The General Who Took My Lantern and Broke My Heart Chapter 01

The General Who Took My Lantern and Broke My Heart Chapter 01

In Foxglove Gap, every girl made a lantern of her own after she turned eighteen.

On Lantern Night, the man who claimed that lantern claimed her hand.

Aveline Rook had grown up with Thorne Bellwether, the Keeper of the Rite. Everyone assumed Thorne would be the one to take hers.

But that day, Aveline waited until nightfall.

Thorne never came.

In the end, her lantern was taken by Captain Bram Caulfield.

Later, Bram told her he had not known she was waiting for someone else.

“I saw you, and that was it,” he said.

He stood straight and broad-shouldered in his dress uniform, but his voice was gentle.

“I made the mistake. But I took your lantern, Miss Rook. That means I’ll take care of you.”

Everyone across the southern ridge counties said Aveline was blessed beyond measure to marry Bram Caulfield.

He had medals on his chest and a command at the frontier. In a few years, he would be called back to Vesper City for a promotion. His future was wide open.

And a man like that treated Aveline almost too well.

He taught her to read, spread road maps across the table to show her what waited beyond the ridge, and once drove through the night to bring in a doctor when her father fell sick.

The year floodwater tore through Foxglove Gap, it was not his responsibility. Still, for Aveline, Bram brought in his men and oversaw the rebuilding himself, beam by beam, nail by nail.

People said no woman could stay cold to that kind of devotion for long.

But in the second year of their marriage, Aveline went back to Foxglove Gap to visit her mother.

She vanished with Thorne Bellwether for three full months.

No letters.

No word.

When she finally returned, she was pregnant.

***

Mrs. Imogene Caulfield’s face went white with rage.

She called Aveline shameless and ordered the servants to hold her down and pour the bitter medicine down her throat.

Aveline was pinned to the floor, fighting with everything she had.

“Bram, the baby is—”

“Enough.”

Bram cut her off, his expression darkening. He glanced at the guards behind him, his voice low.

“You heard my mother. What are you waiting for?”

That single sentence nailed Aveline to the floor.

She looked up at Bram in disbelief.

The guards seized the chance. They clamped down on her shoulders, forced her mouth open, and poured the bitter medicine down her throat.

She choked so hard her chest convulsed. Darkness crowded the edges of her vision.

Then everything went black.

When she woke again, it was already the next day.

She touched her lower stomach, and a deep ache spread through her ribs.

It had been her first child with Bram.

It had taken them so long to conceive. The first baby they had finally managed to have was gone because Bram himself had given the order.

She had only been trapped in the mountains because of a landslide on the road out of the Gap. Thorne had been injured protecting her from falling rock, and the two of them had been stuck in a cave for three months before they escaped.

She never imagined Bram would refuse to believe her.

She never imagined he would not even let her speak.

A maid came in with warm water, but Aveline waved her away.

She had to find Bram.

She had to explain everything.

Aveline reached the main wing before she heard the sounds of a fight.

Her chest tightened. She hurried forward and looked through the crack in the door.

It was Bram.

And Thorne.

Thorne’s usually cold, untouchable face was full of anger as he swung a fist at Bram.

“You knew Aveline was carrying your child, and you still let them force that poison down her throat!”

Aveline froze.

Her head snapped up.

Bram turned slightly, avoiding the punch. He did not strike back. He only frowned.

“What else was I supposed to do? The rumors were already filthy. If that baby stayed, it would only ruin her name further.”

“You were trapped with her for three months. Alone. Out of sight. Once people heard that, who would believe the child wasn’t yours?”

Thorne let out a cold laugh.

“You’re worried about her name? Or are you worried people will say the child is mine and make Cressida suffer?”

Bram’s eyes sharpened.

“Cressida fell for you the first time she saw you. Don’t act like you didn’t know.”

“And you wanted her too. You just wouldn’t admit it. You kept looking back at Aveline, kept letting that childhood promise hang between you, until Lantern Night came and went.”

“So I took the lantern you wouldn’t take. I gave you the freedom you were too cowardly to claim.”

His voice turned colder as he stepped closer.

“But after three months in the mountains with Aveline, if that child had lived, what was Cressida supposed to do? Spend the rest of her life listening to people whisper that the man she was meant to marry had fathered a bastard with another woman?”

He paused, then said each word with brutal clarity.

“Whether that child was mine or not, it could not stay.”

Every word cut straight through her.

Aveline stood outside the door, unable to believe what she had heard.

Thorne was silent for a long time before he spoke again.

“And Aveline? That kind of medicine can destroy a woman’s body. She grew up with me. I can’t stand seeing her suffer.”

“I’ll make it up to her.”

Bram interrupted him and turned toward the study.

“My wife is not your concern, Keeper. Just remember this. Lantern Night is in two weeks, and this year, Cressida will be making her lantern.”

Aveline watched Bram’s back disappear.

For a moment, she could not move.

So that was it.

That day, when he rode in and took her lantern, it had not been love at first sight.

These two years of tenderness, those late nights with the lamps still burning, those hours when he held her hand and taught her how to write her name…

Every smile.

Every promise.

Every act of love.

All of it had been for Cressida Caulfield.

So his foster sister could marry the man she wanted without shame.

For that, Bram had been willing to sacrifice his own marriage and take a woman he had never loved.

Aveline took two steps back, her face numb.

So this was what it felt like when pain went too deep.

There were no tears left.

She did not know how she made it back to her room. She did not know when her body gave out again.

By the time Aveline woke, it was the next day.

Bram was sitting beside the bed.

He held a bowl of warm oatmeal sweetened with honey. When he saw her open her eyes, his brows lifted first, then his usual smile appeared.

“You’re awake. I’ve been here half the day.”

He scooped up a spoonful and brought it to her lips.

Aveline did not move.

Bram paused. Then he set the bowl aside and pulled her into his arms, his voice softening.

“I know you feel wronged. I didn’t mean I didn’t believe you. Even if that baby had been Thorne’s, I would have accepted it. As long as it was yours, I could have loved it.”

“But we had to think about the child too, Aveline. He couldn’t be born with everyone calling him a bastard.”

“Mother was cruel yesterday. I know that.” Bram’s voice softened, as if softness could make any of it forgivable. “But it was early. The doctor said you can recover.”

He lowered his head, his tone almost coaxing.

“You’re young. We have time. When you’re well again, we’ll try properly. A child born into this house should come into it clean, wanted, and safe. Let me give you that.”

Aveline lifted her eyes and looked at him quietly.

“All right.”

Bram stilled.

With Aveline’s temper, she should have thrown the bowl at him and ordered him out.

Why was she so calm?

His brow tightened. He was about to ask when a maid’s voice came from outside the door.

“Captain, Miss Cressida says she would like to go out for a walk.”

Bram turned his head.

“Tell her to wait. I’ll go with her.”

Only after saying it did he seem to remember Aveline was still in his arms.

He turned back, but before he could speak, Aveline cut him off softly.

“Go.”

Her mouth curved a little.

“I’m fine.”

Bram hesitated.

In the end, he stood and left.

Once the door closed, Aveline slowly sat up.

“Sorrel.”

The maid hurried in.

“Ma’am?”

“Help me get dressed.”

Sorrel froze. “Are you going out? Where are you going?”

Aveline gathered her loose hair behind her ear.

Her voice was very soft.

“To the courthouse. I’m filing for an annulment.”