Chapter 8: Things She Left Behind

Two Crown guards drove me back to the Winslow house on a grey morning.

Neither of them said a word the whole way.

"We wait at the gate," the older one said. "One hour, Luna. The King was clear."

"I only want my own things."

"Then an hour is plenty."

The drive was longer than I remembered. The oaks were bare, and the gravel had been raked.

Lenore's car was gone from the garage.

I had known it would be.

The King's steward had told me she was at the Council hall until noon, filing her paperwork.

The house was warm and quiet and smelled of lavender.

It smelled like every year of my life.

I went up the front stairs two at a time, and I stopped at my bedroom door.

It was open.

The bed was stripped. The shelves were bare, and the closet hung empty.

The small wooden desk where I had done my lessons had been moved into the hall.

"Where is everything?" I said.

"Mother had it all boxed," a voice said behind me.

Kendrick stood at the top of the stairs in his coat.

I hadn't heard him come in. I hadn't known he was there.

"Boxed?"

"After you left. She said you wouldn't be back."

He stopped and looked at the empty room.

"She told me she gave most of it to the church sale."

"All of it?"

"I don't know." He sounded tired. "I didn't ask."

"No," I said. "You wouldn't."

I expected him to snap. He didn't.

He took off his coat and laid it over the banister.

"Tell me what you need," he said. "I'll carry it."

"I don't need your help."

"Then let me stand here while you don't need it."

I didn't answer, because I had a brass key in my pocket.

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