sanctuaries without great magic and I sense nothing about you of magic. So I am compelled to believe this is the truth. Perhaps, this ‘Denmark’ is but Noelictus’ descendants.”

“Sir. I fear you are telling me the truth. Or perhaps, as I say, fate conspired to bring me here. But I swear, I have no ill intent.”

Cara spread her arms. The man nodded, heavily.

“I see no artifacts of magic about you. And my senses are not that of any [Mage]. I am indeed a ghost.

Denmark. Treachery. It is at least good to know Terandria has not changed.”

He leaned on his sword as he returned to it. The [Knight] bowed his head. He seemed to wrestle with himself before coming to an abrupt decision. He looked up at her.

“Lady Cara. If you tell me the truth, I will escort you from this tomb and see the truth of your uncle’s treachery for myself. As a [Knight], I can do no less. But do you swear this is the truth?”

The ghost looked at her. The young woman’s eyes blazed. She drew herself up and spoke, slowly. And here she made her first and only mistake.

“Sir Knight, whose name I have yet to ask, I beg your pardon, I swear by heaven and God that I am telling the truth. I am Princess Cara of Denmark and I crave your assistance.”

The [Knight] paused for a moment. His eyes flickered. And then he smiled. He slowly lifted his sword.

Cara waited, heart beating. And the [Knight] calmly lifted his sword—and put it at her throat once more.

“Thank you. ‘Princess Cara’. But I fear you give yourself away at the last. I do not know what ‘heaven’ is and why you swear by it. And I could but believe a nation rose in the long years since my death. But I know one thing: the gods are dead. You lie. And this time, you die.”

The blade cut into her neck with effortless sharpness. Cara inhaled. The lie she had woven out of the plot of Hamlet fell apart. She closed her eyes. Oh, and she’d been doing so well. It had been the act of a lifetime. But she hadn’t known her audience.

“God is dead? You sure about that?”

“The gods have long been dead. Everyone knows that. I have never met any soul who would ever swear by them.”

The ghostly knight shook his head. In the darkness, Cara’s lips slowly moved up. She exhaled as blood ran from her throat. She opened her eyes and looked at him. Smiling, regretfully, almost congratulating him at seeing through her ruse.

“Damn. What a way to find out the pastor was right. I guess that’s it, then.”