Unforgiven by the Skies

My corpse was set aside as the sky burial practitioner—my husband, Gideon Slater—removed the ring on my finger. He squinted at it and scrutinized it before casting it aside.

Another sky burial practitioner asked, "Why does she have a ring, Gideon?"

He wiped his blade indifferently. "I don't know. Maybe her family forgot to remove it."

Soon, he would disassemble my body and mix the parts with flour so the vultures could have me. I watched with mixed feelings as I realized he didn't recognize my corpse. He didn't even recognize that the ring he'd cast aside was our wedding band!

My chest throbbed dully. Only then did I realize that even the dead could feel heartache.

One of the other sky burial practitioners asked, "Why doesn't she have a head?"

"Yeah. Where is it?"

Someone said, "She's Emperian, so maybe her family is keeping the head for a ground burial."

Gideon faltered when he heard the mention of the body being someone Emperian. Then, he composed himself. "I don't know why these Emperians want sky burials."

In the past, I'd joked with him that I wanted him to perform the sky burial for me after my death. At the time, we'd been on good terms, so he'd frowned and told me he wanted to die before me. He said he would follow me in death if I were to leave him alone in the world.

I'd only been joking then, but it had come true now. The only issue was that Gideon hadn't recognized me.

He and the other sky burial practitioners disassembled my body and mixed it with flour before placing it on a platform. One of them, Connor Stone, looked around. "Why isn't her family here?"

Gideon scanned the area. Sure enough, there weren't any unfamiliar faces around. This was a rare occurrence. The kin of the dead would usually gather for sky burials.

"My family is around, though. Gideon is my family," I said, but no one could hear me.

The mulberry incense had already been lit, and the smoke attracted several vultures. They were already waiting to feed on the corpse. However, they gathered around before dispersing without touching my body.

The sky burial practitioners were surprised by this. "The vultures aren't eating the corpse!"

They exchanged looks. "Only those who have committed evil deeds are forsaken by the vultures during a sky burial."

I looked at the vultures who hovered, unwilling to leave yet also not eating my corpse. A bitter smile painted my lips.

It seemed Gideon had been right all along. I was an evil person who didn't even deserve to have a sky burial.

The sky burial practitioners looked at my body, feeling distressed. Gideon said helplessly, "Let's collect the corpse and contact her family to pick her up. Since she's an Emperian, she can always opt for a ground burial."

Everyone collected my corpse after that. They stored me in a freezer before disinfecting themselves. Then, they changed and got ready to head home.

Gideon pulled out his phone. I floated beside him and watched as he asked Nancy Catrall whether she was feeling better.