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Chapter One

Alone, Hannah Young stared at the dirt-covered mound as the chilled air breached the warmth of her heavy cloak

Graves are sorry things

The words her uncle had spoken not an hour past replayed in her mind and held solid the reality she wished not to accept, but must Her dearest aunt Bea, her friend and confidant—the wo back

Hannah looked up, gazing across the lonely hill, straining to gather any rational thought through the thick fog of sorrow At the sight of the house a hundred paces away, and Uncle Ensign nearing the plot where she stood, Hannah’s eyes burned There was nothing they could have done to save her ’Twas Bea’s tithen, should it not? Lowering her head, she sers around the soft emblem in her hand It should, but it would never quell the pain That she knew For still she grieved the loss of ten years past, as if ’twas only yesterday

“Hannah, you should not still be here”

She glanced up at the sound of Ensign’s voice, then turned again to Bea’s cold resting place “Perhaps” She could say no

“The others have long since returned home As should you” He put his array cloudslast his heavy tone returned to le with the air “She loved you, my dear More than you can ever know”

Nodding, Hannah’s throat grew thick, i the reply that wished for release And I her

Ensign cleared his throat, but still his words came out thick and broken “We shall always have the one from us in this life, I knoe shall see her in the next”

Hot streams of tears rolled over Hannah’s cold cheeks “You have such faith, Uncle”

He released a quivering breath before his solerief if I did not”