Silence answered him. No sound, no voice.
His eyes fell at once upon the black coffin standing near the bed.
The smile upon Rynell's face froze. His heart seemed to drop straight into his chest.
He glanced wildly about the bridal chamber. Nowhere could he see Zairine.
The winter wind swept through the open doorway, cold and biting, creeping up from the floor until it chilled him to the bone.
"Zairine?"
Silence still.
Then his gaze fell upon the dark, dried bloodstain upon the floor. His fingers tightened convulsively around the prayer bracelet in his hand.
His eyes lifted to the desk, to the journal lying there, and beside it, the bracelet he knew better than any other.
'She had worn it every day since he gave it to her. She had never once taken it off. Why lay it there alone?'
R
