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Prologue

We all came to watch her die

We were distorted silhouettes against a ht, when the s to earth

We surrounded her in a large circle, and she fluttered her eyelashes like an injured butterfly wagging its broken wings in a last atte to its dearden, dying arass and fertile earth

Stars glittered in the night The lowed A breeze kissed her flesh for the last ti

And then her expression froze into a picture, one discarded aet her

“I'll make sure they remember” I took a strand of her hair

Everyone nodded in silent agreement, and then one by one disappeared into the castle’s dark shadohere night s whispered thewords into the wind

Chapter 1

Elle

There had to be a corpse in the body bag The sun shined in my eyes as I peeked out of the taxicab’s backfor a better look The driver backed into the entrance of the huge castle’s grounds and parked next to the ambulance, which ih the bag was zipped all the way up, the black ed in places where I assu me the impression that it was full

Who died?

The cabbie shut the vehicle off “Whoa I wonder what’s going on around here”

“I’?”

“Sure does But you never knoith these rich people The more money, the more secrets Plus this faet rich, things get crazy”

A fat EMT wearing headphones pushed the gurney into the ambulance, slammed the door closed, and bobbed his head to his own rhythm while he walked to the front No police were around, which seemed odd