I needed to get away from the chaos, and what other way was there than the quiet, beautiful tranquility around Ethan's grave site… it was winter already.
The cemetery behind the palace always felt different from the rest of the grounds. While the gardens were loud with servants and princes and arguments and laughter, the burial field carried a stillness that settled gently into the bones. Snow had begun to gather along the edges of the marble paths, and the bare branches of the old trees stretched thin shadows across the white ground.
My breath left small clouds in the cold air as I walked.
I had started visiting Ethan every week since the funeral. At first it felt strange, standing there and talking to a stone marker, but after a while the silence around his grave began to feel familiar. Comfortable even. Ethan had always liked quiet places, and somehow the cemetery suited him better than the noisy palace halls ever had.
