Dirty Passions An Interracial Russian Mafia Romance (The Lion and The Mouse #5) - Kenya Wright Page 0,50

are decorated with religious statues. In Czech, column shrines are traditionally called boží muka.”

I tried to say it, “boží muka.”

“Not bad.”

“Are most people religious in the Czech Republic?”

“It’s actually the opposite. Close to eighty percent are atheist or non-religious. Here, secular funerals are common.”

“I never would have guessed that with your Uncle’s castle.”

“He’s not from here, and I don’t know why, but Uncle Igor has always chased spirituality. That was his favorite past-time. It was why he had so many odd things within the castle. He always looked to the mysterious of the world to give him an answer to the afterlife.”

“Do you think that was a result of him losing his wife?”

“It could be.” He leaned back in the leather seat and closed his eyes. “For some reason this makes me think of past funerals today.”

I gave him a sad smile. “It’s because you’re at one. It’s hard not to think of how we’ve lost others.”

“We still have to take care of Xavier’s ashes.”

My stomach twisted. “We do. Part of me wants to keep them as long as I can. The other part knows that he wanted to be put in a beautiful body of water.”

Kaz opened his eyes, took my hand, and squeezed it. “Then we will find one that is worthy.”

“If you don’t mind me asking. . .how was your parent’s funeral. Did you do anything special in their memory? I was too young to remember my mothers. And my father never had one. Because of the fire’s intensity, all that was recovered were his ashes from the building fire. X gave Darryl, Max, and me a small ceremony in the living room. We dressed in black, ate a big thanksgiving dinner, and played jazz all night.”

“Xavier was a good man.” Kaz looked out at the window as we passed another column chapel. “My mother had a grand ceremony. It must have been over three hundred people. She had instructed Valentina on every single detail. It was a two day affair—a ball, a feast, and even an opera.”

“Holy cow.”

“My mother was eccentric and liked to do things in bold and elegant ways.”

“So, you’re a lot like your mother?”

“I am.” He turned back to me. “My father’s funeral was very different.”

“In what way?”

“Although my father was a violent man, he had a best friend that he had met in jail. He was Mongolian. If I remember correctly, his name was Chingis. I never saw him after the funeral, and I was so young at the time.” Kaz ran his fingers through his hair. “But my mother thinks my father got his funeral idea from Chingis, and she always hated Chingis for it.”

“Why?”

“My father had a sky burial.”

“I’ve never heard of that.”

“In many ways, it’s not a burial at all. You leave the corpse exposed to the elements, often in an elevated location. My family left him on the top of Belukha Mountain. It’s one of the highest mountains in Siberia.”

I widened my eyes. “They just placed him on the ground?”

“That’s what I was told. My mother was very angry. She refused to let Valentina and I go. Uncle Igor, Uncle Rolan, and many other men that I don’t remember, carried him up. Uncle Igor told me later that they chopped him up.”

“Why did he want that?”

“Chingis was a Buddhist and convinced about being kind to animals. For him, the body was just a shell of your spirit, which reincarnated into another shell in another life. Once that spirit left the shell, the body should be left to nourish another creature.”

“Now, I understand.”

“Uncle Igor said that the vultures feasted for two days. He went up each time to make sure all of my father was gone.” Kaz grinned. “Only Uncle Igor would want to go and look at a scene like that over and over.”

“I was just thinking that.”

“But to him the sky burial was a romantic idea. He would always think that my father died like a warrior on a battlefield. Blood spilled on the earth. Vultures and other creatures devouring the flesh.” Kaz laughed. “My mother didn’t talk to Uncle Igor for a month after that. She was so pissed that he carried out my father’s instructions.”

“I imagine she would have had a huge ceremony.”

“Yes. Indeed. We didn’t have the money, but she would have found a way.”

The limo followed the line of cars toward a massive church in the distance.

The architecture of the building had a decorative and theatrical style. Grand domes, cupolas, and twisted columns.

Kaz