She hoped a lot of things, because if there was one thing a lengthy carriage ride had time for, it was hopes and dreams. Lenore found herself hoping that the rest of the ride would be smoother, and that the people on the rest of the journey would love her as much as the ones before had. One of those hopes seemed more achievable than the other, given the way the carriage was jolting. She hoped Nerra would be found soon, and Erin, and that their father would forgive them both. She hoped her marriage to Finnal would be the perfect dream that the feasting with him had been, although why did that have to be a hope, when she couldnt imagine it any other way?

Almost at an inn, your highness, the driver called out. Lenore looked out of the carriage, seeing the building ahead. It was a structure of painted wood and stone, with a thatched roof and a sign in front that had no words, only a picture of a celandine flower. A small stable stood next to the main building, obviously there to receive travelers, although there was no sign of the body of men that her brother was supposed to be bringing.

Well stop here, Lenore declared. Vars would find her more easily here than out on the open road if hed missed her, and they would all be safer behind walls than in the open. Lenore could see the guards around her relaxing slightly at the news.

The driver pulled the carriage in front of the inn for Lenore to alight with her maids, and it struck her just how quiet the place was. Werent inns normally bustling places, filled with the sounds of raucous celebration? Maybe she had that wrong; after all, Lenore spent far less time in such places than the likes of Vars or Rodry.

Ill take the carriage to the stables, your highness, the driver said, a couple of the guards going with him to protect the goods theyd been given.

She walked in, surrounded by her maids and the remaining guards who had come with her, and immediately knew that something was wrong. There were people there, sitting in place, but they were far too still as other figures moved among them wearing steel and leather. Lenore hadnt seen enough of the stillness of death to know it by sight, but she could see the cut throats of the men there, the stab wounds and the marks of strangulation. Against the silence, she could hear the whimpers and cries of a woman from somewhere upstairs, and she knew that what was happening there was every bit as bad.