Chapter One:
Chryseis watched emotionlessly as they lowered the coffin containing Alianne's body into the hole in the earth. The rioting emotions she was experiencing within her was totally contrary to the calm exterior she presented to the crowd.
She lifted her gaze from the coffin, unable to bear the sight of the painful reminder that her sister was lost to them forever, focusing them instead on the people who have come to attend her sister's funeral.
Funeral. Chryseis felt the tears she thought she had used up prickle her eyes. There was such finality in the single word. It intoned that she would never be able to see her sister again.
Involuntarily, her gaze wandered back to the coffin.
No. Chryseis jerked her gaze away and forced herself to concentrate on the crowd of people instead. All of the people gathered here are-no, were-friends or people whom Alianne had known while she had been alive.
She ran her eyes slowly over each one, remembering who they were and what they had meant to her sister. There was Joey, who had been Alianne's best friend since preschool, crying her eyes out almost literally, Fred, one of Alianne's boyfriend's wannabes (there were dozens of them), and…
Her eyes found someone unfamiliar standing just at the edge of the crowd. He was handsome; startling so, with shoulder-length hair which was golden with ruddy highlights and strong features, his fair complexion emphasized by the coal black suit he was wearing.
At that moment, he raised his gaze from the ongoing funeral and met hers directly. They were the colour of melted gold, intense…and cold. A fallen angel, Chryseis thought, unable to tear her gaze away from his. He broke the gaze first, turning away to leave; Chryseis did not realize that she had been holding her breath the whole time until she took the much-needed breath deeply.
Who was that? She searched her memories for any sign that she might have seen him before, but no. She knew practically everyone in the town; she had grown up here after all, and it was a small town.
Her eyes followed his progress as he walked through the old graves to the newer graves, those that had just been buried. He kneeled down in front of one of the simpler tombstones, placed a bunch of flowers that he held in his hand and simply stayed there for a while, staring at the headstone. Then he left.
As soon as the coffin had been lowered into the grave, Chryseis escaped from the dreary and stifling atmosphere the funeral gave. She couldn't stand the sadness lingering in the air any longer. She knew that if she stayed any longer, she would break down and cry. She took a walk through the graveyard pausing occasionally to read the inscriptions on them.
She came to a stop in front of a grave, the only one with fresh flowers adorning the plain headstone, a realized with a jolt that it was the grave that the man had been kneeling in front of. She squatted down to read the inscription and gave a involuntary shiver.
There, carved on the cool granite, were the words: Therein lies Nicholas Silverthorn, beloved brother whose blood stains the hands of the slayer forever…may revenge be sought and dealt…in blood.
She wondered at the words, unusual as they were to be carved on a headstone. She felt the underlying anger from whoever had ordered the inscription to be carved and the threat in the words themselves. Whoever it was must have loved this Nicholas very dearly, she thought, and would do anything to revenge him. She wondered if that man was this Nicholas's brother…
A call from her father requesting for her presence broke her train of thoughts. Chryseis stood up, brushing at her skirt absently then headed back to the funeral, putting away her unanswered question.