A while later, Tatiana appeared.
“Did you find the jailers?” Luciana asked.
Tatiana shook her head. “They’ve already moved on to the Realm of the Heavens.”
Luciana’s shoulders drooped as she sat in a chair at the table. “I thought they would stay with their families for a while.”
Tatiana shrugged. “Most people do move on right away. The only ghosts I know here, besides me, are Mama and Christopher. Mama stayed behind to be with Papa and me. And Christopher doesn’t want to leave his mother.”
“Did you see him?”
Tatiana nodded. “He was so surprised to see me. And really sad that I’d died. But now he seems happy to have more company.”
“He told me there were more ghosts in the catacombs.”
Tatiana shuddered. “I’m never going there. Mama warned me not to. Christopher told me the ghosts there are mean and vicious. They were bad people when they were alive, and now they refuse to move on to the Realm of the Heavens for fear they’ll be punished.”
Luciana grimaced. Growing up, her worst fear had always been the possibility of being trapped with evil ghosts. “It sounds like a horrible place.”
Tatiana nodded. “There were four bodies at the funeral. The first two assassins were burned, too. I didn’t see their ghosts. I thought maybe they had moved on, but Christopher thinks they went to the catacombs.”
A shiver ran down Luciana’s back. She couldn’t ask her sister or Christopher to venture into such a horrid place. “Then we have no way of figuring out who the last assassin is. We’ll have to rely on Leo to catch him.”
* * *
“Why don’t we just lock the damned priest up in the dungeon?” Nevis asked as he and Leo crossed the drawbridge, headed for the keep and the funeral feast.
“We have no proof he’s an assassin,” Leo replied. “And if the news gets out that we’ve imprisoned one of the king’s precious priests, he could label us heretics.”
Nevis grimaced. “I’d rather not be burned at the stake.”
“Exactly.” Leo sighed. “Uncle Fred is always looking for a reason to be rid of me. I’d rather not give him one.”
“He’s a royal pain in the ass,” Nevis grumbled. “No offense.”
“None taken. Besides, we can’t actually be sure Father Rune is the assassin. We were wrong about the first one, Willem. But then we were right about the second one. Dax was a new guard just like we suspected.”
“I heard it was awesome how you chased him down.” Nevis made a sour face. “All the excitement happened while I was gone.”
“You had some excitement, too, when you rescued Willem’s family.”
Nevis scoffed. “Not really. We dressed up like a gang of thieves and planned an elaborate attack, but the king’s men took one look at us and ran away. We spent most of our time bringing Willem’s family here, because the children wanted to stop every five minutes to take a piss. And the baby kept crying. I’d rather fight a horde of elves than endure that again.”
“You’ll probably get your wish.”
“Felt a bit sorry for the widow, though,” Nevis mumbled. “She came all this way just to find out her husband had been murdered.”
“The duke said he’d take care of the widow and children,” Leo said as they passed through the north gate into the courtyard.
“That’s good.” Nevis motioned toward the gallows at the south side of the courtyard. “So they finished building it. Hopefully, we’ll be hanging that damned priest soon.”
“If he’s truly the assassin.” Leo smiled to himself as he recalled how Ana had stood on the platform, yelling at everyone that he wasn’t a Beast. Now whenever he saw the gallows, he would no longer think of death. Because of Ana, he would think of courage and loyalty. And desire. By the Light, he wanted her something fierce.
Beside him, Nevis asked, “Where the hell is Brody? He could verify if the priest is guilty.”
Leo winced. “He’s not here.”
“Where did he go?”
“He’s on a mission.” Leo slapped himself mentally once again for sending Brody away. Now there was no one left who could identify the last assassin.
But could one of his dead victims point him out? Ana had suggested that, but Leo had had a strange feeling that her words had not been meant for him. Had there been a ghost in the room with them? It seemed that Ana could truly talk to the dead, but he wished she would trust him enough to admit to it.
His heart sped up as they started up the stairs to the Great Hall. He would be seeing her again in a few minutes.
“By the Light, I can smell the food already.” Nevis took the stairs two at a time. “All I’ve had the last few days was some dried beef and stale bread.”
Leo snorted. “You don’t look like you went hungry.”
“This is muscle!” Nevis slapped his belly as they arrived at the double doors.
The Great Hall was already filled with people, busily finding a place to sit at the long tables while servants filled goblets with wine and set out baskets filled with bread. Nevis started to sit, but Leo nabbed a handful of his cape and dragged him toward the dais.
“But I’m starving!” Nevis objected.
“You should greet my betrothed first.” Leo had spotted her on the dais, talking to her father and General Harden.