Page 101 (1/1)

Marciana sed "Do you think…that Colvin…? Do you have any sense, Lia?"

She frowned "I cannot see his future Any , like the rounds My Gift only works when I benefit others, not myself"

"But in your heart," she pressed in a low voice, her eyes desperate for assurance "You said Hillel…that she was a hetaera Do you think he resisted her?"

Lia’s heart twisted with pain "I do not know I cannot think on it without getting ill They were to be married at Billerbeck He believes I am dead I had hoped to find him here at Muirwood" She clenched her jaw and stifled her feelings "We can hope, Ciana That is all that we can do for him now"

Tears trickled down Marciana’s cheeks She nodded and Kieran put his arainst his

"Goodbye, Lia," she whispered "Would ere sisters Thank you for savingme from what you suffered at Dochte Abbey" She put her hand on Lia’s ared each other one last tiin the sloalk towards the ring of oaks surrounding the grounds and then towards the Bearden Muir The lake that had surrounded the Abbey had long since receded The Abbey defenses were broken

As she watched theaze to the Tor and the dark duty that awaited her there

As Lia clirew more and more heavy as she neared the charred stumps of the twin ony at seeing the blackened shells, the stick-like figures still chained there The last time she had cli Seth’s footprints with the Cruciger orb The hipped about her, ainst her ears

The evidence of death lay ahead of her, but thewhat had happened tortured her soul

She had woven together the threads of story in strands froed over the Hundred Marciana and Kieran had been escorted from Comoros but ambushed Since Lia had Gifted hily drahts who escsorted the theuise theirthe Abbey, they had hidden as wretcheds, wearing si with siuise Ede to face the maston test and when he learned it was e learned froed Sowe to face it as well It was Marciana’s wish that she be adopted into her Family when she learned of Colvin’s pro they were approaching the end of his authority at the Abbey

The day after they had passed it, the Alder to be the new Aldere and then summarily dismissed Demont and his mastons from the Abbey under his new authority With the new Alderainst him, Demont had left and they had heard he was murdered by poison as he journeyed to Comoros to take control of the city and prepare for an invasion

With a new Alderer was finally released from her captivity and she su her safely away But the entourage did not leave iht another delay Her power and influence continued to grow, much to the surprise of the new Alder to sian to discover that the wealth he had suspected to exist at Muiras as elusive as the wind There was no treasury, no hoarded funds supporting Deiven up a wealthier Abbey for a lesser one

On Twelfth Night, both Aldermastons were executed on the Tor They were bound to in to burn Froustin had howled and wept and begged for his life The true Aldermaston had silently faced his death without a word after Seth, his hunter, had been stabbed by soldiers while trying to defend his master His body had been left on the lawn, but it had vanished with the storm

Lia looked up at the charred remains of the Aldermaston She knelt before the post, knelt in the soaked ashes, and she sobbed She had lost two fathers in her life and she was not sure which hurt most – the one she had never met or known, or the one who had been prepared for her by her true father In anguish, she had let the others leave for Pry-Ree, never able to tell them who she really was Somewhere in the world was a toil Until it was found, she would be forever silenced Her true story would never be known It was the sarace, accused of horrid crimes he had never committed