Chapter 213: Wish granted
Two weeks passed and Azrael finally recovered. The prosecutor who kept coming back into his room, checking on him if he was ready to stand on trial, sighed in relief once the discharge of the patient was decided.
"We will be expecting you tomorrow in the trial court, Mr. Del Valle. Normally, you are to be brought into our custody, but Chairman Horace’s lawyer asked us to give you a day. However, tomorrow, if you don’t appear before the court at the designated time, we will have no choice but to apprehend you with force."
"I understand, Prosecutor Moore," Azrael answered.
Maxwell Moore left after that.
Azrael took Knox’s hand and squeezed it, gathering courage from his husband’s warmth to step forward and do that ’important’ thing he had to do as soon as he was discharged from the hospital.
Knox squeezed his hand back and looked at him proudly, which urged Azrael to finally move. The drive took not even an hour. Luis, the one driving, was silent the whole way.
The cold wind bit at their faces as they approached the small cemetery, its gates creaking in the winter breeze. Azrael, Knox, and Luis walked in silence, each step crunching softly over the frost-covered ground.
The sky above was a dull gray, the pale sun hidden behind thick clouds, casting a muted light over the tombstones. Thin layers of snow blanketed the earth, and the air smelled faintly of pine and distant fires.
Winter had come early, and with it, a quiet stillness that seemed to hang in the air like a thick shroud. They came so far, and many things happened, and a life was taken. A life important to Azrael.
As they neared the grave, Azrael stopped, his breath visible in the frigid air. Knox stood beside him, their gloved hands intertwined, while Luis lingered a few steps behind, allowing the two their space.
The wind howled faintly through the trees, rustling the bare branches like skeletal fingers reaching toward the heavens. The cemetery was silent, save for the occasional caw of a distant crow or the shuffle of leaves moving across the ground.