BOOK 4 of the ORPHIC Series
DISENTHRALL
/ˌdisənˈTHrôl/
set free.
~~~~~
When Lucille 'Lucy' Opal Baker starts adjusting to a world without Captain America and more government therapy sessions...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"To bury you is to bury my past."
Berlin, Germany February, 2025
THE SUN WAS AWFULLY bright today. Lucy didn't really know why– and it wasn't something she really enjoyed now. Usually, it felt nice; the warmth of rays that unfurled across her skin. How could it not, when the sun's hand was like a gentle caress on her cheek? Still, today none of that mattered. Because today was the day of a funeral and a burial, though she did not know which one was more important.
James squeezed her hand to her left, while Angeliko grasped her hand to her right. Karli stood beside James, quiet as a mouse.
Lucy's face was mostly obscured by a black laced hat, eyes covered. Her dress was just as dark and utterly plain. James was dressed just as nicely to support her, remaining her pillar of emotional clarity as they stood before this place.
Opposite to them was a crystal gravestone, jutting out of the ground and made fully of obsidian. Henry's name was written in perfect cursive, a pretty font that Wanda had suggested. Dirt pattered over the white coffin, a sound reminiscent of rain.
But there was an absence of it– today wasn't a rainy day anyway.
The priest was speaking over the grave, blessing Henry in the afterlife. But Lucy knew better– knew more than he could ever know. He wouldn't be going to the Field of Reeds, or Tartarus, or anything else. He was going to wander for a long time, contemplating on what to do– on what was right. And with demons to guide him– with angels to thwart them– Henry would struggle for a long time.
She wouldn't intervene.
She couldn't, anyway.
It was not her place to do so.
Klause stood to the left of the coffin, Matteo standing beside him.
They were both dressed completely in a black suit, coppola hats obscuring their faces. Lucy could see the tear tracks ending at Klause's jaw– knew this hurt him more than it had hurt Lucy, that he had no choice but to deal with it because he had no supernatural abilities.
Her eyes flicked back down to the coffin as the two funeral workers continued to shovel gravel and dirt over his grave.
It made Lucy's heart twist a little bit with every shovel of dirt covering the case of the white coffin.
She exhaled as Angeliko let out a hiccup, sniffling tearfully as he rubbed at his eyes.
Lucy turned, letting her hand slip out of James's as she picked up her son, hugging him tightly as she let him sit against her waist. Angeliko blubbered, unable to form coherent sentences as he whimpered and cried. She pressed his head against her shoulder.
