R?ven’s funeral was a quiet one; only those who knew of her deed to humankind attended. Fae sat next to me, with her head resting on my shoulder. Willow sat in her lap, fast asleep. I stroked Fae’s hair slowly, letting her tears fall onto my sleeve. Jack sat on my other side, his face set. He had been feeling bad about R?ven’s death, as though it were his own fault. He felt that if he’d reached her just a few seconds earlier, he would have been able to prevent it. This may have been true, but no one else blamed him like he did himself.
The reading of the eulogy was brief, as R?ven had led a short and secret life. No words could sum up what she had meant to those that were close to her. No such words existed.
When the service ended, I walked to the coffin’s side and placed a kiss on the polished wood.
‘Thank you, R?ven,’ I whispered. ‘For giving my sister back to me.’
A small hand curled around mine and squeezed gently. I looked to my right to see Helena smiling sadly at me. Wrapped in her other arm was Rue.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.
‘It’s all right,’ I smiled back. ‘At least I have you.’
~
After the funeral, I packed my clothes back into my rucksack. The Reddings and Greenwoods had been staying at Cecilia’s home until the funeral service. She’d taken it upon herself to wash all of my things and lay them out neatly for me on the bed in her spare room.
Jack knocked on the door and entered as I picked up my fire-proof skirt from the bed.
‘Hey,’ I said, pausing.
‘Hey,’ Jack replied, his expression sullen. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I think so,’ I said. ‘What about you?’
He shrugged and walked across the room. Things had been tense between us in the days leading up to the funeral, and we hadn’t had a chance to talk, or be alone.
I couldn’t be sure, but I felt as though Jack was frightened of me, and my recent violence against the Realm. Since the battle, not a single guard or official had been spotted in the city.
Jack took the skirt out of my hands and re-folded it for me. Clearly, he was looking for an excuse to be here.
Something clattered loudly to the ground. I looked down and saw the locket and broken chain on the floor. It had fallen out of the skirt’s pocket.
‘What’s this?’ asked Jack, stooping to pick it up. ‘Your necklace?’
I’d forgotten all about it after R?ven’s death. It had seemed unimportant at the time.
‘Oh,’ I said, shifting my weight. ‘Yeah … I was going to talk to you about it.’
‘Did you break it?’ he asked, holding up the snapped chain.
‘Yes,’ I said, honestly.
Jack waited for an explanation, and I felt the sting of the old heartbreak in my chest.
I sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Jack. I spoke to Camryn. She told me who the necklace really belonged to.’
Jack’s eyes darted to the locket, and back to me. ‘What?’ he said. If he wanted to play dumb, that was fine by me.
‘She told me that it belonged to Madeline,’ I said. ‘How you stole it from her chambers after she died, as a keepsake.’
Jack’s jaw muscles tightened, and he stared at me.
‘It’s true,’ he said, balling the chain up in his palm. ‘This did belong to Madeline once.’
Somehow, hearing it come out of Jack’s mouth hurt twice as much.
I blinked rapidly, but tried to remain calm.
‘You … you wanted me to look like her,’ I said. ‘That’s why you gave it to me. That’s … that’s why you wanted me in the first place.’
Jack sighed heavily and sat on the bed. ‘Avalon, it’s true that you look like Madeline, and I will admit that is what drew me to you in the first place. I was just a child when I met her, but she was so kind to me, I couldn’t help but be smitten. That day in Frost Arch, I saw you and couldn’t believe my eyes. I started following you, and that’s when you ran into Seth Swaggart, remember?’
I nodded, sniffing back the tears that threatened to flow.
‘But Avalon, as soon as I got to know you better, I knew that you were nothing like Madeline at all. After a while, I no longer saw the similarities between you, I only saw the differences. And there were many. Eventually, I didn’t see her in you at all.’
‘Then why give me her necklace?’ I asked, my voice breaking. ‘Why lie and say it was your mother's?’
Jack shook his head. ‘I didn’t lie, Avalon.’
‘What?’
‘That necklace did belong to my mother.’
‘But you just said-’
‘I said it belonged to Madeline once,’ he said. ‘That is also true.’
‘But … how?’