The General Who Took My Lantern and Broke My Heart Chapter 09

The General Who Took My Lantern and Broke My Heart Chapter 09

It was Aveline’s handwriting.

The letters were still uneven, but every stroke had been written with care.

[Bram,]

Today you taught me how to write the word home.

You said a roof to keep out the rain, a stove to keep the room warm, and someone waiting inside—that was what made a home.

I wrote it over and over, but it never looked right. Then you held my hand and wrote it with me.

I think I really do like you.

I think I want to build a home with you.

Bram had never seen the letter before.

She must have written it, grown too embarrassed to give it to him, and hidden it away in the box.

Only now did he find it.

His fingers tightened around the paper, and his eyes slowly turned red.

For two years, Aveline had given him nothing but loyalty. She had told him she loved him more than once, but he had never fully believed her.

Some part of him had always been waiting for her to look back at Thorne.

That was why he had been so eager to push Thorne and Cressida together.

That was why he had let their child be taken from her.

That was why he had watched her be humiliated and locked away.

He had been wrong.

Bram stood in Aveline’s room for a long time. Only when the last light drained from the windows did he finally speak, his voice hoarse.

“Bring Thorne here.”

One of his men left at once.

Bram returned to his study and sat down. His fingers moved over the silver comb without thought.

A tiny gardenia was carved into the top. He had given it to Aveline for her birthday the year before.

She had been so happy that she put it in her hair right there, then tilted her head up and asked if it looked pretty.

He had said yes.

She really had been beautiful.

Footsteps sounded outside. Thorne pushed the door open and walked in.

He still looked as cold and clean as ever. His gaze landed on the silver comb in Bram’s hand and paused for a moment.

“What do you want?”

Bram looked up. His voice was rough.

“You can find people, can’t you?”

Thorne frowned and was about to answer when one of Bram’s men spoke from outside the door.

“Captain, we brought in Etta Judd. She was watching the chapel that night.”

“Bring her in.”

A hunched old woman was pushed into the study. She dropped to her knees the second she crossed the threshold.

Bram’s eyes hardened.

“How did all those snakes and bugs get into the chapel?”

Etta bent forward, shaking.

“Captain, please. I don’t know anything. I swear I don’t know.”

Before Bram could speak, Thorne lowered his eyes and said flatly, “She’s lying.”

Bram’s voice dropped.

“Tell me the truth, or I send you straight to the town jail. Your choice.”

Etta’s face went white.

Her lips trembled for a few seconds before she finally collapsed forward.

“It was Miss Cressida. She told me to do it.”

Bram’s pupils tightened.

“She said that woman was an eyesore. Said she only wanted her to suffer a little. I didn’t know there would be so many. I thought it was just a few harmless snakes to scare her. That’s all. I swear that’s all.”

Bram stood there, his ears ringing.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say impossible.

Then he turned to Thorne, desperate for the truth.

But Thorne’s face was ugly too. That calm, unreadable expression was gone, replaced by a dark shadow.

Bram’s chest went cold.

Thorne could read lies. He could read people. Bram had trusted that gift when it suited him.

And that look on Thorne’s face meant Etta was telling the truth.

Cressida had done it.

Bram forced out one breath.

Then he and Thorne left the study, one after the other, and headed straight for Cressida’s room.

They had just reached the door when voices came from inside.

“Has your appetite been all right lately, miss? Now that you’re pregnant, you need to be careful.”

The maid’s voice was muffled behind the door.

But every word hit like thunder.

Bram turned sharply toward Thorne.