Will bobbed his head eagerly, locks of his brown moppy hair falling into his eyes. He brushed them aside and raced off toward the stables.
“You should say goodbye to your father,” Landyn suggested.
Raven gritted her teeth. “I already have.” She continued toward the stables.
“I said those things to prevent you from coming,” Landyn said, following her. “I didn’t mean them.”
“There is truth in even the smallest of lies.”
He grabbed her arm, halting her. “I’m going to see my friend put to rest. We will leave after that.”
Raven watched him walk toward the chapel in the rear of the chateau. She clenched her fists. He was not giving her orders. She would depart when she wanted. Glancing at the stables, she straightened. She could leave now; she didn’t need him. The commander wasn’t paying her, and he was not her superior. His order to work together meant nothing to her. And yet…
She hesitated. She could certainly track a large squadron; it wouldn’t be hard. But it would be difficult to get close to Boucher and kill him let alone find this key her father wished her to have. She needed more information. How could she separate Boucher from his squadron? What was the key? What if she took the wrong one? And why had Boucher taken it?
And those crates still bothered her. What had been inside of them? She wanted to know what treasure was more important than the Templar Knights they’d lost. Then her father’s life? She clenched her lips. She would wait for Landyn. He had all the answers. She wished Willow were here to make her smile and convince Landyn to tell them what they wanted to know. But she wasn’t. And each moment Raven wasted was a moment her father’s killer got farther away. She hoped to meet up with her sisters at Sybil’s farm. But their disappearance was odd and concerning.
With a groan, she grudgingly followed Landyn to the chapel. He moved around to the rear of the large cathedral.
Raven looked up at the roof of the stone building where a bell was housed in a triangular structure. On top of this, there was a cross. It would have meant nothing to her father. He was not a religious man. She continued around to the back but halted suddenly.
A wooden box rested beside a rectangular hole in the ground. A monk in a brown robe stood over the hole, speaking quietly. Landyn stood beside him with his hands folded before him, his head bowed. A solemn group of men gathered around the grave and the coffin.
Raven couldn’t remove her gaze from the hole. How had they dug it so quickly? It was strange her mind focused on the opening in the ground and not the box where her father’s body lay. He would never like being put in the ground.
She rested her shoulder against the stone wall of the chapel to watch. She didn’t want to move closer. She didn’t want to enter the yard where all the dead people were.
The monk made the sign of the cross, and all the men followed his lead.
Her father had never been a religious man. They never spoke of his beliefs or God. He didn’t take them to mass. The only time Raven had been to church was when she was staying with Sybil. She remembered asking her father once what happened after you died. He looked at her pensively and replied, “Life goes on.”
The group of men picked up the box reverently.
Raven’s heart tightened and constricted as they lowered it into the hole. Life didn’t go on for the dead, she thought sadly. When the coffin—when herfather—was in the grave and no longer visible, Raven returned to the stables.
Will, the stable boy, greeted her at the door and handed Thunder’s reins to her. She cast him a small smile before opening a pouch at her belt and pulling out a shilling. She handed it to him. “You’ve done a fine job caring for him,” she told the boy.
He beamed proudly, staring at the coin in his hand.
“Care for my sisters’ horses,” she told him.
“I will!” he exclaimed and rushed into the stall of Sage’s horse and began to comb him.
Raven grinned at the boy’s exuberance and glanced at her horse. As she ran a hand over Thunder’s brown nose, she noticed saddlebags had been added to her horse. She looked Thunder in the eye. “I’ll make sure you get enough rest,” she assured him quietly. Thunder had been a gift from her father. To teach her responsibility, he had said. She had learned to love Thunder as she cared for him.
She would miss her father. And for the first time, she realized just how alone she truly was. Usually, her sisters were around to pester her. But now, she didn’t know where they were. She hoped they were at Sybil’s farm. What was she to do now? The only things she could think of were to find Boucher, retrieve her father’s key, and avenge his death.
“I thought you would have left.” Landyn’s voice sounded behind her.
“In a few moments, I would have.” She walked her horse from the stables.
Landyn followed with his horse and pulled himself into the saddle.
Raven mounted Thunder. She realized quickly that she didn’t know where to start looking for the squadron. She knew they were heading toward La Rochelle but didn’t know which way the army would have taken from Peniscola. She could backtrack, but that would take valuable time. Her fists tightened over the reins.
She needed Landyn to lead the way. She clenched her jaw. She certainly would not tell him that.
He steadied his anxious horse but didn’t move it.
