Silence stretched between us; deep in his thoughts, Francis drank from the canteen.
“You believe this story?” He eventually asked.
“It matters not.” I squeezed the reins, navigating Annabelle away from the black ice that had formed on the trail. “Though, it certainly sounds like something my mother’s parents would do. When I first met Caleb, he reminded me of my brother. And Kane...” I swallowed at the eerie resemblance between him and Brian. “They look identical.”
“You and Caleb do look alike,” Francis stated, almost disappointed.
“As I said, it matters not,” I mumbled, squeezing the reins tighter.
“Do you trust him?” Francis pressed.
“His promises seem sincere.” Did I trust him, though? I wasn’t sure.
I’d seen the burden he carried, back in the dungeon: the regret that had filled his eyes from what he’d done, the pain he’d tried to hide when I’d called him a coward.
Was that enough to trust him?
Blood brother or not, I did not know a single thing about that man.
“Time will show,” I told Francis when the first battlements of the palace peered from the line of dense spruce.
Chapter 14. Unkindness.
The Royal cemetery was quiet. Empty.
Snow covered every engraved stone, shining under the Moon. We walked along the graves, our boots leaving a trace behind us, as I read every name we passed.
“They are not here,” I whispered, the cold cloud lingered on my breath. My lips trembled at the realization once we’d reached the last stone that carried my name. “They didn’t bury them at the Royal cemetery,” my voice shook.
“We will find them.” Francis walked down the rows several times; the shovel in his hand dragged along the snow. “Where else could they be?” He stood before me; his face inches from mine, yet all I could see was my engraved name above the empty casket.
“I don’t know.” My lungs caught aflame as I forced my next breath. “I don’t—”
“Think, Cordelia. We don’t have much time.” Francis gentled, his hands covering my cheeks. “There must be another cemetery nearby, or perhaps a meadow of some kind. They wouldn’t just leave the bodies to rot near the palace.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know! What if they burned them, or—” I trailed off when the thought clouded my mind. “Oh dear Gods...”
“What is it?” Francis searched my eyes.
“There is only one other cemetery nearby.” My voice didn’t belong to me when the words escaped my trembling lips.
“Where is it?”
“North.”
