I stood there too stunned to do much, holding my brothers hand like it was the last thing keeping me grounded to this earth as I stared at the scene before me.

I couldn't believe Kaden didn't come. He was the one who had arranged everything, hand picked the flowers too from what I heard.

My eyes zoned in on the beautiful black and white calla lilies and I began to cry.

Calla would have laughed at the idea of calla lilies on her coffin. She would have made jokes about how she wouldn't need the damn flowers to die with her.

I cried harder as I made myself watch the sleek white casket lower into the ground.

It was a very small funeral, my brother and I along with a few of Kaden's staff, Jerric, Prince Aldric, and surprisingly Angelica.

When I had asked her what she was doing here and she told me she thought Kaden could use the support and wouldn't do anything mean, I didn't have the heart to turn her away.

He needed it more than any of them knew, she was being a good friend, she has her flaws but she's always been there for Kaden.

Part of me wished Calla could see that. Wished that she could see that Kaden had people to take care of him now that she was gone.

I looked up the huge manor and noted with watery eyes that you could probably see Callas grave from her old room. I distantly wondered if Kaden would be spending a lot of time at the window, if he was there now. Unable to bear being too close to the body of his lost lover.

He knew he would have to let her go, I just doubted he expected it so soon.

I wondered if he would stay in her old room unable to sleep in the one they had shared but unable to keep himself too far from her.

My tears began again and my brother pulled me to his chest, sniffling a bit.

He didn't know Calla well but he had liked her. He didn't know her like I did but he didn't have to in order to realize just how great she was.

It was a quiet ceremony, only a few words were spoken because after all there were never enough words to describe just how wonderful that woman was.

I was the first person to throw a handful of dirt into the grave. I couldn't bear to look down into it to see that coffin again so I stared at the glistening white marble tombstone. Reading it over and over again, memorizing it just to verify that this was real.

Calla Dawson

beloved pet

beautiful lily

It was so simple, yet so beautiful. I broke down the first time I saw it I think I even screamed. Everything seemed like such a blur to me.

Kaden didn't put any dates on it, I don't think he could bear to put any. To him Calla was forever, she was eternal, she was free of time because she was his heart.

My brother and Jerric had remarked that it was kind of Kaden to give her his last name on the tombstone because as a pet her name really was only ever Calla.

I cried even harder at that, knowing the real reason his last name was written in stone behind the one he loved to utter every chance he got.

Calla Dawson was Kadens desire from the very beginning, it was who he had always thought of Calla as; his lover, his partner, his heart, his everything, his wife. I cried with that knowledge and the knowledge that they never really got to marry that only I knew how much they loved one another.

We stayed and watched the grave be filled, all of us somber, on different levels knowing that this place would never be the same. Nothing here would ever be the same.

I reached into my bag as my brother and Jerric went to console a very depressed looking Aldric, pulling out a blue calla lily.

She would have laughed at me for doing this.

I froze in my spot when I noticed Angelica crouching by the grave.

Slowly I found myself moving until her voice filled my ears.

"You utter idiot! how could you have done this? how the fuck could you have just died and left him here? you selfish little twat. He chose you over everyone, he chose you over me and this is how you repay him? by dying? He hands you his heart and you be a bitch throwing it in the dust for a coffin."

I let out a strangled gasp, "Angelica!"

She turned on me, eyes furious, "What? you think I didn't notice? don't play stupid Gwen not today."

I looked down at the flower in my hands, "...you knew the whole time?"

She snorted a sad look in her eyes, "He is my lifelong friend you moron. how could I not have noticed the way he looked at her, like she was his universe." A tear slipped down the cheek, "She's a bitch for doing this to him and I wont ever forgive her."

I grasped the taller womans hand as I placed the lily over the freshly turned dirt, "...It's not her fault she died Angelica. You should have seen them when they felt they could really be together, you should have seen how much she loved him. She-" I took a deep breath, "She probably took her last breath thinking only of him and how he would feel once she was gone."

Angelica looked away from me, "...I know. I just.."

I nodded in understanding and let her pull me away from the grave and out of the yard. We all knew Kaden would want some alone time down here even if he wasn't at the ceremony.

He needed to mourn.

I stared at the white tombstone silently as the smell of dirt mixed with fresh cut grass surrounded me.

"Are you sure it had to be this way?"

I nodded.

"Damn. Never thought I would visit my own grave."

I looked over at the blonde standing barefoot next to me, her hair pulled back into a loose bun, "Calla pet..."

She grinned at me tiny fangs flashing in the moonlight, "yeah babe?"

"We really need to teach you some tact."

She laughed lightly, freezing when her eyes flashed red, "Hey Kaden."

I gestured for her to continue.

"I'm hungry. Like so hungry I'm ready to rip out your heart and eat it."

Of course that would be the only thing she had to say standing on top of her own grave. I shook my head and motioned for her to go into my now empty manor, watching her white dress flow behind her as I followed.

Only she would wear white to her own funeral.