The General Who Took My Lantern and Broke My Heart Chapter 03

The General Who Took My Lantern and Broke My Heart Chapter 03

Aveline did not know much about medicine, but even she knew a body like hers should not be stuffed with rich broth and called healed.

Too much, too soon, would only hurt more.

She was about to speak when Bram continued on his own.

“Lantern Night is in a few days. Around here, a girl in her eighteenth year goes up to the Ridge Chapel before the festival. She lights a candle, says the old prayers, and comes back before dark. It’s a women-only rite. Men don’t go in.”

He paused, then looked at her.

“Cressida has to make that trip this year. I can’t go with her. You’re her sister-in-law anyway. Can you take her up there in two days?”

Aveline stilled.

She looked down at the steaming bowl on the table.

So that was why.

He was not trying to nurse her back to health.

He just needed her patched up enough to drag Cressida up the ridge.

A bitter heaviness rose in her chest. She closed her eyes for a moment.

“Fine.”

“I’ll take her tomorrow.”

Bram let out a breath, and a smile eased onto his face.

“It gets cold up there at night. I’ll have them pack you a warm coat.”

He gave her a few more reminders, then left.

Aveline stared at the bowl for a long time. Then she pushed it to the far corner of the table.

By the morning of the trip, the motorcar was already waiting outside the front steps.

Cressida stood beside it while Bram fixed her scarf.

“The wind is sharp on the ridge. Don’t get chilled.”

He tucked the scarf neatly into her coat, then pulled a pair of hand warmers from his pocket and placed them in her hands.

“Take these.”

Cressida smiled. “You fuss too much.”

“You’re my only sister. Of course I fuss.”

Bram patted her shoulder, then turned when Aveline came out.

He gave her a brief nod.

“Be careful.”

Aveline did not answer.

She climbed into the motorcar.

Cressida climbed in after her, gave a cold little huff, and turned her face away.

Before, Aveline had thought Cressida disliked her because Bram spoiled her too much and made her feel pushed aside. So every time they were alone, Aveline had tried to make conversation, tried to coax even a polite smile out of her.

Now she knew better.

Cressida hated her because Thorne had once cared about her.

Aveline leaned against the door and closed her eyes.

She did not start a conversation.

She did not try to make peace.

She was done spending herself on people who only wanted her gone.

They reached the ridge close to sunset.

Cressida got out and went straight into the chapel. Aveline followed, but after only a few steps, her legs felt heavy.

She had not recovered, and the long ride had left every bone in her body aching.

She could not bring herself to step inside the chapel, not into the close air of candle smoke, old pews, and damp stone. So she stopped just outside the door.

An old hawthorn stood beside the path, its crooked branches leaning over the chapelyard. Scraps of cloth, faded prayer slips, and bits of ribbon had been tied to it over the years, most of them bleached pale by sun and rain.

Locals called it the Lovers’ Tree.

Aveline only meant to glance at it.

Then her gaze stopped.

Most of the tokens were plain things—faded strips of cloth, fraying ribbon, scraps of paper sealed against the weather with wax.

But high above the rest, one stood out.

A narrow length of dark red silk, edged in gold thread.

Bram had once guided her hand while teaching her to write. She remembered the shape of his letters too clearly.

So she recognized his handwriting at once.

There was no full name on it.

Only one line.

[Wherever duty sends me, my heart remains with you, Cressida.]

Among hundreds of lovers’ wishes, Bram had tied his sister’s name above them all.

Aveline stared at the words and closed her eyes.

She was about to turn away when shouting broke out behind her.

“Fire!”

“The chapel’s on fire!”

Aveline spun around.

Smoke poured out of the chapel doors. Flames climbed fast, bright and hungry against the darkening sky.

She turned and ran downhill, heading for the houses along the lower ridge to get help.

She had only gone a few steps when a scream cut through the smoke.

Aveline stopped.

She looked back.

Then she saw Cressida.

Cressida had almost made it out of the chapel, but she must have tripped. She hit the ground hard.

At the same moment, a burning support post crashed down and pinned her lower leg.

“Aveline!” Cressida screamed. “Help me!”