Page 56 of When Ashes Fall

“You can look for short periods of time without concern.”

“That’s okay; I’m not missing much by keeping my eyes to myself with them anyway.”

I chuckled as we came to the edge of the lake. The thickening gray clouds shimmered in its reflective surface as the breeze created ripples across the water.

On the other side of the lake, gravestones peppered the landscape and the tops of the trees swayed in the wind. When a strand of Briar’s hair tickled my nose, I grasped it to push it down, but somehow it remained clasped in my hand instead. She didn’t notice when I ran the silken strands through my fingers.

When I was younger, the feeling of her head on my chest with her hair spilling across me had always been one of complete bliss. Now, it was a mixture of need and sorrow that created a deep ache in my chest.

Reluctantly, I released her hair to gather the reins. “We should head back.”

“Can we go to the cemetery first? There might be some roses there I could help with.”

I glanced at the darkening clouds but still didn’t scent rain, and there were some rosebushes over there. However… “Is this about that Archibald boy?”

“Maybe a little. I’d like to find his parents, but if there are roses there, they might need help.”

I still had no intention of digging up a child’s grave, but it couldn’t hurt to check on the roses over there. I wasn’t above admitting I also wanted to spend more time with her away from the castle and in her natural environment… out with the wildlife, where she belonged.

Kicking Magnazius in the side, I steered him around the lake and guided him to the headstones sloping down a hill toward the woods. When Briar’s breath sucked in, I knew she understood how improbable it would be for her to find Archibald’s parents amid the countless graves laid out across the rolling hills leading down to the woods.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Briar

My heart sank when I saw the hundreds, no thousands, of tombstones. Had I expected anything less?

The shifters were an ancient species. Of course, there would be more graves than I could count, never mind examine.

“Is this the only graveyard?” I asked.

“Yes. It doesn’t hold all the shifters from the dawn of time. Some prefer to be burned after death, that’s what I want, but others choose to come here.”

“So, the Camdens might not be here.”

“Correct.”

The weight around my heart felt a thousand pounds heavier, but trying to find Archie’s parents wasn’t the only reason I was here. When Knox dismounted, he seized my waist and lifted me from the saddle.

I tried not to marvel at his strength or let the way he moved with such grace rattle me, but I couldn’t keep my hands from curving around the thick muscles of his forearms. A thrill ran through me when my breasts grazed his chest. Little electrical pulses raced across my nerve endings as my breath hitched.

He can hear your heart.

The reminder didn’t help me get my pulse under control. Instead, I focused on the graveyard; it was a mood killer, but it didn’t completely pull me away from Knox. He was solid and real while everything else was so… intangible.

With a sigh, I released him. We were still twenty feet away from the cemetery, but curiosity and dread had me torn between running through the graves and fleeing them.

Once I entered that testament to the dead, everything could change… or it could all stay the same.

I reluctantly stepped away from Knox. When my fingers itched to grab him again, I dug them into my palms.

Gizzi’s claws bit into my shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze before he dashed down my back and into the cemetery. He darted in and out of the headstones before stopping; a second later, he sat on his back legs to nibble the acorn he’d found.

The wind tugged at my hair and blew through the maroon shirt and brown pants I’d donned. Ominous, dark gray clouds blanketed the sky.

When I spotted a drooping rose a few feet away from the first headstone, I strode over to it. As I bent to tend it, a voice drifted to me.

My hand wobbled as I removed the potion from my pocket, uncorked the stopper, and sprinkled a couple of drops on the rose’s roots. The sprites had been tending to this rose, but it could use a little more care.