Her Graceful War Song by Summer's Blaze

Chapter 1071

The gifts remained untouched in the storage room, and Carissa hadn't even bothered to glance at them.

After dinner, she took a lamp and went inside alone.

Rafael offered to stay with her, but she refused, insisting she wanted to open the gifts by herself. Even Violet's attempt to join her was turned away at the door.

Though Rafael was uneasy, he moved a stool just outside and sat, keeping vigil from the hallway.

Dylan had returned with news. When Barrett learned of Aurora's death, he had thrown himself against a wall in a violent fit. His wound bled heavily.

Dylan was still in shock. He had seen it with his own eyes-Barrett had slammed into the wall with such force. Dylan felt as though Barrett was trying to end his life right then and there.

Luckily, in his rage, Barrett had stumbled, which lessened the blow. Otherwise, there was no doubt he would've died on impact.

Confused, Dylan asked Jacob, "Why would he do that? If he wanted to die for Aurora, why didn't he just go with her when she was taken? That would've shown his feelings for her. Why wait until now, after Aurora has been executed, to throw himself into death?" Jacob thought for a moment, equally perplexed by Barrett's actions. "Did they manage to save him?"

me up-I was lucky to get away." Dylan's voice still held a trace of fear as he recounted the

that family, you can't make sense of things. Best to keep your distance and avoid getting

still rattled, nodded. "I'm glad I went to tell him myself. If he had come looking for answers at the estate and then slammed into the wall, I would have been in trouble. My mouth wouldn't have been able to get me out of that mess." Jacob nodded in agreement. "Right. Go rest now. Don't dwell on

reluctantly agreed, but he couldn't shake off the feeling. He had to talk to Violet and Travis about what had happened. He had never seen anything like it before. Barrett had never seemed particularly devoted to Aurora, but he now seemed to be putting on a show of deep affection.

or just a performance. It didn't make sense-who was he trying to fool?af the king ever found out, Barrett would be reprimanded. The entire court would

over to the storeroom door

Perhaps they both felt it wasn't important enough to dwell on, so they didn't push the

storeroom, Carissa finally opened the chest her seventh uncle, Wade, had sent. She stood in front of it for a long while before moving the lamp aside and unlocking the chest. The gift from

a thin steel needle-short, about the length of half a finger, as delicate as

were thirty in total,

her needles? Did Wade want her to focus on

it wasn't an embroidery needle at all. It had no hole

a small carved cherry wood box in the left corner of

was a bracelet. The bracelet was made of pure gold,

was visibly damaged, and she could make out a tiny crack along the seam. The crack wasn't glaringly obvious, but if one looked closely, it