Chapter 69

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

Ellery

We buried my mother next to my father in the family cemetery set far back from my home. It was a beautiful spot overlooking the farm; when the leaves were off the trees, I could see the crosses from some of the windows in the manor.

I wasn’t sure what came after this life, but having grown up surrounded by the ghosts and poltergeists in the Revenant Woods, I had to believe in something more after this. Some other immortals worshipped gods, but amsirah didn’t have a god or gods.

My parents weren’t killed in the Revenant Woods and weren’t ghosts. I didn’t know if that made me sad or relieved. At least, if they’d died in the forest, I could have seen them again, but it would have devastated me to see them as ghosts, or worse, poltergeists.

Whatever had come after for them, I chose to believe they’d been reunited and were watching over me. I would make them proud.

The final shovel of dirt fell into place over the coffin, and Mr. Fletcher used his shovel to pat it down. With tears in my eyes, I stared at the freshly covered grave before lifting my head to survey the farm.

The crops were almost ready to be harvested, but that was next week’s project. I wanted the world to come to a screeching halt so everyone could acknowledge my crushing grief, but that would never happen. It couldn’t.

Next week, we’d harvest the crops like we always did, and then we’d prepare the fields for the next season. After that, we’d start working with the foals more, getting the best of them ready for the king and everyone else who’d purchased them.

We’d spend the winter training them. We’d weather the blizzards, tend the fires, and drink hot confections. We’d warm our frozen fingers, curse our frosted toes, and carry on.

Life would go on… without my mother… but would it continue here?

“Should we leave the manor behind now?” I asked.

Scarlet came to stand beside me, wrapped her arm around my waist, and rested her head on my shoulder. “Do you think that’s best?”

“I don’t know what’s best anymore.”

“I think we should stay,” Mr. Fletcher said.

I turned my head as he came to stand on my other side. He stuck the shovel’s head in the ground and placed his foot on it. Ruby and Billy stood on his other side.

Ruby had informed my Aunt Connie of her sister’s death, but she’d decided against attending the funeral. She hadn’t come for my father’s either. Despite that, I’d expected her to attend her sister’s.

They didn’t have the closest relationship, and it had been at least a decade since I last saw my aunt, but my mother had visited her every year for her birthday. When I was a child, Aunt Connie would also come to visit us; I never learned why those visits ended. She lived in one of the sea villages with her husband, who was a fisherman, and she remained there.

I had fond memories of my aunt but hadn’t spoken to her in years. Still, I wished she would have come for this.

“Why do you think we should stay?” I asked Mr. Fletcher.

“The aristocrats, including the duke, are going to be really preoccupied after everything that happened at the earl’s. They’re going to be focused on their homes and their servants for a while. I have no doubt they’ll eventually lash out on the rest of the realm, but that could be months from now.

“You have a plan to help the rest of the amsirah in Tempest, and now you have money to help set that plan in motion. You owe the king crops and horses. If you disappear, he’ll notice, and if you do so after the rebellion, he’ll suspect you and start hunting you. You’ll do more good as a free woman than a hunted one.”

I pondered his words, and while I agreed with him, I also worried. “What if they come for us before we can get away?”

“We’ve lived with that risk for months now, but right now, they have bigger things on their plate, and we have some time. We’re safe… for now.”

“I think you’re right.”

“What do we do about Callan?” Scarlet asked.

“I’m going to take him to the Veiled Rock to meet Luna… if she’s there,” I said. “After that, I’ll take him to Tucker’s encampment. He’ll be safe there.”

He was in the manor now, and while it wasn’t ideal, we could at least see if riders were coming from the hillside and get him out if necessary.

“I can’t believe he got himself mixed up in this,” Ruby said.

She’d pulled her dark red hair into its customary bun on top of her head. She was kind and loving but also no-nonsense. She didn’t tolerate fools, something she’d often told me and Scarlet over the years.

Despite that, I had an easier time calling her Ruby than I did calling Mr. Fletcher just Fletcher. Maybe it was the fact that, as Scarlet and I had aged, Ruby had taken on more of a friend role with my mother.

On the other hand, Mr. Fletcher had remained stoic in his fatherly role, but Ruby was the one who’d sat with my mother and told us about sex. We’d sat there and squirmed while they drank a lot of wine.

Ruby had joined my mother and me for drinks on our birthdays. She’d danced and sang with us as we made fools of ourselves around a bonfire.

And those weren’t the only times she came over for drinks, laughs, or to have a friendly discussion. As we’d aged, Scarlet and I would often find ourselves at my kitchen table with our mothers, talking about our days and laughing.

We’d also spent a lot of time worrying together during the Ghoul War and then crying together after my father died.

“I can,” Mr. Fletcher said. “He’s always been impulsive, and so was his sister.”

“All children are,” Ruby said with a pointed look at me and Scarlet.

Both of us shrank away from it a little. Scarlet’s parents had stopped being irate with us about our roles in the Hooded Robber stealings, but they still weren’t pleased.

“Yes, but Callan always believed he could charm his way out of any mess. He’s not charming his ass out of this one.”

“None of us are,” I said.

Going silent, we all stood and stared down at the wheat and corn swaying in the warm summer breeze. In the paddocks below, the horses grazed as they chased away the flies with their swishing tails.

“So, can we stay in our home?” Billy asked.

I glanced at the young boy, who I’d always considered like my own annoying little brother. At eight, he was still very much a child, but his eyes didn’t reflect that as much as they used to.

Over the past few months, he’d become far wiser than he was before. I would have given anything for that not to have happened.

“We’ll stay… for now,” I assured him.

Mr. Fletcher was right; we’d all do better if we could move freely around the realm.

“I should go get Callan. It’s almost time to leave for the Veiled Rock,” I said.

I’d hoped Ryker would be back by then, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen.

“What a bad place to choose,” Ruby muttered. “I know the Veiled Rock is a kid’s place, and most adults and the sheriff stay away from it, but any child, at any point, could enter while you’re there.”

“The children won’t tell,” I said. “That rock is all about secrets, even if it’s the most well-known secret in Nottingshire.”

“It was still a bad choice.”

“Callan and his sister aren’t known for their brains,” Mr. Fletcher said. “Their looks and charm, yes. Their intelligence, no.”

That was very true. I just hoped their bad choice didn’t get us all captured or killed.