Chapter Fifty-Nine

  The dawning sun blooms on the horizon, shining like a golden Phoenix fresh from the ashes of rebirth. On a day such as this, one would expect the heavens to be weeping. But instead, the morning is full of serene silence. The world sits so still even the wind is not singing.

    Just as Flavius and I finish getting dressed, there is a light knock on my chamber door.

    "It is time, your highness," I hear a maid say from outside.

    Flavius and I leave my chambers in silence. The still castle sits around us like a heavy iron bird cage. We walk to the throne room where Gregory's close friends and family are gathered. Gregory and Geoffrey's coffin's sit in the front of the room, opened for everyone to see the bodies. The pale corpses sit out in a morbid display as the sweet stench of death wafts from them. I cringe at the sight my body tightening up.

    I turn to Flavius, slightly confused, "Why are the caskets open?" I ask.

    "What do you mean why? It's so the family can see