Page 107 of A Thieving Curse

“You would treat your wife as a prisoner?” Gareth demanded.

“We’ll camp here.” Tristan looked around. “Keep her and the monster separate.”

“Alex isn’t a monster,” Raelyn said as one of Tristan’s knights bound her wrists in front of her. “He doesn’t even look like one anymore!”

“He’s been a monster longer than he’s been a human,” Tristan replied.

She searched for Alexander, hoping he wasn’t taking Tristan’s words to heart. Instead, her gaze caught on Jasper, Meredith, and Peter. Meredith sat slumped against Peter’s side as Tristan’s men tied their hands in front of them. Her head rested on his shoulder, but her eyes were fixed on Lucas’s corpse. Raelyn swallowed and turned back to Tristan.

“Your Highness. Let them bury their son.” Her voice quivered. “Please, my lord.”

“We don’t have shovels.” Tristan turned away.

“There are some in the cave! Please, Your Highness.” Raelyn held her bound hands up in supplication. A memory of Lucas’s exuberant grin flashed in her mind, and a tear slipped down her cheek. “He was barely fifteen and a good friend.” Another tear escaped. “He deserves a burial.”

Tristan’s finger tapped the hilt of his sword. “On one condition.”

She swallowed and waited, not about to agree to unknown terms.

“Answer three questions truthfully.” Tristan stepped toward her. “Agreed?”

“Agreed,” she murmured, lowering her hands. She didn’t know what he would ask, but she could tell the truth. That was a small price to pay.

Tristan stepped closer. “When you kissed me…” He ran his forefinger over her lips, the worn suede of his glove soft against her skin. She was too afraid of offending him and losing her chance to bury Lucas to pull away. “It was just to give him an opportunity to escape, wasn’t it?” His hand dropped to his side.

She gulped. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

Tristan winced and took a deep breath. “Do you love the monster?”

“I don’t love a monster.” She tipped her chin up defiantly even though her insides quaked.

He rolled his eyes. “Same question—do you love Tallon?”

She lowered her gaze. “Yes.”

“Last question.” His gloved finger lifted her chin. He didn’t speak again until she looked at him. His icy glare made her feel small. “Did you share his bed?”

Her neck and face heated. “No!”

Tristan considered her for a moment, then addressed his men. “Keep them bound but let them get shovels and bury the body.”

“Let me help them,” Alex pleaded.

Tristan’s mouth turned down, then he laughed. “You can’t even walk. How would you help? No.”

One of Tristan’s men escorted Peter into the cave while the others set about making camp and preparing food. Peter and his guard emerged a few minutes later with two shovels. Meredith stood and tried to use one of them, but she was shaking too badly.She shouldn’t be the one doing this.

Raelyn glanced at her guard. He was distracted by two of Tristan’s men having a quiet argument. She stole forward, but his attention returned to her. Raelyn gestured feebly toward where Meredith and Peter dug in the moonlight. “His Highness didn’t say I couldn’t help.”

The soldier shuffled his feet. “All right, then.”

“Thank you.” Raelyn went up to Meredith and took the shovel. She kissed Meredith’s tear-streaked cheek. “Let me,” she whispered. “You sit down.”

Meredith hesitated before nodding, her eyes unfocused. Raelyn turned and helped Peter as well as she could with her hands bound. It was difficult, but they made do.

The sharp sound of shovels cutting through the ground and swish of tossed dirt mingled with the crackle of campfires. Quiet conversations buzzed through the night. Meredith and Jasper held each other’s hands and looked on as Raelyn and Peter dug Lucas’s grave. Raelyn’s face felt dried out and coated with salt from the tears that wouldn’t stop coming.

Alex observed, sitting with his legs crossed. With his wings and horns gone, he looked smaller. Vulnerable. Or maybe that was just the slump of his shoulders and slouch in his spine. Gareth watched, too, his hands also tied behind his back. Beyond them, Tristan watched her as well, his face unreadable in the shadows.

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