Page 13 of Rise of the Phoenix King (Crown and Crest 4)

“We’ll find him,” Lavender says soothingly. “I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding.”

Hyacinth looks at me and grimaces, not quite as optimistic. It’s strange the knight would disappear like this, especially now.

“Perhaps he wandered off to take a nap,” Lavender suggests, trying to help.

“It’s been almost twenty-four hours,” Hyacinth points out.

Calla drops her head into her hands. “He wasn’t in league with Camellia.He wasn’t. We’ll find him, and you’ll all see.”

And I want her to be right—desperately. But at this point, I fear the worst.

I excuse myself when Henrik arrives at the door, joining him in the hall. “Have you found anything?”

“Possibly,” he says quietly. “Two bodies have been discovered at the bottom of Wellming Canyon. Lawrence has asked me to oversee the retrieval.”

“Is it Camellia?” I lower my voice and close the door so Calla won’t overhear. “Barret?”

“We don’t know yet. According to the guards who spotted them, they’re both cloaked. I doubt it’s related to the princess’s disappearance.”

I take his arm. “I want to go with you.”

Henrik frowns. “This isn’t going to be a pleasant outing.”

“I’ll stay back when they bring up the bodies.” I glance toward the closed door. “I could use some fresh air, and I’m sure you wouldn’t mind the company.”

The commander thinks about it for a moment, and then he nods. “Bring your bow, just in case. I’ll meet you outside the stables.”

* * *

Though the morning was cool, the afternoon is warm enough I can remove my cloak. Henrik and I don’t say much as we ride, both unsettled by Camellia’s disappearance. And once we arrive, there’s too much chaos for conversation.

A gaggle of guards, several soldiers, a couple captains, and a whole slew of village spectators hang around the cliff’s edge, gawking at the commotion below.

Henrik groans quietly from atop his horse, hating disorder above all else.

“Keep them back,” he commands a captain, jerking his hand toward a group of adolescent boys who teeter a little too close to the ledge. “I don’t want to pull additional bodies from the ravine today.”

“Yes, commander,” the captain says, hurrying to do Henrik’s bidding.

We dismount our horses, handing them to a soldier who runs up to offer assistance, and walk to the cliff’s edge. It’s not a high cliff, maybe thirty feet. I peer over cautiously, glad there isn’t much to see except for guards scurrying around below. I get a glimpse of ivory linen, and then I relax a little. They’ve already wrapped the bodies.

“Neither must be the princess,” I say to Henrik. “They’d have told you by now.”

The commander nods.

“We’ve secured the first!” a guard hollers up to the men waiting at the top.

“Hello, commander.” Master Regan joins us, nodding a greeting to me as well. He squints in the sunshine and brushes imaginary dirt from his hands, making me wonder if he doesn’t get out of the city enough. “I assume Lawrence sent you to oversee?”

“He did,” Henrik says to the mortician. “And you?”

“I don’t know why I can’t verify the cause of death once the bodies are brought to the castle,” he grouses, “but it’s not my place to question the king, is it?”

Lawrence is probably punishing him for losing Camellia. It sounds like something he would do.

The first body is retrieved and placed on the ground. Guards shoo the crowds back, making them keep their distance. Henrik follows Master Regan to the body, and I trail behind them both.

“Get back!” a captain yells to the pressing gawkers. “Have you no respect for the dead?”

---