasn’t the best at hiding my true feelings.

  I sat in a silver antique chair and sank into the black velvet. "What are you guys doing here?" I demanded.

  Sabel flashed me a big phony smile. "You're our friend , and we wanted to come by and see how you were, that's all." Sabel was a beautiful girl, one of the most beautiful girls in Nowhere in my opinion, but this falseness wasn't attractive on her.

  I threw a glance at Lei. She straightened her posture. "Yeah, Keir, we've missed you so much."

  "Missed me? You could have seen me anytime you wanted to. But since you guys were upgraded, you felt like you were too good for us."

  Sabel shook her head vigorously. "No, Keira. That's not true at all. It's just when you move over here, you become so busy and involved in other things that you don't really have time to visit old friends anymore. It doesn't mean that we don't care."

  Lei nodded. "Yeah, Keira, you'll understand soon. Living on this side just makes you see things… differently."

  I knew exactly what she meant by that. "Nothing in this world would make me look down on Farrington. Nothing. You think a mansion and some fancy clothes makes you better than the next Grim. It doesn't."

  Sabel smiled at me again, but it wasn't working. "Keira, we've never looked at you that way. Maybe the others, but not you. You were always different."

  "Is that supposed to make it better?" I asked.

  Lei cleared her throat and changed the subject. "What's it like living here?"

  "I have everything I can imagine. I'm sure my closet would make your bedroom look like a broom closet."

  The girls looked at each other and fake-giggled.

  Sabel smoothed out the black dress she was wearing. "Can we see your closet?"

  "No."

  She scowled. "Keira, why are you acting like this? Are you mad at us or something?"

  "No, I'm not mad, but I'm not stupid either."

  Sabel shrugged as if she didn't know what I meant by that. "So, I hear Dunningham is very taken with you. I can't say I'm surprised. Everyone has always said that you were the prettiest Grim in Nowhere—well, you and me both." I rolled my eyes. "What's it like living with him?"

  "Dunningham gives me anything and everything I ask for." I looked back and forth between both girls. "If I wanted to have you killed right now, all I would have to do is ask and it would be done."

  Lei spat out the mouthful of coffee she had just taken in.

  "Ewww," Sabel moaned as she wiped her dress with a cloth napkin.

  Lei stood. "You know what, Keira, just because you're engaged to Dunningham doesn't mean you don't need friends. That's all we’re trying to be. I don't know why you're acting like this."

  I stood to meet her gaze. "I already have friends. Real friends who wouldn't ditch me just because they moved up in society. I don't need either one of you. I think it's time for you to go."

  Sabel practically slammed her coffee cup down on the table. I was surprised that it hadn't shattered. "Fine, but this behavior is not very becoming of the future wife of the Lord of Death."

  I followed them to the door. Sabel turned sharply. "Everyone in the Upper Estates is talking about you, Keira. How you don't deserve this position. How you act like you don't even want it. How you're just a lowly middle-class girl from Farrington. They say you don't deserve this life , and they're right. If I were you, I would watch my back… friend."

  With a toss of her hair, she and Lei made their way to the fron
t door where the butler waited to let them out.

  Dinner that night was full of information. Doyle joined us. It was hard for me to watch him have these in-depth conversations with Dunningham, knowing that he was a traitor. Dunningham would have trusted Doyle with his life. Little did Dunningham know that Doyle was in cahoots with his ultimate enemy, his twin brother Dunstan. If I'd had even the smallest amount of fondness for Dunningham, I might have felt sorry for him.

  That night , we ate wild rice and honey-glazed baked chicken. For the first part of the meal , Dunningham and Doyle spoke about things that I mostly paid no attention to, but then Dunningham changed the subject.

  "I've been thinking about my brother's offer, you know , to bring his doctors here in exchange for lifestones."

  Doyle and I briefly made eye contact , then he looked back at Dunningham. "Really?"

  Dunningham put his fork down and folded his hands underneath his chin. "Yes. Even though I loathe the thought of negotiating with that filth, I hate to see my Grims suffer. We need to do what we can for them."

  Doyle nodded. "I'm sure the colony will appreciate that, sir. How should we communicate the message to him?"

  "Have Reynold take it over the wall. He won't have to stay too long. He should be strong enough to survive the conditions temporarily."

  "Okay," Doyle replied. "We'll do that first thing tomorrow."

  Dunningham went back to eating. "And Doyle, let Reynold go by himself. I don't want you going there under any circumstances."

  The way he said that didn't sit well with me , and from the look on Doyle's face , it didn't sit well with him , either.

  The device Dunningham wore around his wrist beeped, meaning that an unexpected death was about to take place , and Dunningham had to assign it to a Grim quickly.

  "Excuse me for a moment," he said before pounding up the stairs to his secret room.

  Doyle and I stared at each other in silence. He fiddled with his fork and looked down at his plate. "Nice work," he muttered.

  "Thanks."

  "We need you to ask him for something else," Doyle said, only speaking with one side of his mouth.

  "What?"

  "More lifestones for the people of Litropolis."

  I shook my head. "I-I can't do that. Dunningham will never give them more assignments." I'd only had to feed him to get him to send doctors over. I couldn't imagine what I would have to do to get something like that.

  "Keira, these Grims aren't going to take too much more of this. If they don't start getting more years, there's going to be another incident like the one a few weeks ago, but worse. Do you want that to happen? Nowhere could be left in shambles."

  I shrugged my right shoulder. "I don't—I don't know what else to do. It's not that easy to convince him to do things."

  Doyle cleared his throat as one of the servants entered and refilled our water glasses. Once she left, he continued. "I've worked for this man my entire life. I know how his mind works. You're a woman. A beautiful one at that. You can get him to do practically anything."

  Doyle was wrong. I wasn't a woman yet. In less than a year I would be , and Dunningham would require more of me. Right now, that wasn't something I wanted to think about.

  A door closed upstairs followed by Dunningham's footsteps. He took his seat at the table , and he and Doyle resumed their discussion.

  "You know what?" Doyle said before leaving. "You should take Keira inside of the Mill. I know all Grims see it on their thirteenth birthday, but as your future wife, she should really see and understand how everything works."

  I shot Doyle a glance and he nodded. Of course. That would be the perfect opportunity for me to bring up the topic of equal lifestone distribution. A lump formed in my throat as I wondered how much this request would cost me.

  32

  The next morning , Hesper woke me up an hour earlier than usual. She told me that Dunningham and I were going to be having breakfast at a restaurant with another couple from the Upper Estates. I had yet to dine at a restaurant here , and I was positive that I would be bored out of my mind.

  I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. Hesper already had my clothes laid out on the dress form. A long-sleeved black blazer with lace accents and a matching skirt. A dainty black hat sat on top. I hated the idea of having to wear a hat.

  By the time the carriage pulled up to a place called Tipton's , I was starving. Dunningham had spent the entire ride speaking to Doyle on the phone. He apologized once he hung up, but I didn't mind being ignored by him at all.

  A valet worker opened the door and greeted me by name. It was weird that he knew me, but then everyone in the Upper Estates must have known who I was.

  Inside , the hostess led us to a table where a couple was already waiting. The woman was dressed in an outfit similar to mine, except she didn't wear a hat and her dark hair was pulled into a bun just above her neck. Her name was Veronica and her husband's was Nolan. He stood as we approached the table.

  "Good morning, Mr. Dunningham. Ms. Keira."

  "Good morning," I replied as Dunningham pulled my chair out. I sat awkwardly and observed the couple. Nolan was a good-looking man. His face was chiseled , and his features seemed to be in perfect proportion. Veronica, on the other hand, reminded me of a crow. Her facial features were birdlike , and I found her to be entirely too thin.

  "Sweetheart," Dunningham said, and I had to keep myself from cringing. I didn't want him calling me by a pet name. "Nolan and Veronica are one of my favorite couples to dine with."

  I pictured my future—spending countless hours dining with Dunningham and his snooty friends. An invisible weight pressed into my chest.

  A waiter poured us coffee and took our orders. Dunningham ordered for me before I could even open my mouth. He thought I looked like as though I w ere as in the mood for French toast and bacon. I was really in the mood for a bowl of fruit and scrambled eggs, but I knew better than to embarrass him in front of his friends.

  Veronica laced her fingers together and rested her chin on her hands. "So, what's on your agenda for today?" She smiled , and I realized that in addition to her looking like a bird, her teeth were too big for her mouth. "Maybe we can go shopping."

  I could think of a million things I would rather do than shop with her. What would I shop for anyway? I had everything. I had so much stuff, I had probably not even seen all of it.

  "I'm taking Keira to the Mill. Maybe another time," Dunningham replied.

  "Oh, of course," Veronica answered. "Lucky you," she said to me. "Being from Farrington, you must not have been to the Mill many times."

  I shook my head. "I've been there once. Do the Grims of the Upper Estates visit often?" I couldn't imagine why they would.

  "Oh, yes," Nolan answered. "There's nothing like looking at your vessel full of lifestones. Speaking of which—I have a job in a few hours, thank you," he said to Dunningham.

  I could totally picture that. The Grims of the Upper Estates admiring their full vessels while most of the vessels were half full and almost empty.

  "This fellow is a hundred and one years old. This will put you over fifteen hundred years, won't it?" Dunningham asked Nolan.

  He nodded and stirred his coffee. "Yes, but I'm still trying to catch up to my brother, Norse. He has over two thousand. What do I have to do to get as many assignments as he does?"

  Dunningham raised his coffee cup. "Keep playing your cards right."

  I scowled at Nolan. There were Grims in Litropolis growing old and dying every day, and here he was complaining that having fifteen hundred years wasn't enough for him. "You shouldn't complain. The Grims with less than one hundred years should be the ones worried. They're not mortal like us."

  The three of them stared at me. I took a sip of my coffee, despite the fact that I hated coffee.

  Veronica fingered her coffee cup. "Dear, you can never have too many years. I mean, who wants to age and die? Gray hair, wrinkles." She touched her cheek. "Who wants that?"
<
br />   Dunningham glared at me.

  I shrugged. "I just think things could be more fair, that's all."

  Fortunately, Thankfully servers brought our food , and the topic was changed to how delectable the blueberry pancakes were. Dunningham shot me occasional looks from the corner of his eye , and I was sure I would get an earful the moment we got into the car.

  He was silent for a few moments as we headed to the Mill. Every time I looked at him his jaw was clenched. Finally , he spoke. "I understand that you're young, but even you know better than that. You've been a Grim your whole life. You understand how things work. What were you hoping to accomplish with those comments?"

  "I don't understand why things work they way they do , and I didn't see what was wrong with asking a question." I channeled Naomi's bravery to stand up for what she believed in, even with the threat of death, and looked Dunningham in the eye. "Why are you so intent on keeping some poor when there's more than enough to go around? I've done my studies. I know it was never intended for any Grim to live like the Litropolites do. We do our part for the life cycle , and we will always be taken care of. That's how it's supposed to work."

  Dunningham faced forward. "Let the partition up," he ordered the chauffeur.

  The driver obeyed , and a dark-tinted window rose to separate us from him. My heart raced. He was going to kill me like he had his other two wives. We were on our way to the Mill which housed the year-subtraction chair. Dunningham could subtract my years, kill me, and no one could stop him.

  I grabbed the handle of the door. If I jumped from the car , I wouldn't die, I had too many years left, but I could get hurt. Dunningham lunged in my direction and grabbed me by the neck. I let go of the door handle, trying to pry his bony, squeezing hands from my neck, to no avail. He was much stronger than he looked.

  He forced me to look at him. "Listen to me. I'm done playing games with you. You either fall in line and start behaving like a future wife of the Lord of Death, or I can easily replace you."

  I wanted to tell him to replace me, but I couldn't speak and was too busy struggling for my next breath. I dug my nails into his hands as hard as I could and he finally let go, shoving me into the car door.