Chapter 62

A waveof sadness billows through me as I burst into Jasce's study.

Surprise flashes across his face as he stands and faces me. "Annora, what—"

"—Asha is dead."

His eyes widen as he moves toward me, but I throw my hands up to stop him, not wanting him to touch me right now.

"What happened?" His brow furrows with concern.

Anger flares in my chest. "What do you mean what happened? She died in your dungeon."

Jasce's jaw clenches. "I swear to you, I know nothing about this."

"So, someone just dies in your dungeon, and you don't know anything about it?"

"Annora," he begins, his voice infuriatingly calm. "I gave my men strict orders to guard her. Nothing more."

"Well, they did a fantastic job of it."

I cut around him and move to the window, gripping the stone frame with all my strength until my knuckles turn white.

Calm down.

This man has already done far more than his father would have done.

Asha was alive when he placed her in that cell.

Something else happened to her.

I speak through the raw anguish knotting in my throat. "I want her to have a proper burial. She will be sent to the afterlife in a manner befitting her station in life, not discarded in an unmarked grave."

Jasce's footsteps echo on the stone floor as he moves to stand next to me. "You know that I will make sure she gets a proper burial."

"Thank you," I choke out.

"Annora," he says, his voice full of pain, but he knows nothing compared to my suffering. "I don't know what happened, but I promise you, I will find out, and when I find the person responsible, I will kill them."

I tighten my hands into fists as grief builds within me. He speaks of vengeance, but what good will it do? Killing her murderer will not bring my beloved sister back to me.

"A death for a death," I say bitterly. "What difference does it make? It will not bring her back to me."

Jasce reaches out, as if to comfort me, but I am beyond being comforted.

I jerk around him and hurry from the room, needing to be alone.