When we arrived at the castle gates, Luca ordered two guards to collect Connor's body before carrying me upstairs to an empty room. He told me that because of the long journey back, the lateness of the day and the exhaustion of the army, that we would be staying in the castle until the next morning before going home.

He lit the fire, fetched me some blankets which he proceeded to wrap me in, made me a cup of hot cocoa and most importantly, kept me company. We didn't speak much but he was willing to sit with me regardless. I couldn't bear to be alone right now and Luca was the only person in this entire castle that could make me feel like I wasn't.

"You should try to get some sleep, Ells," he said after an hour or so of silence. "You look exhausted."

"Will you stay with me?" I asked.

"All night. I promise," he replied.

I smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, Luca. I don't know what I'd do without you," I replied before snuggling further into the blankets and comfortable bed.

I woke a few times in the night. Luca was always there. Either sleeping lightly at the foot of the bed or sitting awake as I slept. After replaying the entire event back in my head during a dream I made him come and lie next to me and spent a considerable amount of the night after that crying into his shoulder.

When the morning came, he brought me some food before offering to talk to Leo about letting my Dad out for Connor's funeral. He'd already sent a guard to inform him of the situation with Connor last night and I didn't want to imagine my Dad's feeling of pure grief along with the discomfort and loneliness of a dungeon. He was only prisoner of course.

"He said yes and he seemed truly sorry."

"Did he tell you to say that?" I asked.

"No. He didn't say much at all," Luca replied. "We have until midday to bury Connor before we have to leave this place."

I nodded.

An hour later, we had congregated around at the foot of a not quite frozen lake underneath a weeping willow tree. Luca and my Dad had found the best suits they could and I had found a white dress. Connor never wanted a depressing funeral- or at least as not depressing as possible.

I had watched as Luca and my Dad carried my brother's coffin to the shore and lowered it slowly into a boat. In my hand, I held a burning touch. Connor never wanted to be buried. He said the maggots and damp would drive him insane.

I pulled out a piece of paper out of my cloak and unfolded it. On it, I had written something for him. It wasn't much but in such short notice and with so much sadness, it was all I could handle.

"To the best brother, I could ever have dreamt of, I'm sorry if this seems rushed. I wasn't expecting you to be taken away from me so soon. I also have so much to say, so much I can't put into words and so much that you don't want to be all day listening to. So I'll try to keep it short," I began smiling through the tears. "Although it feels like I lost you seven years ago, I have thought of you every day since then. Despite everything, I didn't lose hope that I'd at some point see you again and I did. It was a short time but I will never cease to be grateful for those few days that I got to spend with my brother again. It felt like you'd never gone. I believe that you still haven't. I've tried to avoid the cheese sandwich and I know you'll be laughing at me right now but you'll be forever in my heart. Until the day I die. You helped raise me, you protected me, you stuck by me.copy right hot novel pub